It’s pretty easy to move from Windows to a Mac. Photos and images – such as jpg and gif images – are a universal format and will transfer perfectly. Music and movies are easy, too: mp3 and aif files will move right into iTunes, and Apple’s Quicktime movie player can play many formats of movie files, including (Windows Media Player) wmv files with a free component.
Email is slightly more complicated. If you use Web-based email, there’s no problem, as your email isn’t stored on your PC or Mac. If you use Outlook on Windows, there are different ways of bringing your email over to a Mac.
You can move your files from your account on your Windows PC with a USB drive, a CD or a direct network connection. Belkin makes a special cable, but it’s not absolutely necessary.
Thousands of Windows programs and the major suites – like Microsoft Office and Adobe products – have Mac equivalents. That means that Photoshop files from Windows will easily move to Mac Photoshop, as will Word documents and Excel spreadsheets to Office for the Mac. Quicken, Quickbooks, Filemaker, too, all have Mac versions.
OS X supports thousands of printers and scanners and cameras, and while you can check the manufacturers website for OS X drivers, many printers and cameras work by just plugging them in.
Check Apple’s Switch 101 support website for everything you need to know to move from Windows to a Mac, including translating email from Microsoft Outlook to Apple Mail.