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EfremDan1 · 06-05-2006, 08:39 PM

The thing I don't get is...
If you put Windows on the Mac, how is it any better than just buying a PC? Won't it basically become the same thing?

newedition · 06-05-2006, 08:46 PM

the idea is that you get the benefits of the mac like reliability but also can run a specific windows program if you really need to. in the past running windows programs was technically possible with virtual pc but it wasnt very efficient, apparently that has changed with the switch to an intel processor.

gmman · 06-06-2006, 12:10 AM

well the idea is that you're going to be spending most of your time in the Mac OS but if you need Windows for a specific reason (a Windows-only program, etc.) then you can easily switch to it.

miishuu · 06-06-2006, 03:55 PM

u never answered my question johnnyk.

wharton person (ur names a page back), a macbook is a mac, inherently it would appear theyre not supported.

newidition, dont switch over, macs arent nearly all they make them out to be, ive seen them crash many a time.

and from my experience, johnny, macs do have that copyright activation stuff, we had a problem with liscenses at my school. thats right after the mac (g4 with tiger) crashed. needless to say we didnt go back.

sweetnsarah · 06-06-2006, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnnyK

it will run at the same speed and catch viruses just a quickly as its Dell counterparts.

So doesn't that defeat one of the major reasons for getting a mac?

newedition · 06-06-2006, 10:51 PM

"wharton person (ur names a page back), a macbook is a mac, inherently it would appear theyre not supported."

what is not going to be compatible?

i went to the apple store today and checked them out. they are light and sexy, dells are heavy and clunky, i am about to buy.

miishuu · 06-07-2006, 04:12 PM

macbook (and macbookpro) both run the apple (mac) operating system, (most) pcs run windows. if wharton says mac is not supported, then those wont be. if you want it to be compatible u can install windows on the new x86 (intel) macs, but thats just a waste of money to spend that much on a mac. you can get a much better pc for the same price. dells are pretty clunky, but they get it done, check out bestbuy, im sure ull find something sleek there. shoot for 64bit.

osolito · 06-07-2006, 05:53 PM

"wharton person (ur names a page back), a macbook is a mac, inherently it would appear theyre not supported."

miishuu-

While I appreciate you taking the time to respond, you did not actually to respond to anything that was asked.

It's unfortunate that you have not had good experience with macs. If I may ask - you mention license issues/copyright activation at "my school", was that at Penn or specifically at Wharton? If so, could you elaborate on the issues you had?

From your post, it doesn't sound as though you have a great depth of experience using a mac. For those of us who are currently mac users and would prefer to continue with our macs rather than switch over to a PC, the MacBook is an excellent and welcome option.

As far as Wharton requirements, the proprietary software we may need to use can be presently accessed through Windows XP using Boot Camp on the MB or MBP . The one thing that looks as though it may be a problem is wireless printing, though it may be possible to solve that issue by using the XP option as well.

It seems fairly clear that Wharton Computing has not taken into consideration the new Intel duo core macs - I have a feeling they will need to address this in the near future.

As far as comparable pc machines, I would direct you to this interesting comparison (though I would like to see a more updated version) http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2725

Now,as far as buying a computer at Best Buy - that is something I would highly recommend against.

sweetnsarah · 06-07-2006, 07:42 PM

Say some programs are running on the Windows OS and some are on the Mac OS. What if I want to run programs simultaneously?

And say I save a document on the Mac OS. Would I be able to open it on the Windows OS?

miishuu · 06-07-2006, 09:14 PM

osolito,

since u asked... i have enough experience with a mac to not like them. my high school is all about them, the one i worked with was a pretty high end g4 with osx tiger, which was supposed to be a webserver. as far as problems with it, the apache configs were from what i hear (my friend did them), butchered, and the included mysqld did not work. there is no good included gui based text editor in mac, and vim (commandline editor) was a pain to use because pageup/pagedown/home/end do not work in a mac terminal. the internet would randomly die on it (no good for a webserver), and one day it just flat out crashed, for no good reason. the os would not start again, and after reinstalling we were left locked out for a month because we needed a liscense key (copyright crap). the only way in was ssh and we were still limited. the only thing i liked about that mac was bash.

we moved to a pc, which has been runnin without problem for several months. downtime has been next to none. we arent running windows, but we sure arent running osx.

im not saying not to get a mac, im just saying realize macs arent invincible like theyre made out to be, dont buy one just because they look good.

i bought my computer at best buy, i have no complaints. the only complaint i have is geek squad, who messed my computer up, which messed my computer up.

miishuu · 06-07-2006, 09:26 PM

sweetnsarah- running programs from the different operating systems can probably be accomplished thru an emulator, i dont know much about these, but i know it can be done. sharing files will be a bit tricky, im not sure how much boot camp offers as far as partitioning. the mac filesystem isnt supported by windows directly, third party software probably exists. there are two types of filesystems for windows, one (fat32) is supported read and write by the mac osx, but its limited for filesize (4G mebbe?). the other (ntfs) is supported read only by the mac os, which is useless because u wont be able to save ur files to windows. easiest way is get a jump drive.

osolito · 06-08-2006, 07:17 PM

I hear you miishuu, and I agree one should realize the limitations of any machine before investing in it.

Luckily, for school use, most of will not need server capabilities. Mostly the ability to create, trade and open up standarized documents within a PC AND a Mac environment.

miishuu · 06-11-2006, 08:57 PM

the limitations thing is definately something to look at, there are plenty on each end. pcs/windows arent really that good looking compared to a mac, and yes, theyre more likely to get viruses/trojans/etc, because theyre more common. mac exploits do exist, dont let the commercials fool you. macs look good, but they lack compatibility.

on server capabilities, we replaced the mac with a 7 year old pc, which would be considered scrap metal as far as university 'requirements', and it ran error free. the mac clearly wasnt really under a very demanding load, it actually crashed while editing a document.

JohnnyK · 06-11-2006, 09:03 PM

Sweensarah, that is only when the MacBook is running Windows. When it runs Windows, it will run it just as fast as a Dell, but it will retain all the flaws of Windows. The point of the MacBook is to spend most of the time using Mac OS, not Windows.

JohnnyK · 06-11-2006, 09:05 PM

Quote:

we moved to a pc, which has been runnin without problem for several months. downtime has been next to none. we arent running windows, but we sure arent running osx.

He's talking about UNIX or Linux operating systems, either way this is a whole different beast from the Windows OS that you would be comparing to a Mac for student use.