[Closed] Software transfer between computers question-Mac discontent content

If you can exchange - all well and good. Otherwise, look at getting some more memory into the machine. Try Crucial memory and get it upped to 8 to 16GB - 4 is pretty small these days.

I'm pretty sure Adobe should be OK to transfer - but someone else may give you a definitive answer.

Yes I plan to upgrade the memory later, it's much cheaper to do if not by Apple. I think maybe the quad core processor should handle stuff better.
Quite surprised though really. I'm usually on the fence with Apple versus Windows, but the phrase 'it just works' you hear so often for Apple seems a bit off here...

de-register it on the old machine first and then do a clean install* with your serial number. You can move cross platforms.
I would put 16gb ram in there if you are working on bigger photoshop files, it's not very expensive. ram is used for scratch disk and you need to allocate that in the photoshop preferences (I would allocate 10gb if you have 16gb)
The machine will be faster if you don't have other apps left open in the background, you are quitting those apps aren't you? Just closing the window doesn't close the app.

* adobe make it hard to just download photoshop 6 (non-extended) as they want you to 'upgrade' to creative cloud. I searched the site for ages trying to find it and gave up after a while and contacted adobe support who ended up giving me a URL for Lightroom that I had to manually modify to point to the photoshop download, evidently it's a lot easier to find now.

As above, stick as much RAM in as possible and make sure you deactivate the previous license first.

The other option would be to do a time machine backup to a removable disk from your current mac and then restore it to the new mac on arrival. That would restore all your files and preferences as well.

It's maybe a little more complex as the software is via Kivuto solutions, not directly from Adobe, as I got it through my job in a FE College. They already let me re-download it as I had switched platforms from Windows to Mac.

I think I will try to persevere with Mac for now though, despite it all seeming very counter-intuitive coming from Windows. Just merely finding my files in the logical way Windows does it seems a royal pita...

Thanks for the advice, some good things to try there, though still, I was expecting everything to 'just work' right out of the box, maybe naively...

The other option would be to do a time machine backup to a removable disk from your current mac and then restore it to the new mac on arrival. That would restore all your files and preferences as well.

Good plan thanks, that just leaves the problem of all my Ext-hard drives being formatted for Windows.. Doh!
It's just like mountainbike components! 😆

Your hard drives will still work.

Mac navigation is just the same?? click on cascading folder opening and it looks just the same.

Imagine what you would do in the real world is a good rule if you are not sure.

Your hard drives will still work.

It's my understanding, and experience, that you can pull files off the ext-hard drives which were put there on a windows machine, but then you can't write to them..?

I worked on images on the Mac and tried saving them in my ext HD , which I use as a backup for my images, and they won't go.

I read about having to partition the drive to run a FAT32 thingy for Windows and an Apple one whatever it is...?

You're right. Mac OSX can read NTFS but can't write it. Most probably a copyright/patent thing.

To really speed things up (after memory install) you could see if you can get an SSD drive in place of the hard disk - the Mini comes with a laptop hard drive running at 5400rpm.

To really speed things up (after memory install) you could see if you can get an SSD drive in place of the hard disk - the Mini comes with a laptop hard drive running at 5400rpm.

A hybrid drive would be a better option as no doubt you'll have a lot of large image files knocking around you can put on the conventional spinning section of the disk and let the disk prioritize the apps/OS.

Install NTFS-3G and you can read/write NTFS quite happily.

Cheers scrumfled. Not heard of that before. Worth looking into I reckon.

Thanks for the advice, some good things to try there, though still, I was expecting everything to 'just work' right out of the box, maybe naively...

It's true, but, and there is a but, Minis aren't, generally speaking, sold as a desktop graphics/photography machine, unlike iMacs. Not to say they can't be used, but they do need a lot more RAM than comes as standard, Minis were originally designed as a replacement for a home Wintel box, where there is already a monitor, keyboard and mouse sitting ready to be plugged in, ready to go.
Now, they come with better processors, server software installed to use as a small business machine, all kinds of stuff, but to really get the best performance, lots of RAM should be crowbarred in!
Oh, and as someone suggested, possibly a hybrid-SSD/HDD, where you shove your most used apps and OS on the SSD portion to speed up booting the machine and apps.
Mine's a couple of years old now, and came with 2Gb RAM, and a 350Gb HDD, with optical.
I had the optical removed, and a second 750Gb HDD installed in the empty bay. The dealer found an extra couple of gig of RAM, which they installed for free.
Mine is used pretty much as my music player, I don't have graphics 'ware on it, too tricky to use when the monitor's a 40" Sony Bravia!
However, I'm looking into having the 350Gb drive changed for a 1Tb Hybrid, and everything migrated onto it, with perhaps a 2Tb drive in the second bay for backing up, etc.
And maybe a lot more RAM!
Great little machine, it sits under one corner of the telly, could have been made to fit the space. 😀

Thanks.
Yeah I'm returning the model I have I've decided and getting the middle one 2.3ghz, quad-core I7 etc etc.
Then, when funds allow, I'll stick some more RAM in there. After reading up a bit, I think maybe the better upgrade to do first may be the SSD?