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Miscellaneous laptop discussions : Should I go Mac or stay PC?
Should i go Mac or stay PC?
by Halo9X - 2/27/09 11:41 PM In reply to: Should I go Mac or stay PC? by dilasluisHaving used Windows while on active duty and Macs at home, I think I might be able to help. The huge problem between the 2 used to be that only certain programs were on the Mac and others only on the PC and even when they were supposed to have the same software, the versions didn't always line up.
However, the new Intel Macs are an exception. When Apple made the change to Intel it also opened up a world of possibilities. I run both Mac OS X AND Windows XP Home Edition on my Aluminum iMac. Furthermore, by using VMWare's Fusion software I can run both at the same time. What is performance like? Outstanding! I mostly use Windows to run some old games that I like and it does so with fast graphics, sound and no sputtering. In fact, by choosing to start up in Windows you can run Windows all by itself. So, now you don't HAVE to choose, you can have both OSs on the same machine iMac, Macbook, etc. Is this a great machine or what? This way you can run Windows as needed. Once you use OS X on the Mac, you may finally decide that your time with Windows gets smaller and smaller but you don't have to do that. Both will run fine on the Intel Macs.
Agreed, mostly
by Renegade Knight - 3/9/09 12:18 PM In reply to: Should i go Mac or stay PC? by Halo9XI'm running both on a MacBook. My frustrations have more to do wiht the Mac Design than anything else.I'd rather run OS X on a think pad than Vista on a MacBook. The keyboard and I/O support is that much better for my purposes. The other things are sixes.
Back to the beginning
by dilasluis - 2/28/09 2:33 AM In reply to: Should I go Mac or stay PC? by dilasluisI am now more undecided than ever before.
I have taken some advices posted to speed up my computer and some of them have been working (one point to VAIO...).
But MAC's do look appealing because no one that has one complains... and it runs windows also. But, like afakirani pointed out, if it's mainly to run windows I should stay with a PC... I don't really know. I have to be analytical about this.
Use available resources . . .
by brucerobinson31245 - 2/28/09 8:17 AM In reply to: Back to the beginning by dilasluisMy son, also, is on the last term of his masters [in aero], so I'll advise you as I would him.
You are at an university, it surely has an IT department with attendant techs and comp engrs [I know comp engrs are only a level above civil, but they have the expertise you seek]. Do some networking in the IT dept; given that you will be able to ask, and answer, direct questions in real time, you will probably get the good advice you desire.
Best of luck! Go Purdue!
That's a nice advise...
by dilasluis - 3/4/09 8:54 AM In reply to: Use available resources . . . by brucerobinson31245I'm also an aero student! That's great... but the problem with your advise is that my school is a pro windows school. Even the math department, which used to be a pro-Mac department is now a pro-win environment...
Time Machine
by onemoremile - 2/28/09 9:47 AM In reply to: Back to the beginning by dilasluisI made the switch from PC to Mac at home a few years ago. I still use Windows at work and my wife has a Windows (Dell) laptop, which she runs on our home network.
In your original post, you mention a number of problems with your Sony laptop. Be sure to understand that Apple uses hardware from many of the same manufactures as do the PC manufacturers. For example, the MacBook Pro that I am using right now has an NVIDIA video card and a Hitachi hard drive. These components are as likely to fail in a Mac as in a PC. On the other hand, OS X on this machine has never crashed. All of the Adobe products that you want to run are certainly available for the Mac. Once you get accustomed the the interface, you will like it better than Windows; OS X does most things faster, is more intuitive and software packages from various vendors tend to have very consistent interfaces. I have noticed that Windows software can have all sorts of different looks. I am currently wrestling with learning Outlook 2007 on my work PC. Yikes!
You mention that you are about to begin working on some very important projects as you pursue your PhD. One thing that you will need is an excellent backup plan, so that your work is not lost when your computer suffers the inevitable hardware failure. Check out Time Machine. It is a standard part of OS X Leopard and makes backups dead simple. I have mine set up to backup to an external hard drive every hour. The backups occur in the background and require no effort on my part. You may choose to backup to a wired or wireless storage device. Meanwhile, I have spent many hours trying to get my wife's Windows Vista laptop to run regularly scheduled backups, without success. I have tried three different software packages and just cannot get it to work reliably. If you want your work to be safe and feel that you may not always do a manual backup every day, data safety might just tip the scales in favor of Macintosh for you.
Good luck!
Dave
The problem is not Adobe, is the others...
by dilasluis - 3/4/09 9:01 AM In reply to: Time Machine by onemoremileI found out, from this thread and from Adobe and other sites, that Adobe family will work great on Mac. One may say that they are more favorable of mac's than of pc's. That's great! But Adobe family is just a way I use to make my reports and presentations look good.
My real tools are Matlab, programming languages (like C++ or any other because I really like to learn programming languages...), ANSYS and other FE software packages. Matlab don't work on Macs, I believe so. ANSYS neither... So I could use the Mac to run windows and then run this software there but I guess that would be a unfortunate use for a Mac...
More on PC to Mac...
by jdk4asu - 2/28/09 10:20 AM In reply to: Back to the beginning by dilasluisA couple of things that I forgot to mention and that came up while reading the additional replies are that I would highly recommend, if you have not already done so, the Mac to PC video tutorial on the Apple website. I think it will help as they will explain thoroughly not only why the Mac is a better way to go, but why. Apple, again, is very good at educating people and I think that video may just answer a lot of questions for you. Also, someone mentioned Time Machine. This one feature should sell anyone on a Mac, for sure! Here is the way it works. You can use either a wired hard drive (ANY that you purchase) or their new neat and super slick Time Capsule which is a combined hard drive and wireless base station! Oh, and the wireless base station has addition USB ports to make anything attached to it wireless as well! And, the hard drive on the wireless base station is so automatic, that you do not have to do ANYTHING to set up Time Machine! Also, in terms of backing up, you can purchase the annual membership at "MobileMe" (formerly .mac) which has an "Automatic" back up feature right on your Mac's desktop! It is called the "idisc" and all you have to do to put a file up there in internet heaven is to grab it with your mouse and slide it onto the idisc and you are done! This way you not only have backed up the file (and then back it up automatically), but you can find it with ANY computer around the world! You can even set that file to be able to share with colleagues around the world with passwords, etc.! Also, another feature that I love is the fact that whatever you create in any Microsoft application, will work with pretty much any other type of computer that has the same software. So please do check out the tutorials on Apple.com. Their is a list of three to four items to check out on the bottom left-hand side of the main page at Apple. I hope this helps!
The video was very helpful
by dilasluis - 3/4/09 9:05 AM In reply to: More on PC to Mac... by jdk4asuLike I said, it was helpful but I had previously seen it. I have been in the last few months researching Apple website (it's my home page!).
PC or Mac?
by dminott - 2/28/09 10:49 AM In reply to: Should I go Mac or stay PC? by dilasluisHaving been involved with microcomputers since their inception,
I have over 30 years of experience to guide me (and you!)
Both choices are good, and you probably will do fine with either, however, now owning three HP laptops and two PC desktops,
I tend to favor PCs. They are generally less expensive, easier to maintain and upgrade.
Also, you should seriously consider the advantage of being able to use Microsoft's "Dreamspark" - FREE software for educational use!
The ability to save $$$ on developmwnt software, such as C++ may certainly tip the scales.
By the way, all three of my HP laptops were purchased as refurbished units, and probably saved me over $1000 total!
By the time you are ready to purchase, Windows 7 will be available, and that may also be a tie-breaker.
P.S. Our daughter is attending a Fine Arts college and a good percentage of the students and the school itself, are using PCs.
One of the reasons is that the latest software appears for PCs well before Macs, not like in the past!
Software does not appear sooner!
by onemoremile - 2/28/09 11:00 AM In reply to: PC or Mac? by dminottdminott: The Adobe software that the original poster wants to use has been appearing at the same time in Mac and Windows versions over the last several years. As for other software packages, Time Machine and iLife will never appear in the PC format! Microsoft sometimes introduces the best new features in Office for Mac and other times introduces them in Office for Windows. Please get your facts straight before advising people!
Backing Up
by dminott - 2/28/09 3:30 PM In reply to: Software does not appear sooner! by onemoremileMicrosoft OneCare does a wonderful job of backing up all three of our laptops across the wireless network. Not only is it excellent at that job, but it is also excellent at blocking spyware, etc.
As an added bonus, it handles printer access across the network and will clear out spoolers when they get "jammed up" due to interrupted print jobs, etc. It's available online for around $25 and will handle up to three computers on one yearly subscription.
As I mentioned, Dreamspark now has around 16 FREE packages available to students, including C#, C++, Visual Studio, Windows Server, SQL Server, etc. This could save you thousands of dollars!
I don't believe that Apple offers such a great deal, but you might want to check them out.
Dave
But...
by 1shado1 - 3/2/09 3:03 PM In reply to: Backing Up by dminott...isn't onecare going away in June of this year?
Easier to maintain?
by jdk4asu - 2/28/09 11:41 AM In reply to: PC or Mac? by dminottExcuse me? A PC is easier to maintain? I do not think so! Not at all! In fact, I find that most people I know who own PCs have no idea how to work with the operating system when a failure occurs. Mac makes it SUPER simple. You have Disc Repair which looks for problems and then tells you the problem. Then it fixes the problem. Also, you can buy books that Mac actually publishes that teaches you the system without being an engineer! That is another big reason why I only own Macs is that I can very easily figure out not only what the problem is, but how to fix it! Also, if you purchased the APPLE CARE extended warranty, they are there seven days a week to help you out! Not only does your extended warranty from Apple come with three years of tech support, it also includes Tech Tools which is a disk utility to help you recover from hard drive crashes.Of which, I might add, now that OS X is here, hardly ever occurs. Mac at least allows you, and has tutorials, as to how to fix problems. Just go look at their support website.
One other thing that I need to add is something that most people do not know at all. Many of the posts here mentioned utilizing computers at the academic level. Did you know that Virginia Tech is ALL MAC, ALL the time? They were the first major users to gobble up Mac's servers and are continually upgrading. Don't you think a technical college such as Va Tech might now a bit more then the rest of us since they can choose whatever it is they may need? Just a thought!
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