Parallels is actually highly useable. I run MS Office, and proprietary internet explorer-only java-based software I need for work on it, and it works great.
In today’s conference call (quarterly earnings) Apple mentioned that there will be back to school promotions (not sure if you can take advantage if you are not a student) and in general lower margins - which could mean price cuts.
Brian
It goes beyond “useable” and is outright spooky, especially with its Coherence function that lets Windows apps run on the Mac desktop, rather than on the Windows desktop.
Been a Mac guy since my SE30 in the late 80’s… get the 15" model and an external monitor/keyboard if you want a desktop set-up.
The 17" is too large to carry and the 15" has very nice screen resolution. I just got the 24" iMac at work and that is a nice piece of screen real estate!
I actually don’t need the extra screen. You know, 15" it is. The current laptop is actually only a 13.x". I thought that there was a performance jump between the 15" and 17", but I guess the new generation doesn’t have one (not that the old performance jump was anything to get excited about.) I really hope that they have some refurbed 2.4 ghz 15"s when I go to order.
As for accessories, I have a messenger bag (that’s actually a laptop bag, but I don’t tell anyone), but I really like the incase neoprene sleeves. I am fine with touchpads and laptop keyboards. Is there anything mac-specific that I need to be sure that I get?
I tried Crossover, and it was a complete bust with the landscape design software I need to run on it; my sister tried Parallels for her Quicktax programme, and she was very frustrated by the way it DELETED ALL HER TAX FILES on her (she’s an accountant, and she was doing taxes for many people last tax season). After her experience, I was very leery of Parallels.
Crossover is worthless IMHO, but Parallels seems pretty stable to me, although most of what I need a PC for requires using USB, which is problematical with Parallels. My solution is to just migrate away from any PC-specifc applications to open-source, but that isn’t always possible to do.
If I had to guess, Quicktax didn’t save its files to the network drive that Parallels creates on the Mac’s hard disk. Everything else is virtual and may very well go poof.
I’ve been experimenting with Crossover, and found it to be somewhat limited. It attempts to supply all the things that a Windows program needs, without being itself Windows. It uses the X-window system for displaying, you have to install X11 from the OS X system discs.
Crossover is only tested for certain specific programs; others may or may not work. Of untested programs, I’ve had no problem with my ancient Dreamweaver 4 for Windows, but on the other hand, HP’s PC connectivity software for the HP48 packed up and went bye-bye when I clicked on its window. Admittedly, I hadn’t connected a serial port adaptor, so that’s inconclusive.
Parallels, OTOH, runs a full version of Windows. You should have much better results with Parallels. If it’s anything like the VMWare that I have tried, it creates a whole other little PC-type computer --the “virtual machine”–in software and you install Windows on the virtual machine, just like on a hardware computer. Then you can stop the whole virtual machine and save it as a file, and restart it later. But to be safe, you should save your data in a location outside the virtual machine, such as in the Mac filesystem, or on a CD.
If you already have Windows installed on a separate partition, Parallels can run that as well, and it will behave as if you booted in it, only slower, and you still have access to all your Mac OS X stuff.
featherlou, may I ask what design software you were trying to run under Crossover?
I was trying to run Dynascape, an industry-specific landscape design programme. I don’t know how it would run, since it wouldn’t load at all. I like Dynascape for designing from what I’ve seen so far, working with it, but my husband reminded me that Mac has a design programme too (Vectorworks), which has a landscape design module that I would like to try out. I haven’t been impressed with the support from Dynascape, and the fact that it is supposed to be a Canadian software company, yet everything defaults to feet instead of metres (I know a Syringa meyeri* is supposed to have a height and spread of 1.5 m - I don’t know what that is in feet; plus, all my real property reports are in metres). Dynascape is crashing regularly, too - I don’t know if that is a function of running it in Windows on a Mac or if it is just a crappy programme.
You can definitely take advantage if you’re not a student. I am a student and therefore fully entitled to any discount they might give, but they did absolutely zero background checks to see if I was a student. Didn’t even ask for an ID number and I had it mailed to a completely different city from where the campus is located.
For the past two years, Apple has ran a ‘buy a mac and get a free iPod’ promotion aimed at students. I bought a powerbook two years ago and my girlfriend bought a macbook this year. I got a 4GB iPod mini and she got a 2GB nano.
If it’s not running already now then wait until August 1st. The promotion usually ends on September 1st, so you’d better hurry.
Thanks, featherlou. If you’re running Dynascape in Crossover, you aren’t running it in Windows at all.
Crossover is a “compatibility layer”, a program which attempts to provide the things that Windows programs need, without actually getting Windows involved. It only works on Intel-based Macs.
Parallels is an “emulator”, software which pretends to be a whole other “virtual” machine. You have to install Windows on the virtual machine, just as you would on any other machine, and then install and run your software. You should have much better luck with Parallels than with Crossover, but you also need to get an actual copy of Windows from Microsoft to install.
Programs running in virtual machines do run slower than similar programs running natively on the hardware, since there is a whole layer of software translating every instruction from the installed program and translating it to something the native hardware can understand… and translating the results back.
Graphics-based applications, especially those using hardware to perform 3D calculations, may suffer.
This is why “Intel-native” or “universal” programs run so much faster on the Intel-based Macs: programs written exclusively for the older PowerPC-based Mac hardware need to run in an emulator as well.
The CAD software I’m looking at (ArchiCAD) runs natively on Mac OS X on Intel hardware.
The biggest difference between a MacBook and a MacBook Pro is that the MB has “Shared Video”. basically it has no dedicated Video Ram or GPU, it’s all handled by the CPU, and the Vidram is “borrowed” from main memory
the MBP has a dedicated graphics chipset and Vidram
repair-wise, I see fewer MBP’s come in for repair, the one common repair on the Pros is funky optical drives, the MB’s have top case/keyboard issues
that said, both machines are generally very reliable, no more “Reed Switch” backlighting failures, or broken DC-IN boards like on the iBooks…
I picked up a 12 power book right before the intel switch. My first foray into the mac world, and I must say I absolutely love my mac. I do a lot of music production, and while my juiced up XP Pro Box 'O Deth (tm pending) handles the heavy lifting, I’m surprised that I’ve been able to do a lot of music and video on my powerbook. The little guy has a lot more juice than I thought, and I’m sure with the dual intels, things have gone up tremendously.
OSX is the greatest thing since sliced bread!
I’ve been impressed with my dual Intel Mac for those reasons, too, World Eater. I like to reeeeally multi-task, and it rarely reaches a point where it can’t handle what I’m throwing at it. Funnily enough, the thing that bogs it down is when I open up Word or Excel.
If you are new to the Mac, I strongly recommend you find a local Users Group : http://appleusergroups.com/locator/find/locate.cgi?country=4
Mac people will bend over backwards to help with any problem. There is a very active group in Arizona that has an extremely helpful email listserve, and supports members from all over the world: http://www.amug.org
Apple will have a Mac event net Tuesday (August 7th) (at 10AM pacific)
Brian
Hooray! I’ve been seeing some refurbed SR Macbook Pros in the store, which save about an extra 100 dollars over the lowest price I’ve found on them.
One guy’s take on which is the better buy right now; MacBook or MB Pro. The event on Tuesday will probably include an announcement on the Pro-line revisions.
From my experience, damn near anything you buy will be good. I have a 7.5 year old G3 PowerBook that’s still very usable, even running Tiger. The computer I’m typing this on is a G4 PowerBook that’s three years old but still feels pretty darn spry. Macs have longevity.
Tuesday’s announcement was basically new iMacs (now in brushed Aluminum) and iWork 08
Brian