Two thirds of us will excitedly unwrap a gleaming new gadget on 25th December, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. It’s been a bumper year for big technology launches from Nokia’s Lumia 800 Windows phone to the beautifully retro Fujifilm Finepix X100 camera, but as all sharp eyed tech fans will know, it’s Apple’s competitor-trouncing line up of iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and the incredibly slim MacBook Air which have topped Santa’s wish lists for 2011.

So, for all these new Apple converts, how do you make the leap from Windows to iOS with minimum effort? And how do you transfer your beloved pictures, videos and content over from your battered PC to your nifty new iPad?

A crafty piece of software called Parallels comes in handy here. Getting new tech to sync is much easier than dropping those extra Christmas pounds, with a little help from desktop virtualisation software.

Software such as Parallels Desktop 7 Switch to Mac edition helps when changing from a Windows laptop to Mac or iPad, by transporting files and programmes from one laptop to a Mac – it will even remember things like webpage favourites and book marks or your stored downloads. Rather than struggle to check your post-Christmas bank account on Safari, which many online banking sites don’t support, Parallels can create a virtual machine on your desktop so Internet Explorer can be used on a Mac.

Parallels is really simple to use and compatible with Mac’s, iPads, iPhones and the iPod Touch. The Parallels mobile app allows users to access everything on their Macbook remotely – that means films stored on your Macbook at work can be watched on the sofa at home and music libraries can be accessed wherever you are in the world. Perfect!