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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > First post: IBM notebook to MBP transition

First post: IBM notebook to MBP transition
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Kyle76
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May 3, 2008, 06:26 PM
 
Hello, everyone. I've ordered a MBP -- 15 in. w/ 4 gigs of RAM. I'm currently using an IBM Thinkpad, about 5 years old. I've ordered a copy of Windows XP (bad things I've heard about Vista are one reason I'm going to a Mac), along with Fusion (based on Walt Mossberg recommendation in WSJ) because there are some Windows programs, like Quicken, that I can't do without, and I've heard awful things about Qucken for Mac. Do I need to worry about any special software to move my files? Any other tips or advice?
     
Cold Warrior
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May 3, 2008, 06:37 PM
 
No special software. You can use VMware Converter to migrate your Thinkpad's Windows installation w/ all your files to a VMware virtual machine. A great way to ensure you have everything accessible as you make your transition.

But you could also just backup all your files to an external drive, USB flash drive, or CD/DVD.
     
naphtali
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May 3, 2008, 09:06 PM
 
Given how OSes tend to get bogged down over time (and 5 years is a long time), you might be happier starting from scratch. All depends on how comfortable you are setting things up again. Would be a great way to avoid any lingering Spyware / Viruses too.

If your computers are all networked together, simply enable file-sharing on the Mac, then copy over whatever files you need from the ThinkPad:
System Preferences > File Sharing > Options (Bottom-right Corner)


After that, you install Fusion, set up a fresh Windows install with your new XP CD, then install Quicken and any other apps you need in Windows.

Before you jump to that, you could also consider first setting up Windows within Bootcamp. Fusion has the ability to use Bootcamp partitions too. If you have more demanding Windows needs (3D / Vista etc), Bootcamp will perform better. Note that you lose the ability to take snapshots of your virtual machine.


Here are some links for more information
General guide to Mac OS - Apple - Find Out How - Mac Basics
How to transfer data from a PC to a Macintosh
VMware Fusion guides - Fusion Support Options, Mac Virtualization, Run Windows on Mac - VMware
It might be a good idea to look through the training PDF / videos to see what your options / constraints are before you spend all that time setting things up

PS: I really hope you didn't get the 4GB of RAM from Apple!
     
imitchellg5
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May 3, 2008, 09:36 PM
 
Quicken is available for Mac. I use it everyday.
     
mavherzog
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May 4, 2008, 06:23 AM
 
If you are a Thinkpad purist, be prepared to go through trackpoint withdrawls.

That's the one thing that keeps me going back to linux on my thinkpads...I absolutely HATE trackpads. I've owned both a recent 15.4" MBP (2.4Ghz C2D) and an original MB (1.83Ghz CD). Never really liked the MBP...but the MB, WITH an attached external pointing device (my choice is the old Logitech Trackman Wheel (white and red)), is my favorite laptop to date. But I just can't deal with the touchpad. So here I sit in my hotel room with my trusty thinkpad X60s (Ubuntu).
     
Kyle76  (op)
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May 4, 2008, 07:40 AM
 
Yes, the trackpoint is one of the main reasons I have stuck with Thinkpad (this is my third). I have disabled it and am using the touchpad to prepare for the Mac. Maybe multi-touch will help, as will, I'm hoping, the larger and higher trackpad on the Mac.

Regarding the VMWare migration program: does it migrate my entire hard drive -- programs and all? I like the idea of starting clean.

If I am going to run Windows side-by-side with Leopard, is there any advantage to using, say, the Office for Mac instead of a regular Windows office install? In other words, if Windows is going to be running anyway, is there any reason to buy new Mac software for some programs for which I already have discs in Windows format?
     
naphtali
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May 4, 2008, 09:10 AM
 
From what I understand, the migration program creates an image of your current hard drive, so it probably duplicates everything.

The advantages of running native Mac apps would be
1) Speed - no virtualization+Windows overhead, no need to wait for VM to start.
Beyond the VM boot time, this might be debatable -
I have a current generation MBP with 4GB of RAM. Windows XP, Office 2007 and an older version of Photoshop work pretty much at full speed within VMware Fusion.
Also, many people have complained about the lack of speed of Mac Office 2008.

I don't have the technical details but I think booting the VM would take up all the RAM you allocated to it. This could be costly, depending on how you set up your VM.

The extra hit on system resources would probably affect battery life as well.


2) File management - additional step to share a folder with your VM / FAT32 partition
Note that Fusion currently does not support the file explorer that Parallels has, so you can't see the files on your VM unless it is booted up. The workaround would be to set up a shared folder that will appear as a networked volume within the VM OS.


3) Mac only features
Depending on the program and developer, the Mac version might be more feature-rich.
At a lower level, the fancy multi-touch gestures won't work in the VM.


4) Window management
Fusion's Unity mode (where you can make Windows apps as if they are native windowed apps) does not yet support multiple monitors, and I don't think Spaces works either.


If it's a budget constraint, then rest assured that you'll be more than happy with the performance of productivity apps. For more demanding applications, you should probably consider running Bootcamp.

That said, it's criminal to get a Mac to run Windows full/most of the time Sadly, I know of people who spend their time in Bootcamp.

I try to keep as few things as possible on my VM, for manageability, stability etc, and I much prefer running Mac apps whenever possible.
     
Kyle76  (op)
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May 4, 2008, 09:43 AM
 
How does fusion work, exactly? Does XP automatically boot up with OSX or does it only boot when you are actually using a windows program? The two programs that I see myself using most are Outlook and Quicken. Quicken is something I don't have to use every day, but Outlook I will need almost all the time.
     
Cold Warrior
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May 4, 2008, 12:45 PM
 
Originally Posted by Kyle76 View Post
How does fusion work, exactly? Does XP automatically boot up with OSX or does it only boot when you are actually using a windows program? The two programs that I see myself using most are Outlook and Quicken. Quicken is something I don't have to use every day, but Outlook I will need almost all the time.
Fusion works a couple ways. It will boot up Windows as installed on your Boot Camp partition - if you decide to do that. Then this way Fusion runs that Windows in its own window inside OS X. It tends to work very well. You can run Windows programs installed on that copy of Windows within the Fusion window or turn on Coherence mode to remove the Windows desktop and have the applications look as if they're running natively on your Mac in its Dock.

The other way to use Fusion is with a virtual machine. Instead of running Windows from a Boot Camp partition, you can install Windows to a virtual machine - basically a single, large file Fusion creates to package the Windows OS, data, and applications. This file can be moved to an external drive and run from there (just point to it from Fusion) or kept locally on your Mac.
     
Kyle76  (op)
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May 4, 2008, 01:02 PM
 
I think I would like to have the Windows apps behave as native Mac apps and just access them on the dock. Does that mean I need to install Windows through Bootcamp and then install Fusion?
     
Cold Warrior
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May 4, 2008, 01:29 PM
 
You can install Windows that way or as a virtual machine. Either way works. My personal preference is to install via Boot Camp, that way I can boot exclusively into Windows when I need 100% of my Mac's RAM and CPU devoted to tasks.
     
Kyle76  (op)
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May 4, 2008, 03:29 PM
 
I don't mean to seem dense here, but are you saying that whether I install Windows via Bootcamp or Fusion that I will have the same options? I don't want to install it one way and then wish I had done it the other.
     
Cold Warrior
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May 4, 2008, 03:40 PM
 
You'll have the same options from within Fusion. However, installing via Boot Camp gives you the addition option (independent of Fusion) of booting exclusively into Windows, in case you find you are running a more intensive Windows application and want all of the Mac's CPU, GPU, and RAM.
     
Kyle76  (op)
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May 4, 2008, 03:44 PM
 
Thanks for the response. So installing via Bootcamp gives me one more option, and I lose none? That sounds like the way to go. Thanks again.
     
Cold Warrior
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May 4, 2008, 03:45 PM
 
No problem.

It's the option I use and prefer. Maybe someone else will chime in with their thoughts.
     
naphtali
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May 5, 2008, 08:55 AM
 
Off the cuff, here are some advantages of using a VM instead of Bootcamp:

- Snapshot feature - Take a picture of a Windows setup you're happy with and if you mess up (tolerably), you can have Fusion revert to that snapshot. Currently this is not enabled if you ask Fusion to use the Bootcamp partition

- Back up / transfer of VM - the VM appears just like a normal file, so you can just copy it over to another drive to have your entire Windows installation backed up


Additional concern:

- If you have Fusion suspend the Bootcamp Windows installation, you might face problems when you try to boot into it natively through Bootcamp


You could always start with the Fusion VM option first. If you don't like anything about it, you can simply delete the VM image and create a Bootcamp partition. This is more easily reversed than the Bootcamp option
     
Kyle76  (op)
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May 5, 2008, 09:35 AM
 
I like the idea of just moving my entire Windows installation from my laptop to my new Mac, which is coming Wednesday BTW. It sure seems like it would make the transition easy. I assume that my Windows VM would be just like using my PC right now with all programs, setting, documents, etc. right there, so I don't have to find all my old disks and reinstall all my PC apps. My PC's HDD has about 18 gigs of space used right now, which will easily fit on my new 200-gig MBP. What I don't want is the junk that I suspect is slowing down my PC and causing it to crash on a regular basis. Of course, a faster processor and more memory might prevent some of those crashes. Any suggestions?

A follow-up: if I migrate my entire PC hard drive to the Mac, do I need to install Windows XP or does the OS come with everything else?
( Last edited by Kyle76; May 5, 2008 at 01:04 PM. Reason: Correction)
     
Kyle76  (op)
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May 6, 2008, 03:21 PM
 
I am trying to clone my laptop using the VMWare Converter program. Everythings seems to work fine (copying to a USB external drive), but the task gets to about 78% completion and then fails (twice so far). According to the log, there is a read error. Has anyone else encountered this? My Mac came this morning, so I'm anxious to get everything moved over.
     
Beetlebug
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May 6, 2008, 08:09 PM
 
I'm on a crusade. A trojan horse ate three brand new Windows XP machines, behind firewalls, with the latest anti-virus. It followed me home and ate my XP at home, too. I had a couple of Macs already, and just went out and bought new iMacs for everyone rather than continuing to take the risk of a Trojan sending my passwords to the Russian mafia.

I manage a multi-million $ charity. We use Quicken extensively, especially its QIF feature to move data among our offices.

The conversion to Mac was not without pain. Some, but not all, Quicken data transfers. We had stopped upgrading Windows Qkn at 98; after that version the Windows upgrades were a lot of unnecessary stuff, and the broker downloads I tried for about a week never came in with useful categories.

So here's the deal. IF you have your old PC and it still works, just leave it alone with all its Quicken data intact. When you need info from your old machine, there it is. We kept one uninfected XP laptop with six years of data backed up on it and haven't turnd it on in a year.

Then start a fresh install of Quicken 2007 in your new Mac. Begin with May, and work forward. If you really really want your old data from the Windows machine, run summary reports and enter just the summaries into your new Mac with Quicken Mac 2007.

You'll miss some Windows features in Mac Quicken. But you will gain the QIF feature back that Intuit has killed in Windows. (Look up QIF Master, a shareware program you might find useful). And I have found that in Mac Quicken, it is possible to do much more with the clipboard, copying and pasting data in and out.

You won't regret leaving Windows behind. So leave it behind!
     
@pplejaxkz
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May 7, 2008, 09:36 PM
 
My first ever pc was an IBM Thinkpad, I remember the little red mouse ball.

If Quicken is really the only thing holding you back, make the switch bottom line. I would go ahead and use "beetlebug's" Method and you should be fine. You have a lot to gain in my opinion. Good luck!
     
Kyle76  (op)
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May 8, 2008, 02:37 PM
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. While I like the "purity" of an all-Mac setup, I had already purchased Windows XP and Fusion, which I have installed, along with Quicken. I'll probably install MS Office as well, so I can continue to use Outlook, which is loaded with years of data (yes, I have exported the file to Mail, Address Book and iCal, but they're not integrated like Outlook. Wish me luck ...
     
   
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