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Switch to Mac: Bring your hardware with you

Dan Frakes
@danfrakes Jul 2, 2013 3:00 AM

When switching to a Mac, youll likely worry most about software compatibility, but dont forget all your hardwarethe PC accessories and add-ons youve invested in over the years. Heres what you need to know about getting that gear to work with your Mac.

Keyboards
Any USB or Bluetooth keyboard (including wireless keyboards that require a USB dongle) will work with the Macjust plug it in and start typing. However, some keys work differently on the Mac (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/970299), and a Windows keyboard wont include the special-function keys youll nd on Mac-specic keyboards.

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Change which keys you use for shortcuts under the Keyboard preferences.

If you frequently use keyboard shortcuts, youll learn that while shortcuts in Windows typically include the Control key, OS X shortcuts more often use the Command key. If youre using a Windows-formatted keyboard with a Mac, the Windows key functions as the Command key; similarly, the Alt key functions as the Macs Option key. (You can change these mappings by going to the Keyboard pane of System Preferences, and clicking Modier Keys on the Keyboard screen. For example, you could map your Windows keyboards Control key to the Command keypress.) Similarly, the Mac keyboards Delete key corresponds to the Windows Backspace or Backward Delete key; to delete forward, you can (on Mac keyboards with a number pad) press the Forward Delete key or (on laptops and compact keyboards) press Fn-Delete.

Add special functions to your third-party keyboard with Keyboard Maestro.

Finally, many Mac-formatted keyboards have special functions assigned to the F-keys along the top row. On these keyboards, the F-keys let youto name a few volume and screen brightness, control media playback, and 2examplesadjust of 8

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Switch to Mac: Bring your hardware with you | Macworld http://www.macworld.com/article/2042973/switch-to-mac-brin... access OS Xs built-in Mission Control and Expos features. You cant trigger
these special functions on a Windows keyboard by default, although if you pick up third-party software such as Keyboard Maestro (http://www.macworld.com/article /1150914/keyboardmaestro42.html), you can assign these actions to keys.

Mice
As with keyboards, any USB or Bluetooth mouse (including wireless mice that connect through a USB dongle) will work with the Mac; youll be able to click and right-click just as you did under Windows, and if your mouse has a scrollwheel, that will work, too. You control the mouses basic featurestracking speed, scrolling speed, double-click speed, and primary mouse buttonin the Mouse pane of System Preferences.

Change the tracking speed under Mouse preferences.

Note that in OS X 10.7 Lion and later, scrolling works the opposite of what Windows users are used to: When you spin your mouses scrollwheel toward you, the content of the current document or window scrolls down. Apple calls this approach natural scrolling, but if you nd it unnaturaland if youre not willing to acclimate to ityou can revert to traditional scrolling by using the Scroll direction setting in Mouse or Trackpad preferences. If you own a mouse with more than two buttons, the extra buttons might work in OS X, but they may require a driver. Check the vendors website for OS X drivers for your mouse. If drivers arent available directly from the vendor, consider the third-party utilities USB Overdrive (http://www.macworld.com/article/1143078 /usboverdrive3.html) and SteerMouse (http://www.macworld.com/article/1046490 /steermouse.html); they work with most mice and let you assign custom functions to each button, as well as perform other tweaks.

Other input devices

Most other third-party input devicesincluding trackpads and pen tablets should work with your Mac. As with multibutton mice, however, you may need to install drivers (from each peripherals vendor) to enable all of their features. If 3 of 8

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Switch to Mac: Bring your hardware with you | Macworld http://www.macworld.com/article/2042973/switch-to-mac-brin... drivers arent available directly from the vendor, USB Overdrive and SteerMouse,
mentioned above, will often ll the gap; similarly, if you have a Windows-formatted trackpad accessory, BetterTouchTool (http://www.macworld.com/article/1157058 /trackpadtricks.html) may let you tweak its functions under OS X. OS Xs natural-scrolling feature applies to any pointing/scrolling device, but you might not want the setting to be universal. For example, you may discover that you dislike natural scrolling for your mouse, but you prefer it for your trackpad or pen tablet because on those devices scrolling feels more like scrolling on an iPad or smartphone. The third-party utility Scroll Reverser (http://www.macworld.com /article/1161834/scroll_reverser.html) lets you tweak OS Xs natural-scrolling setting independently for mice and trackpadsyou can keep natural scrolling enabled for your trackpad, for instance, but revert to traditional scrolling for the scrollwheel on your mouse.
Fed up with natural scrolling? Change it with Scroll Reverser.

Hard drives
A Mac can read from and write to a hard drive formatted for Windows as FAT32 (but not as NTFS), assuming that you can connect the drive to your Mac. This includes any external hard drive that uses USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt. (No Mac has shipped with an eSATA port, but if youve added an eSATA port to your Mac, you can use eSATA drives, too.) However, Windows-formatted drives dont support all Mac features. For example, some le metadatabut not the le data itselfis lost when you copy les to a Windows-formatted drive, and you cant use a Windows drive as a startup drive or backup drive for a Mac. Conversely, Windows PCs cant read Mac-formatted drives without the assistance of special software.

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If you don't plan to use your external hard drives on a PC as well as a Mac, reformat them for OS X.

Such limitations mean that if you want to use an existing external hard drive with both your Mac and your Windows PC, you should keep it formatted for Windows and use it mainly for basic document storage. But if youll use the drive only with a Mac, youll want to reformat the drive, using Disk Utility, specically for the Mac.

Printers
Your printer may have come with a disc containing Mac software, or the printer vendor might make that software available from its website. In most cases, you can ignore this software. OS X ships with drivers for most popular printersyou should be able to plug in your USB printer, or connect your Wi-Fi or ethernet printer to your network, and print immediately. You just need to go to the Print & Scan Most printers will connect to your Mac automatically. pane of System Preferences to set up the printer (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4670). (In some cases, even that step isnt necessary, and OS X will set up the printer automatically.) If OS X doesnt have the correct software, the OS will usually download and install (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3669) the correct drivers automatically when you set up the printer. Youll need to install printer drivers manually only if OS X specically instructs you to do so.

Scanners
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Switch to Mac: Bring your hardware with you | Macworld http://www.macworld.com/article/2042973/switch-to-mac-brin... As with printers, you dont need to install any Mac drivers that might have come
with your scanner, since OS X supports a wide range of scanners (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3669) out of the boxyou just connect your USB or network scanner (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4505) and start scanning. (If OS X lacks the correct drivers, it attempts to download that software and automatically install it.) Only if you get a message from OS X that additional software is required should you check the vendors website for drivers. Once your scanner is set up, you can scan through OS Xs Image Capture program or its Preview (http://www.macworld.com/article/1154934 /scanwirelesslywithpreview.html) application; you can also use third-party scanning software.

Cameras
Most digital cameras released over the past decade or so include bundled software for both OS X and Windows. However, if you use Apples iPhoto photomanagement app, you may not need that software (http://support.apple.com /kb/HT2498). Most recent cameras come with a USB or FireWire cable; connect one end of that cable to your Mac, and the other to your camera. When you turn on your camera, iPhoto should open automatically; if it doesnt, launch it. You can then follow iPhotos prompts to import your photos from your camera. Alternatively, you can eject your cameras memory card and then, using a USB card readersuch as the SD Card reader built into many recent Macs, if your camera uses SD Cardimport your photos directly from the memory card. If you use Apples Aperture photo-management app, the process is similaryou just need to launch Aperture instead of iPhoto. If youd like OS X to launch Aperture automatically whenever you connect your camera or insert the memory card, you can tell it to do so. Launch OS Xs Image Capture utility while the camera or memory card is connected, select that camera or card in the Devices section on the left, and then choose Aperture.app from the Connecting this [device] opens pop-up menu. You can also use Image Capture to import photos if you dont use iPhoto or ApertureImage Capture lets you import photos to a folder anywhere on your drive. (Similarly, you may be able to copy photos from your camera or memory card manually in the Finder when your camera or card is connected.)

Speakers
Pretty much any computer speakers (or other audio systems) will work with a Mac. If your speakers or speaker system uses an analog audio cable, just plug that cable into your Macs 3.5mm audio-out (headphone) jack. Although the audio automatically routes to the speakers and the Macs internal speaker is disabled, you can adjust overall volume using your Macs volume controls. Similarly, if your speaker uses a 3.5mm optical-digital connection, you can connect the digital-audio cable directly to the same jack on your Macit automatically senses when an optical cable is plugged in and sends a digital signal instead.

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Change the Sound Output setting to listen to your music through external speakers.

USB speakers also work with the Mac. Connect your speakers USB-audio cable to one of your Macs USB ports, and OS X should automatically route audio to the speaker system. If it doesnt, you can choose the USB speaker system as your audio output by opening the Sound pane of System Preferences, clicking the Output tab, and then choosing the USB speaker system as the output device. Alternatively, you can Option-click the systemwide volume-level menu, which will then show all possible audio outputs; choose your USB speakers from there. Note that if you have a 5.1-channel speaker system, youll need to connect it to your Mac using an optical-digital or USB cable; in addition, not all apps provide 5.1-channel audio. (iTunes and DVD Player do, at least for 5.1-encoded video.)

Other peripherals
These days, most accessories and peripherals that can connect to your Mac will work with your Macmany without additional drivers or other software. (Exceptions are PCI expansion cards and similar hardware upgrades.) So before you go out and buy new gear, plug in your old stuff and see if it works. If it doesnt immediately, check the vendors website to see if the item will work with updated software. Updated 7/2/2013, 9:15am to clarify hard-drive compatibility.
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