Switching from PC Windows 10 laptop to Apple laptop – Questions

[Joyful]

Hi – I’m piggybacking on a current thread regarding Windows 10… as you know Windows 10 will no longer be supported for free as of October 2025.
I’m thinking that this is an opportune time to switch from the windows environment to the Apple environment since I have an iPad and iPhone that I love. Being on one ecosystem would also allow me to transfer photos, music easier, etc., etc..
My questions are:
1. How easy will the transition be from PC/Windows 10 to an Apple laptop?
2. How easy is it to use MS word, MS excel, on an Apple laptop?
3. Which model of an Apple laptop do you recommend? I use my pc/windows laptop primarily for email, spreadsheets and Internet access - banking, searches, etc. I don’t game.
4. How much memory and hard drive space do you recommend? Can the memory on an apple laptop be upgraded?
5. When is a good time to buy an apple laptop? Now after Christmas, or back to school time?
6. Where can I obtain the lowest pricing on an Apple laptop?
7. What monitor size is Best on an Apple laptop? Can my acer external monitor that is connected to my PC windows laptop be connected to an Apple laptop?
8. If I save all of my documents, photos etc. to an external hard drive can I just plug that external hard drive into an Apple laptop and be able to access my documents and Photos on the Apple laptop?

Thanks in advance!

[valleyrock]

I second this question. I sure have a lot of files on my Windows 10 computer. How bad is switching and the learning curve to do the switching.

I'm thinking of switching to Macs and an iPhone also because of better security, and ease of use.

Pro tip. Back up everything assiduously before going to the Apple Store. You can lose files there if they help with transitioning to a new phone or whatever. Happened to me.

[comeonbenjals!]

I think you'll like the Apple environment. The seamlessness between their products is unmatched.


1. It's fairly different from a user perspective, but Apple is designed with simplicity in mind (generally). Things like keyboard shortcuts, file systems, and other OS differences will take a bit of time to get used to. I don't think you'll struggle too much... there's a wealth of knowledge on youtube as well

2. Easy- you need to purchase from Microsoft, but works great. (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microso ... 65-for-mac)

3. Are you cranking on huge spreadsheets? If not a Macbook Air would be sufficient. MacBook Pro would be better if you're doing some heavy lifting regularly.

4. Depends on how many files and pictures/videos you have. I would say it's never a bad idea to step one tier up on SSD size. It cannot be upgraded after purchase unfortunately.

5. I'm not aware that Apple has scheduled discounts from their official site. Perhaps in July before school starts. I'm sure Best Buy and other retailers have discounts and sales throughout the year.

6. Likely a retailer like Best Buy.

7. Depends on how much you use it docked or as a laptop. The Air is very light, but a 15 in does make it bulkier for travel. You can connect external monitors, but with the newer laptops you made need to check that your monitor can handle the new cable.
(www.support.apple.com/guide/macbook-air ... d74f57/mac

8. Yes -- there's always a chance that there's some differences between the way Apple and Windows reads files, but generally they will transfer fine. Your approach to transfer would work well.

I think you'll enjoy a Macbook, especially since you've already got an iPad/iPhone. Make sure your apple id is set up properly... and be sure to pay for iCloud backup/storage!

[cjcerny]

I switched about 6 months ago, but it had nothing to do with the sunset of Windows 10. You're always going to have sunsets, even on Apple hardware.

That being said, I did not struggle with the switch. Some things are better, some are worse, but it would be impossible to tell you what those things are for you--we all use computers a little differently. For me, the hardest part about the switch is getting my head wrapped around Time Machine.

If you have other Apple devices, you will find that they are much better integrated with an Apple desktop or laptop. If you don't, there really isn't a lot of reason to switch, other than that Apple devices are well made. In other words, you can't really buy a crappy Apple laptop or desktop. They are all well made, quiet, fast, and have great displays. There are plenty of badly made Windows machines out there.

[Joyful]

Thank you... all of your responses are extremely helpful. I will have to spend some time checking out MACs at Costco, Best Buy and the Apple Store. I'll check back in when I have a few MAC models in mind.

[OrangeKiwi]

2. Easy- you need to purchase from Microsoft, but works great. (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microso ... 65-for-mac)

You can buy a one time purchase license for $150 on Amazon. And then it can be linked to your Microsoft account, and you can install it on subsequent computers too (but I think Microsoft only allows one computer to have it “activated” at a time).

[Tom_T]

Thank you... all of your responses are extremely helpful. I will have to spend some time checking out MACs at Costco, Best Buy and the Apple Store. I'll check back in when I have a few MAC models in mind.

I think a good choice for you is a MacBook Air M3 with 16 GB RAM. Amazon has it on sale for $899. My wife and daughter both use it, and they're happy with it. They do e-mail, Web surfing, and Word/Excel.

Before I retired, I was using a Mac from work, along with my Windows home machine, and I liked it. I've been thinking about abandoning my Windows 10 desktop one of these days.

One good thing about switching to a Mac is that it gives you access to Apple's password app, which will allow you to have your passwords available on both the Mac and any other Apple device, and backed up on their cloud.

[Gecko10x]

2. How easy is it to use MS word, MS excel, on an Apple laptop?

People always ask this, and has been noted, it will work fine though you need to purchase a license from MS.

But for most people there's no real need to continue to use these programs. Apple offers their own suite of free comparable programs - Pages, Numbers, Keynote - that are different, but in many ways superior, and some ways inferior. Unless you have very unique or complex things going on in your existing MS documents, you can convert them over to Apple's format and stop using MS products. You can always use the free online versions of MS products for the rare instance you need to access something that doesn't convert or you need to collaborate with someone within that product suite.

I generally find the Apple products far more pleasant to use.

[02nz]

I've tried switching from Windows to Mac, but each time I've given up in frustration with some of macOS's quirks. The biggest weaknesses IMO are in managing windows and working with multiple monitors. I think the more of a "power user" you are, the more steeper the curve, whereas many novice users have probably never used the features and shortcuts that I became used to in Windows and would find the transition easier.

Another factor is that we do far more in browsers these days than 10 or 20 years ago, and after launching a browser your software experience is pretty much the same on either platform, and app compatibility is less of an issue. And Apple Silicon (M1 and later) Macs have compelling advantages in performance and efficiency.

[bendix]

It´s not impossible to do. But it´s also not easy. I have a Mac mini around and I cant bother to do a thing with it because it´s all so annoyingly different from my 35+ years of using Windows.

[OrangeKiwi]

The biggest weaknesses IMO are in managing windows and working with multiple monitors.

Pretty similar to windows now.

https://www.macrumors.com/2024/06/12/ma ... ow-tiling/

[GoldStar]

1) I use both and have for years. Switching in either direction can be difficult if you aren't patient and don't want to put in the time.
2) Regarding Microsoft Office Apps - have you tried using Google Suite? When I first did I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to move over and how compatible it was with most of my files. The Apple programs (Numbers, Pages, Keynote, etc) are pretty horrendous (at least in my opinion) compared to either MS or Google - but Google's are free for personal use and fully featured for what most people need.
You can try using Google now and even do all the converting now using a browser on Windows and then everything will work when you go to Mac.
If you want to pay MS and continue to use their Apps on Mac - feel free to do so.

[GoldStar]

3. Which model of an Apple laptop do you recommend? I use my pc/windows laptop primarily for email, spreadsheets and Internet access - banking, searches, etc. I don’t game.
You would probably do fine with MacAir. Screen size is personal preference.
4. How much memory and hard drive space do you recommend? Can the memory on an apple laptop be upgraded?
For what you do - you probably don't need a lot of memory but be aware it cannot be upgraded - so going up a bit from the base offer will give you some future proofing. Hard drive space- do you store files in the cloud or do you need local storage? Look at current utilization and double that at a minimum.
5. When is a good time to buy an apple laptop? Now after Christmas, or back to school time?
When they come out with new models some 3rd party sites will have prior generation models on discount.
6. Where can I obtain the lowest pricing on an Apple laptop?
Current gen models are essentially price fixed so you get basically the same price anywhere. If you want to save money you can buy prior generation from any certified reseller. Need to shop around.
7. What monitor size is Best on an Apple laptop? Can my acer external monitor that is connected to my PC windows laptop be connected to an Apple laptop?
You can probably use your current monitor if it has modern connectivity (HDMI or DP) - you should verify.
8. If I save all of my documents, photos etc. to an external hard drive can I just plug that external hard drive into an Apple laptop and be able to access my documents and Photos on the Apple laptop?
Typically yes depening on how the hard drive is formatted. But to write back to it via Apple you have to make sure it is formatted using exFAT and not NTFS. You can always reformat it to one of mac's prefered formats after everything is moved over.

[FatefulTanker]

Hi – I’m piggybacking on a current thread regarding Windows 10… as you know Windows 10 will no longer be supported for free as of October 2025.
I’m thinking that this is an opportune time to switch from the windows environment to the Apple environment since I have an iPad and iPhone that I love. Being on one ecosystem would also allow me to transfer photos, music easier, etc., etc..
My questions are:
1. How easy will the transition be from PC/Windows 10 to an Apple laptop?
2. How easy is it to use MS word, MS excel, on an Apple laptop?
3. Which model of an Apple laptop do you recommend? I use my pc/windows laptop primarily for email, spreadsheets and Internet access - banking, searches, etc. I don’t game.
4. How much memory and hard drive space do you recommend? Can the memory on an apple laptop be upgraded?
5. When is a good time to buy an apple laptop? Now after Christmas, or back to school time?
6. Where can I obtain the lowest pricing on an Apple laptop?
7. What monitor size is Best on an Apple laptop? Can my acer external monitor that is connected to my PC windows laptop be connected to an Apple laptop?
8. If I save all of my documents, photos etc. to an external hard drive can I just plug that external hard drive into an Apple laptop and be able to access my documents and Photos on the Apple laptop?

Thanks in advance!

2. I have a family Microsoft 365 subscription. It is shared between 6 people in the family. $100 a year full price is $1.39 per month. You get all the programs for Mac and pcs. There might be some limits on how many computers you can have, but I think it is a lot, or 10 or something. You also get 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage for easy sharing of files between your pc and the new mac. I use both MS and Apple office software, but if it was just me, I'd just use the Apple ones. But complex spreadsheets might need some edits.
3. Mac mini, or MacBook Air 13" or 15". Form factor is personal preference.
4. You can't upgrade memory or storage after on macs after they are purchased. 16gb memory is standard now which should be fine for you. You might consider increasing hard drive storage to 512GB from the entry level 256. You can use external drives but you have to format them different. 1TB of OneDrive storage of some Apple iCloud storage can mitigate that. I have mini and a 2TB external SSD (about $100 these days). You have to format the external drives for Mac for best usage. A bigger old style hard drive for backups is recommended. Mac Time Machine backups are nice, especially to a network storage or on the Mini. For a laptop only household, maybe plug one in weekly and let it back up itself. If you use iPhoto for your iPhone photos, they integrate (I don't use this so not details here)
5. You can buy from Mac education store all the time, nobody checks if you are a student. Back to school and Black Friday are always good.
6. Apple education store, Microcenter, BestBuy, Amazon have good sales. Mac refurbished used to have good deals, not so much anymore.
7. They should work well with 27" 4K monitors, 27" or 5K monitors (like Apple's monitor), the more expensive the better it seems. There could be issues with widescreen or 5K2K monitors if you have one of those. You will probably need need a dongle USB-C to HDMI to something to hook up your old monitor if it doesn' have thunderbolt of usb-c. Sometimes you have to buy a better cable than the one that comes with it.
8. Yes. There are some formatting issues, but they can be overcome. I find it easier to do network sharing or use cloud drives to exchange files.

[LadyGeek]

This thread is now in the Personal Consumer Issues forum (laptop).

(Thanks to the member who reported the post and explained what's wrong.)

[CatsAreCute]

All great questions. Some thoughts below....

1. How easy will the transition be from PC/Windows 10 to an Apple laptop?

Apple has a Migration Assistant. In addition, Apple (and others) have many articles on-line to explain how to make the switch. It's not difficult, just depends upon how much data you are moving which will take some time for everything to copy.

2. How easy is it to use MS word, MS excel, on an Apple laptop?

You can either buy a one-time license, or have an Office365 annual subscription. The applications are incredibly similar to their Windows counterparts. But, you could use Google Sheets, or Apple's iWork apps as an alternative.

3. Which model of an Apple laptop do you recommend? I use my pc/windows laptop primarily for email, spreadsheets and Internet access - banking, searches, etc. I don’t game.

I'd recommend a Macbook Air. M3 processor or better. You don't need a Pro model unless you do a lot of video production work.

4. How much memory and hard drive space do you recommend? Can the memory on an apple laptop be upgraded?

Get 16MB of memory. 256gb or 512gb of storage. You can't upgrade after the fact. It's all on one "system on a chip" (SoC).

5. When is a good time to buy an apple laptop? Now after Christmas, or back to school time?

Anytime. Also, look for specials at Best Buy or Amazon which run from time to time. The site MacRumors lists the best current deals: https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/best-apple-deals/

6. Where can I obtain the lowest pricing on an Apple laptop?

Also consider purchasing a "Apple Certified Refurbished" model. The link is on the bottom of the Apple website. https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished
All of these are as good as new, have the same warranty, and can save you a couple hundred dollars compared to brand new.

7. What monitor size is Best on an Apple laptop? Can my acer external monitor that is connected to my PC windows laptop be connected to an Apple laptop?

It depends upon the connector. If the Acer monitor supports USB-C or Thunderbolt, they yes. Otherwise, you might need to buy a dongle adapter to use monitor with a Macbook.

8. If I save all of my documents, photos etc. to an external hard drive can I just plug that external hard drive into an Apple laptop and be able to access my documents and Photos on the Apple laptop?

Depending upon how the external drive is formatted, yes, you should be able to plug it in and read the files.

Once the migration is done, you can also setup things like TimeMachine (for hassle free backups), iCloud storage, use a Password Manager.

Good Luck!

[VaR]

8. If I save all of my documents, photos etc. to an external hard drive can I just plug that external hard drive into an Apple laptop and be able to access my documents and Photos on the Apple laptop?
Typically yes depening on how the hard drive is formatted. But to write back to it via Apple you have to make sure it is formatted using exFAT and not NTFS. You can always reformat it to one of mac's prefered formats after everything is moved over.

It's worth clarifying that what @GoldStar means is that Macs can, by default, read NTFS but not write to it (without 3rd party software).

You'll have some extra/alternative backup options with Mac so it might be worth looking for a thread on that, or starting one if one doesn't already exist. Why do you store all your documents on an external drive and what kind of drive is it?

[meanween]

1. How easy will the transition be from PC/Windows 10 to an Apple laptop?

The Apple "Migration Assistant" can help. Used it recently and it did copy over things like bookmarks and files, but I believe cached username/password won't come over. So be prepared for that. I found on Windows I had to also disable the Windows firewall completely to get it to work over the network.

2. How easy is it to use MS word, MS excel, on an Apple laptop?

As others have noted the built in Mac software is good. If not you can purchase MS products which will give you a similar experience.

3. Which model of an Apple laptop do you recommend? I use my pc/windows laptop primarily for email, spreadsheets and Internet access - banking, searches, etc. I don’t game.

Personally I use a '22 MacBook Air M2. Came from an Intel MacBook Pro and wow.. huge difference in performance. For what you are doing it sounds like any M2 and up system would be fine (M2, M3, or M4). However the biggest improvement I've noticed is the M-chip Macs battery life is phenomenal.

4. How much memory and hard drive space do you recommend? Can the memory on an apple laptop be upgraded?

Buy the system you need from the start, they aren't upgradable. For what you are doing for memory 8GB is probably fine, 16G might nice but overkill. I use 8GB own mine and can't say I've needed more than that so far. Hard drive space varies on what you want to store locally.

6. Where can I obtain the lowest pricing on an Apple laptop?

I like to leverage Chase rewards when the Apple gift cards occasionally go "on-sale", granted they aren't on-sale now but they seem to spring up occasionally. Costco sometimes has them on-sale if you are member, but the last Mac I wanted to get there was only $50 cheaper (a Mac Mini) but since it was never in stock went straight to the Apple Store.

7. What monitor size is Best on an Apple laptop? Can my acer external monitor that is connected to my PC windows laptop be connected to an Apple laptop?

Personal preference for me is based on the overall size of the laptop. I prefer the 13" model for portability/weight. The external monitor could be plugged in if you wanted a secondary display, however keep in mind depending on the model you buy it might need a USB hub. I use a $25 Anker 5-in1 USB-C hub for if I need an HDMI out and to read SDCards with my system. Works without issue.

8. If I save all of my documents, photos etc. to an external hard drive can I just plug that external hard drive into an Apple laptop and be able to access my documents and Photos on the Apple laptop?

Yes, as others have noted make sure it's formatted as FAT (exFAT or FAT32) vs NTFS.

[ScallopBrain]

4. How much memory and hard drive space do you recommend? Can the memory on an apple laptop be upgraded?

As a general user, with the M2/M3/M4 chips, you will be fine with 8GB RAM. I have both a 13" M2 Air with 16GB RAM and an 15" M2 air with 8GB, and I can't tell any difference in performance. They are both zippy and more than satisfy my needs.

I regularly have 20+ tabs open in Firefox, more tabs open in Safari, steaming music playing, a document manager running several databases (up to 100 GB in size), Excel, an email client, and a bunch of other stuff, the 8GB machine handles that without hiccups. I'm glad I did not waste the extra money on more RAM. Apple charges quite a premium for it, banking-- I think-- on people wanting to "futureproof" their machines or vastly overestimating how much RAM they need for their usage.

6. Where can I obtain the lowest pricing on an Apple laptop?

Apple Refurbished -- directly from Apple, don't buy used/refurbished from random sites-- can save you money. It's not always the cheapest option, but it's covered by AppleCare and you can return it. The computer itself will look and feel like a new one, just in a less fancy box. When I bought my most recent laptop (a 15" Macbook Air M2, last year), the refurbished price from Apple was a bit more than from Adorama or B&H, but the return policy was much, much better. (I was concerned about stepping down in RAM to 8GB, but as noted above, it was fine).

Also, I've never paid more to extend AppleCare, and I've been fine. The money I've saved in not buying AppleCare over the years is enough to nearly cover a new laptop at this point, probably.