Mac Converts... what's your experience comparing Premiere Win vs Mac?

MauryJ

This isn't about the process of converting to a MacBook from Windows, it's about the Mac user experience compared to Windows. What do you like? What do you miss?

I'm a 2022 Premiere user on Windows, but I want to move it to my MacBook (M1 Pro) for several reasons. That said, I've been a Quicken user since 1995 on Windows and am 2 inches from pulling the trigger. I feel like this is a big step after 27 years on Windows, even though my affinity for Mac is greater (plus the rest of my ecosystem is Apple), so I'd like to understand the differences, and especially from Windows converts. Thanks to all!

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MauryJ

Thanks so much! That's exactly what I was looking for! I was considering using Parallels, but only if I had to. I'm recently retired, so many of these don't move the needle for me. Zillow is nice, and ironically, one would think a new user would gravitate toward budget planning, but I never did that, even in 1995, so it won't be missed... Yet, I was considering seeing to what extent it could help now that my income is more constrained and predictable.

Investment and bill paying is where I'm focused mostly, so the Morningstar and other metrics are more concerning. I'm a partner in a LLC that rents a property, so it seems like home and business would have limited applicability.

So, I guess here's a few more questions for you:
1) What types of metrics were you referring to regarding investments? Columns in the Portfolio View under the Investing tab? I'm not asking for a comprehensive list, but just some idea of what is missing

2) Does the Mac version get new features very often? Do you see regular enhancements, functionality improvements, and bug fixes? Especially adding features, This Quicken team is so much more proactive than Intuit, one would hope

3) When you use Parallels, how do software updates work? When you open Quicken in a VM and Quicken starts on of its automatic updates, does the new software version get saved?

Thanks again - can't tell you how much I appreciate this!

J_Mike

@MauryJ

In your OP you indicate that you currently operate with Win and Mac systems.
Suggest you download and install QMac - both QWin and QMac areavaailable to you under your subscription.
Convert a copy of your Win file to the Mac.
Now run both versions for a period of time.
Yes, it is a little extra  work but you get the hands on experience to arrive at the final decision.

IFWIW, I run both versions side by side. I have been running Win for over 20 years and added Mac starting with the 2015 edition.  QWin runs on my iMac under Parallels/Win10.
Running both versions has become one of my hobbies.

Summarizing my experience/opiniom;
QWin has more features but I generally do not use them - none are compelling to me.
I particularly like QMacs investment registers - the flexibility in selecting columns and column order and the filtering capanility.
The Drag and Drop capability in QMacis great.
QNachasthe dark mode option which I find very helpful given some personal vision problems.


If forced ro choose, I would go forward with QMac.

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MauryJ

Awesome info. I was a little nervous about doing a download on the Mac, then Windows (or vice versa), and wondered if my most recent transactions will download a second time with the same Quicken ID, or if that's file dependent? I'm going to install the Mac Version and go through some of the release notes before I clone my Windows file. Really helpful. Thanks!

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MauryJ

It looks like Fusion for M powered Macs is available from this article. VMware site appears to have previews, not sure about production releases
https://trendmac.com/vmware-fusion-for-mac-m1/

MontanaKarl

MauryJ said:

Awesome info. I was a little nervous about doing a download on the Mac, then Windows (or vice versa), and wondered if my most recent transactions will download a second time with the same Quicken ID, or if that's file dependent? 

Your transactions will download correctly on both QMac and QWin ... so there is no reason not to run the two in parallel for you to evaluate QMac ... as several above (and I) do.

I prefer QMac for what it can do.  The biggest limitation for me is reporting.  The reports that it does do are beautiful and quick.  But, it cannot do reports that break down data with various column types like QWin where you can vary the rows and columns - most typically categories for rows and time periods, tags, etc for columns - or multiple time period comparisons.

Also for fixed income securities, some QMac reports just show the CUSIP for the bond/note ... not the name, making some reports (Schedule D) totally obscure.  QWin shows both CUSIP and name.

You mention and LLC:  as an LLC member, your distributions of course are trivial to do.  If you wanted a separate data file for the LLC financials (as the managing member) - QMac is extremely limited as it is basically a cash flow solution and cannot do what either Q H&B on Win can do ... or a true (double entry) accounting package.

For your data... it isn't so much that you will clone it.  QMac cannot read a QWIN QDF.  When you select the option to convert your data in QMac, it will upload it to a Quicken cloud server where it will be converted and then downloaded back to you (and if we believe them, deleted from the cloud afterwards).  The default location will be in your ~/Library folder on your Mac which infuriates me as it isn't an easy location for making thumb drive or other manual backups.  I personally move my data file into my Documents folder on the Mac where I can see it.

Please post back with your impressions and feedback (in a new topic) when you try QMac!

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MauryJ

Sorry for taking so long, folks. I'll be returning with some impressions soon. I've had several days worth of gymnastics to deal with in semi-not useful support from Quicken and dealing with exploring and maintenance from goof ups. Thanks for everyone's help. Info has been spot on.

smayer97

MauryJ said:

It looks like Fusion for M powered Macs is available from this article. VMware site appears to have previews, not sure about production releases
https://trendmac.com/vmware-fusion-for-mac-m1/

VMWare v12 is free for personal use if running macOS 11 Big Sur or higher. v13 now officially released. STILL free for personal use. Requires macOS 12 or higher.

dcourtright

I, too, have just converted to QMac. It is considerably different that QWin. Where is a video on how to navigate through it? The bill scheduling is quite different. Also, I use Bank of America and looks like QMac does not upload scheduled transactions to the Bank. Is it true you have to go to the bank and enter bill pay there. Once it is paid, it is downloaded from your bank. Right?

MauryJ

dcourtright - Did BoA work in Windows? If so, it should work in Mac. It's a little confusing at first. If you have Premiere then Quicken support should be able to walk you through it. Although it seems to be missing a few features, such as not being as modifiable, it's way faster and takes fewer steps to do most tasks. The Mac version to me feels like this is what Quicken would have created if they were building it from scratch. The Windows version feels dated and clunky because it's decades of piled on features. The code would have to be a little wobbly by this point.

I upload scheduled transactions by hitting "send" in the check # field. You build your transactions to upload right in the register. There are a few different types of bill pay in Quicken, so you have to verify which one you have, but if it's the old school one where in Windows you launch download center and then fill in a check, save it, and then upload, then use the "Send" feature in the Mac register