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Using a Mac for ArcGIS and Windows Software

B

BLewisMaltz

macrumors newbie
Original poster
I'm due for a new computer, and would like to stick with using a Mac. I have some very special needs. I need to be able to run ESRI's ArcGIS software on my new computer, but the program is only for windows. So here are my questions:

1) How possible is it to run PC software on the new Macs? I want a desktop computer.

2) Do you need any additional software to run PC programs on a Mac still? Do you still need virtual PC? If so, how well does it run (it used to be very slow).

3) Which Mac would you suggest for something like this?

Thanks!
 
I have a previous gen MBP 2.2Ghz and run ESRI ArcGIS using parallels to run windows. I find it better than my Thinkpad 2.2Ghz. For example building pyramids for an image is so much quicker.

You can set parallels up to read a bootcamp partition, but I found that much slower. So just have a normal parallels set up, found that the best option.
 
YEARS AGO (I guess, about 4 to 6 years ago) I ran ARCVIEW ESRI software on my PowerBook G4 using VIRTUAL PC --- it worked great!

just make sure you have LOTS of RAM --- 2 gigs plus... you'll be good to go!
 
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