Transfering to a new Mac
16/04/14 Filed in: Hardware | virtualization
Scotty, my 5 year old MacBook is acting tired, and I am thinking of getting a new one. If you remember, I like to run Windows for both Quicken and TurboTax so I have used VMWare. Also, I prefer Word and Excel over the Apple products.
As I am thinking of buying, how do I sequence what I do. I assume Apple doesn’t want to do those extras.
So, do I buy the Mac, then download VMWare? Assume all files can be accessed from the cloud although I would do a complete backup as well.
How much RAM do I need to run both?
Then buy Office for the Mac.
___________
It sounds like you may be headed toward the MacBook Pro. You are correct that Apple doesn’t preinstall any of the third party software you mentioned so the order you laid out is correct. You’ll buy the computer first, then download the latest Version of VMware and Microsoft Office. However, if you currently have those installed on your current mac, you should be able to use Migration assistant to move those applications from the old to the new computer. You may have to reenter the product keys to re-authenticate each. Your old vmware fusion windows file lives in your documents folder and would need to be transferred to the new computer and will include all your windows applications such as quicken, turbo tax, etc....Those shouldn’t have to be reinstalled. Office can be purchased and downloaded for around $160 although Microsoft is moving to a subscription based model of around $10 per month. More info on that can be found at microsoft.com/mac.
As far as ram is concerned, the more the better. The default amount that comes with every current Macbook pro is plenty but you can add more at time of purchase as a Built to order model.
As I am thinking of buying, how do I sequence what I do. I assume Apple doesn’t want to do those extras.
So, do I buy the Mac, then download VMWare? Assume all files can be accessed from the cloud although I would do a complete backup as well.
How much RAM do I need to run both?
Then buy Office for the Mac.
___________
It sounds like you may be headed toward the MacBook Pro. You are correct that Apple doesn’t preinstall any of the third party software you mentioned so the order you laid out is correct. You’ll buy the computer first, then download the latest Version of VMware and Microsoft Office. However, if you currently have those installed on your current mac, you should be able to use Migration assistant to move those applications from the old to the new computer. You may have to reenter the product keys to re-authenticate each. Your old vmware fusion windows file lives in your documents folder and would need to be transferred to the new computer and will include all your windows applications such as quicken, turbo tax, etc....Those shouldn’t have to be reinstalled. Office can be purchased and downloaded for around $160 although Microsoft is moving to a subscription based model of around $10 per month. More info on that can be found at microsoft.com/mac.
As far as ram is concerned, the more the better. The default amount that comes with every current Macbook pro is plenty but you can add more at time of purchase as a Built to order model.
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