Buying a new laptop- Apple?

[gvarsity]

Originally Posted by bazookajoe

You can have both Windows and OS X on a MacBook using BootCamp.

As long as you are not doing anything taking significant advantage of the onboard video processing primarily new graphically intensive games you can run Windows in an emulator like Vmware Fusion or Parallels and have the best of both worlds simultaneously without having to boot into bootcamp. Many of the games you can run on boot camp. Essentially anything but the most high end games. You can also run a linux virtual machine on either of the emulators as well.

If money is not an option Macs tend to be more future proof than PC's. Meaning they last longer before they are obsolete. My wife is still using a five year old MacbookPro and for photo editing, internet, email, documents etc... 95% of what she does on a computer it is holding up fine with just a memory upgrade. We did end up upgrading her machine only because I had one come to me through work.

If money is a concern pc's definitely are better bang for buck. Also for people used to windows there is no reason to retrain them to a new OS.

There is not a "right" answer just whatever works for you.

[bazookajoe]

Originally Posted by gvarsity

As long as you are not doing anything taking significant advantage of the onboard video processing primarily new graphically intensive games you can run Windows in an emulator like Vmware Fusion or Parallels and have the best of both worlds simultaneously without having to boot into bootcamp. Many of the games you can run on boot camp. Essentially anything but the most high end games. You can also run a linux virtual machine on either of the emulators as well...

Agreed. Emulators have the convenience of access without rebooting - in my case I need to run AutoCad and Solidworks so I prefer the performance of Windows 7 in Bootcamp.

[357]

Originally Posted by bazookajoe

Agreed. Emulators have the convenience of access without rebooting - in my case I need to run AutoCad and Solidworks so I prefer the performance of Windows 7 in Bootcamp.

Personally I don't get this. If I needed CPU/RAM intensive Windows only apps I wouldn't buy a Mac. Please give me an example of someone needing a Mac only app for their Windows box so bad that they dual boot.


I expect nothing but crickets because so few apps actually exist.


I will continue beating the Windows drum

BTW...resistance is futile you will all be assimilated.

[JE3146]

Originally Posted by 357

Personally I don't get this. If I needed CPU/RAM intensive Windows only apps I wouldn't buy a Mac. Please give me an example of someone needing a Mac only app for their Windows box so bad that they dual boot.


I expect nothing but crickets because so few apps actually exist.


I will continue beating the Windows drum

BTW...resistance is futile you will all be assimilated.

I utilize a lot of UNIX programs with the comfort of a stable OS that I don't have to tinker with (Don't get me wrong, I love Linux, but it can be a pain sometimes).

In addition to all my programs, a native coding environment for me to run just about any script or compiler I need, and also I have access to the microsoft office suite, which is far and away better than Open Office.

It's everything I need to get the job done.... which the exception of a graphical SPICE tool... but I can remote desktop into a Vista PC and utilize LTSpice if I need to run graphical simulations.

[bazookajoe]

Originally Posted by 357

Personally I don't get this. If I needed CPU/RAM intensive Windows only apps I wouldn't buy a Mac. Please give me an example of someone needing a Mac only app for their Windows box so bad that they dual boot...

Well, I currently have Macs so the best option was to get Windows 7 so I could run those programs on my current machines. For a new purchase, I would still get a Mac because for 90% of what I do (graphic design, audio and video editing, etc.) Macs are just more pleasant to use. So far Windows 7 seems stable but my previous experience with Windows (always had PC laptops for work) was that it's glitchy and simply required to much attention. As Jordan put it, it's the "comfort of a stable OS".

Originally Posted by 357

...BTW...resistance is futile you will all be assimilated.

In the overall scheme of things Mac users barely show up on the radar. Why do Windows users care so much about us?

[JE3146]

Originally Posted by bazookajoe

Well, I currently have Macs so the best option was to get Windows 7 so I could run those programs on my current machines. For a new purchase, I would still get a Mac because for 90% of what I do (graphic design, audio and video editing, etc.) Macs are just more pleasant to use. So far Windows 7 seems stable but my previous experience with Windows (always had PC laptops for work) was that it's glitchy and simply required to much attention. As Jordan put it, it's the "comfort of a stable OS".

No no no.

Comfort of a stable OS in comparison to a Linux distro that you have to tweak to your needs. I find no issue with Windows as a stable OS, but I keep my Windows OS Stable.

I love Windows and I use it often. But for the sake of the tools I need to accomplish my scholastic tasks on campus or at home. The Mac OS X provides a more stable experience to what I would have to do to Linux to make it run similar tasks.

For everything else, I use a PC, though lately I find it annoying to sit at my desk, so I often just sit on my couch with the Mac. I wouldn't call that biased, because if the laptop ran Windows, I'd use it too. I just like the couch

[bazookajoe]

Originally Posted by JE3146

No no no.

Comfort of a stable OS in comparison to a Linux distro that you have to tweak to your needs. I find no issue with Windows as a stable OS, but I keep my Windows OS Stable.

I love Windows and I use it often. But for the sake of the tools I need to accomplish my scholastic tasks on campus or at home. The Mac OS X provides a more stable experience to what I would have to do to Linux to make it run similar tasks.

For everything else, I use a PC, though lately I find it annoying to sit at my desk, so I often just sit on my couch with the Mac. I wouldn't call that biased, because if the laptop ran Windows, I'd use it too. I just like the couch

I know. I didn't mean to imply that you were endorsing my opinion (or that I was explaining yours) - I just like the phrase.

[357]

Originally Posted by 357

...BTW...resistance is futile you will all be assimilated.

Originally Posted by bazookajoe

In the overall scheme of things Mac users barely show up on the radar. Why do Windows users care so much about us?

Well, I had to include that line to make sure you guys know that my Windows/Mac rants have to be taken as 50% technical and 50% sarcasm. In reality Microsoft dumped money into Apple years ago to keep them afloat. I assume he did so to prevent the SEC from filing anti-trust litigation.

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-202143.html

For this reason if no other, Apple will be around as long as Microsoft is. While I don't worry myself with Apple users, I occasionally have the misfortune of informing them that the $4,000 iBook they just bought isn't supported for many of our business needs. Big wig doctors in large regional medical groups don't tend to take that kind of news well. Especially when the app they need most (financial) is one of the ones they can't use.

Mike

[JE3146]

Originally Posted by 357

Well, I had to include that line to make sure you guys know that my Windows/Mac rants have to be taken as 50% technical and 50% sarcasm. In reality Microsoft dumped money into Apple years ago to keep them afloat. I assume he did so to prevent the SEC from filing anti-trust litigation.

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-202143.html

For this reason if no other, Apple will be around as long as Microsoft is. While I don't worry myself with Apple users, I occasionally have the misfortune of informing them that the $4,000 iBook they just bought isn't supported for many of our business needs. Big wig doctors in large regional medical groups don't tend to take that kind of news well. Especially when the app they need most (financial) is one of the ones they can't use.

Mike

4000$ iBook?

Is this 2005? And since when did an iBook cost 4000$?

[VirtualSmitty]

Originally Posted by JE3146

4000$ iBook?

Is this 2005? And since when did an iBook cost 4000$?

The macbook pro can easily go over 4k on apples site since they overcharge for parts. King James nailed it, do it yourself and save a ton of money.