<p>toneranger, I’m sure it is not going to last forever. More people migrating to Macs = more malware for Macs.</p>
<p>(Kaspersky is a good AV, but it cries wolf sometimes thinking that it detected a virus when there are none. It also randomly eats my Zappos e-mails.)</p>
<p>viruses?
I think when I had system9,* 7 *?, I might have transmitted a virus, anyway I would reply to an email and notice that it was sent more than once-
although, that could have already been on the email.
Other than that though- zero virus problems.
I do have this, as part of Snow Leopard Cache Cleaner, but I run it about every year- and it has never found anything.
[url=<a href=“http://www.clamxav.com/]ClamXav[/url”>http://www.clamxav.com/]ClamXav[/url</a>]</p>
<p>We have a pc and two macs attached to the LAN. No problems.</p>
<p>oh, I wouldn’t be happy with something eating my zappos emails. The big K does has not done this to me so far.
I am a BIG fan of Malware Bytes. It has saved me from some NASTY viruses in the past. I had the free version on my now very sick old computer. Unfortunately, by the time it finished scanning, this nasty “rootkit virus” infiltrated and destroyed my OS. Wouldn’t let me run or install any AV. I worked on getting rid of it for TWO days…using the experts on forums. One guy finally told me to give up and reinstall everything. Time for a new computer!(and some active protection - not just after the fact).</p>
<p>Just one warning regardless of what new computer you decide to buy. At least for me, it has meant a LOT of work to get everything right. I’m not sure if that’s true with Macbooks since I never had one…(certainly has been the case for my family member though). It’s a big TIME SUCKER!</p>
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<p>Still, Apple holds the cards in this case. As much as Apple has been constrained by this dispute, Intel and Nvidia both need Apple more than Apple needs either Intel or Nvidia.</p>
<p>It might be a little longer to wait, but Apple will pull something together soon. The Macbook Pro is one if their flagship products, and they’re not going to let it sit not updated for very long.</p>
<p>They could update it while still using their old processors. They are still using Penryns in all but their high-end iMacs and it appears that they will be doing this for a while. Apple does need Intel - nobody else makes better or cheaper processors.</p>
<p>Apple has been using Intel processors for the last four years, and frankly, I have seen big problems with their hardware ( Mostly with the Nvidia graphics processor ) in some configurations for about that time period- & I have been a mac owner exclusively for over twenty years ( except for when I ran a clone 
)</p>
<p>I generally get a refurbished laptop- cheaper, same warranty & if the speed and RAM and memory is what you need- do you really need the very latest chip?
Oftimes, you really don’t.</p>
<p>One of the reasons that I bought a Penryn-based MBP two years ago is to experiment with the most recent SSE4 vector instruction set. The Penryns are noticeably more power efficient than the Meroms were given that they are built on a 45 nm process. nVidia chips in the 8xxx and 9xxx generations caused tremendous recall headaches for most laptop manufacturers.</p>
<p>I made the switch about 2 1/2 years ago and will never go back. Love my MacBook Pro. Do it!</p>
<p>Op, you would never do what those techies do. You use it for word, Internet, mail. Frankly it doesn’t matter what you get. But Mac is prettier and more intuitive. My H hasn’t come to me for help since he got a mac. He has genius to go to now. People also judge you if you don’t have a Mac. I recently had a show and tell by one of those top tech companes who could crunch through billion records in seconds, they all showed up with a Mac.</p>
<p>Forget all this justification…just get the damn MAC…you want it…do it!</p>
<p>Our family also converted to macs 5 or 6 years ago. We own 2 iMacs, a MacBook and a MacBook Pro. I will be purchasing a MacBook for my son when he heads off to college next year.</p>
<p>My favorite thing about our Macs is that I never have to spend time troubleshooting or maintaining them. I do have an amazing Apple store in my town and take my computers there if I ever have any problems. They are always courteous, knowledgeable, fast and trustworthy. With my old PC I spent many hours on the phone speaking to technicians located in foreign countries, usually with less than satisfactory results. The extended warranty is a gamble. It’s very reasonable on the iMacs, but much more expensive on the MacBooks.</p>
<p>My freshman daughter used iMovie on our iMac to make a required movie for her Advanced Biology class this year. The technology of iMovie was far superior to what the other kids used (moviemaker) on the PC, and like all Mac software, was user friendly. He liked her movie so well, he showed it to all of his senior AP Biology classes. She was embarrassed, but at the same time awfully proud.</p>
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<p>We’ve had exactly the same experience. We went from 4 Dells to 3 MacBooks - H is the lone holdout with his Dell desktop. H was always the one on the phone with Dell, trying to solve our Ds’ or my laptop issues. Now it works this way: D16 had a problem with her MacBook last week. She got online, scheduled her own appointment at the Apple store, took her laptop in, got the problem resolved, end of story. We are a much happier household ;)</p>
<p>I was at the Apple Store last night and had a chat with one of the tech guys. He has a degree in Microbiology from UNH but he enjoys working in the Apple Store and the career path at the Apple Stores is pretty good. He told me that there were 2,000 applicants for about 70 positions at the store. There’s something about the people that they hire that’s quite different from most other retail establishments.</p>
<p>One warning about a Mac. My daughter loved hers in college, but she went to school in a city that did not have an Apple store, which proved to be a big hassle. She had a Powerbook and the power cords were a problem on that version. Twice, I think, during finals, her cord failed and I had to get one overnighted because there was no store. Having an Apple store nearby does make a difference if you are going to own a Mac.</p>
<p>Good point, mimk6, re the proximity of the Apple stores. But if you DO have one, I can attest what a huge difference it has made for both our kids who went far away to college with their new Mac powerbooks. (this was in 2004 and 2005–both kids Macs are still working great!). They each had a local Apple store to help solve all their problems. I am waiting for my home desktop PC to die and I can’t WAIT to get my new Mac so I can have my own IT department. Besides the fact that they operate so welll (all the kids’ friends who had PCs had loads of virus issues), my main reason to get one is that I’m sick of trying to solve all my PC problems for hours with tech support over the phone.</p>
<p>After seeing how great the Apple stores handle these things with both my kids, I’m convinced. The extra cost involved is worth it to me just to have the “geniuses” help me solve my problems.</p>
<p>OK…now I’m seeing why the MacBooks cost more. Having that personal IT department would be very cool. I usually check forums for help…but it’s a pain.</p>
<p>But…I must say the my cousin did have trouble with her Macbook and the geniuses could not fix it (bad transfer of Outlook files which THEY did). So they’re not perfect.</p>
<p>Anyway, my cheap HP laptop from Costco is performing beautifully…and outfitted now with good virus and firewall protection. Hope it stays this way!</p>
<p>The Apple Store makes a big difference. There’s one five minutes from my office. I’ve only used their service for hardware issues in the past because I can get my software and OS questions answered on the forums or figure them out myself with a little digging. My guess is that the people that work at the Apple Stores get paid quite well (take a look at their job postings - they don’t hire anyone without previous experience).</p>
<p>I’m installing Microsoft Security Essentials on all of my Windows systems (including the MacBook Pros) and removing the third-party antivirus and antispyware. It does perform better (uses fewer resources) and it’s free.</p>
<p>I used Little Machines O2M to move outlook mail to mac. It’s $10, and it moved my emails, calendar and contacts. It was very easy for me. A guy from Genius whispered that to me on my way out when he heard I was moving the data myself.</p>
<p>breathlessly copying and pasting your tips into a document. I am using a 2004 Dell purchased when my eldest son started looking at colleges and we started cruising on CC.
Sons only use iMacs…happily…so I would like to get one too, however we have no apple store within 2 hours of my city. isn’t that ridiculous? </p>
<p>My PC is not only running Office 2003, it is starting to fail…Mozilla crashing, hanging scripts, lower RAM, and I know I need make a change soon. The computer software is all so ancient that I can’t see the benefit really of wiping out the hard drive and reloading…do you all agree that a computer that is 6 years old is not worth spending money on?</p>
<p>Hmm…will need to look up Little Machines as I don’t want hassle moving my mail to a new computer and I want Outlook to run well, to. </p>
<p>So much of my life at the moment has been a bit of an awakening that a new era has arrived at my house…the things we spent so much money and resources on for two sons in college have resulted in …independent sons who simply are not around much anymore. Everywhere I look are things that needs sorting out and things that have outlived their time. </p>
<p>I could use the sons as MAC teachers but youngest son is on Alternative Spring Break instead of hanging out here. </p>
<p>Seems like money put into my old Dell now is just money spent on obsolete hardware and software.</p>
<p>So…you Mac People…do you think that it is every fun to have your MAC at home at least…stationed with a larger screen? I have a very nice still operational LCD screen with the Dell.</p>
<p>while we seem a bit older suddenly and the house seems to be full of “outdated” things that need to be discarded.</p>