From the javadocs..http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/essential/io/pathOps.html

Path p1 = Paths.get("/tmp/foo"); 

is the same as

Path p4 = FileSystems.getDefault().getPath("/tmp/foo");

Path p3 = Paths.get(URI.create("file:///Users/joe/FileTest.java"));

Path p5 = Paths.get(System.getProperty("user.home"),"logs", "foo.log"); 

In Windows, creates file C:\joe\logs\foo.log (assuming user home as C:\joe)
In Unix, creates file /u/joe/logs/foo.log (assuming user home as /u/joe)

To complete the the fge's answer, I would add some info:

1. normalize() simply removes redundant pieces of strings in your path, like . or ..; it does not operate at the OS level or gives you an absolute path from a relative path
2. toAbsolutePath() on the contrary gives you what the name says, the absolute path of the Path object. But...
3. toRealPath() resolves also soft and hard links (yes they exists also on Windows, so win user, you're not immune). So it gives to you, as the name says, the real path.

So what's the best? It depends, but personally I use toRealPath() the 99% of the cases.

As pointed out by Roberto Bonvallet, since toRealPath() throws an exception if the file does not already exist because, for example, you want to create it. In this case I prefer toAbsolutePath().

Source: Official javadoc