PC to Apple iMac Commercial Appraisals

I recently purchased a basic iMac because I have wanted to get back to an Apple machine after being stuck on the PC platform for years.  Actually it's a 27" iMac 5k Retina with only 4 GB or RAM and a 1 Tb HDD.  So the first thing I did was to take a number of my commercial work files and transferred them from my PC machine to my iMac.  I didn't have any expectations.

To answer the question that you many immediately ask, yes I could have simply installed a Windows operating system on a portion of my iMac hard drive and basically used my iMac as a PC.  I was however more interested to see if the iMac, without being turned into a PC, could be an alternative to my PC for commercial assignments without being a faux PC.

Of course I installed Office 2011 on my iMac since I was using Office 2013 on my PC.  I didn't expect to transition without some compatibility.  What I didn't expect when I moved my files to the iMac however was a flawless transition, but that's what I got.  All of my .jpg files, my .pdf files and sundry other files had appropriate preview icons and opened without a hitch.  In fact the iMac icons let me scroll through Office documents as icons, that is an amazing iMac feature.

I immediately started looking for problems.  The Word files were perfect as far as I can tell.  I then checked my Excel spreadsheets to see if the pages that I created on my PC for real property income analysis still used data called from other Excel pages, and I found that Excel worked exactly on the iMac as it had on my PC, I couldn't find a single problem. 

Having data files transition correctly is one thing, having the system work the way my PC did through my report development is another.  So I started working on my latest assignment using strictly my new iMac.  Yes I kept my PC working side-by-side with my iMac just in case I ran into a problem. 

I have had an iPad since its introduction several years ago and Safari has not been the most compatible program for accessing some of the data that I need on Realtor sites a local government site, so I took a look at these sources once more.   I use the Clark County Openweb site tor basic real property information and my most recent search revealed the site is working on my iMac (and on my iPad as well). 

Safari will download and installs Microsoft Silverlight and all of the functions available using it on the PC now work on my iMac via Safari.  Yes there are one or two Internet Explorer hold-out websites that absolutely will not allow access via any other browser, but they are few and far between.  For me the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR) run by Core Logic is one of the hold outs.  Since it's not often a useful site for commercial appraisal assignments it's no great loss.

I found that I still needed a copy of the program "Snag It" by Tech Smith which is available for the iMac to make my downloading life easier, but beyond some relatively simple fixes my iMac without Windows gets my commercial appraisal writing work done with flair. 

PC's are a long way off when compared to my iMac with regard to email and messaging.  There is no need to be fumbling with my iPhone all of the functionality is on my iMac.  I am rediscovering all of the reasons why I started my computing on a Mac and wish I had stayed.

For more appraisal information contact Glenn J. Rigdon MA, MRICS, ASA is a Las Vegas / Henderson Nevada based appraiser who can be contacted via email or via his business website known as Appraiser Las Vegas  (http://www.appraiserlasvegas.com), or you can also click on “Contact Us” on the home page of this website or visit my public profile at LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/glenn-rigdon-ma-mrics-asa/1a/30b/879/

Article source: http://www.appraisalarticles.com/Appraisal-Software/4578-PC-to-Apple-iMac-Commercial-Appraisals.html