Boss thinking of switching, turned to me for help and I'm turning to all of you

[redvolvodavid]

My boss is contemplating going to a Mac from his Dell. I have encouraged him to think about this and its coming down to upgrade time.

I have a few questions that I have found confusing answers to already in the forums (I didn't open a new thread without at least doing some homework).

1. We are on a Windows 2003 Server and he will need to easily be connected to the domain. Can it be done in OSX? Do I have to install parallels and run XP? Is this an easy task?
2. Will his mail work like he is used to it working? I.e. Exchange server...
3. Will his documents folder be backed up to the public folder on the server? And is it easy to create this "share?"

Basically, will it work like his old system did?

I am waiting until I have enough money stashed away to buy a macbook (I was an early adopter of the iPhone and that 200 dollars would have helped me achieve this goal earlier), currently I'm on the not-so-wonderful world of windows...and I don't have a unit to test these things out on.

I hear that parallels will let you run the two OS's at the same time but I don't know if running XP on a Mac will still give you all the networking functionality of a traditional windows based machine.

Thanks for your help!

 

[ab2650]

Basically, will it work like his old system did?

... but I don't know if running XP on a Mac will still give you all the networking functionality of a traditional windows based machine.

No, it won't work like his old system did... But change can be just as good as bad. For the most part he will be able to find alternatives for missing programs and such.

But to really ease his (and your) concerns, the MacBook Pro was rated as one of the best portables to run Windows Vista on... He can always use bootcamp or parallels (parallels is nice in a pinch, bootcamp is better for performance).

I've found a way to do everything I used to do on Windows now on OS X. However, I'm not being bound by a windows-at-work environment nor do I have the necessity to connect and use a bunch of windows services. If that were the case, I'd still get a MBP but I'd bootcamp it with XP.

HTH.

 

[Schroedinger]

Although this is blasphemy around here, I would suggest he stick with windows for work. If this computer is for work only, then he should stick with windows as he is familiar with it and he can get IT help with fewer smarmy comments.

If he is using it for both work and home (not working from home but keeping his photos and music) then i agree with the dual booting option. He can use windows at work and the mac at home, and can figure out if there are mac solutions that will work for him while still having the windows fallback if the mac solutions don't exits.

Good Luck

 

[ab2650]

Although this is blasphemy around here, I would suggest he stick with windows for work. If this computer is for work only, then he should stick with windows as he is familiar with it and he can get IT help with fewer smarmy comments.

If he is using it for both work and home (not working from home but keeping his photos and music) then i agree with the dual booting option. He can use windows at work and the mac at home, and can figure out if there are mac solutions that will work for him while still having the windows fallback if the mac solutions don't exits.

Good Luck

Sound advice! I second this, OP.

 

[redvolvodavid]

Ok then...

If I run Vista or XP on the mac, will it still work as though I am on a mac? I just need to be 100% sure on the networking side of things because we back-up everything to the server.

I know MBP was rated best notebook to run Vista on but I didn't know if it meant all around all functionality.

And would you guys recommend using BootCamp or Parallels? BootCamp I have to select which OS at the beginning and Parallels I can have running at all times with the OSX and use its functionality? I am not well educated on this.

Thanks for your help!

 

[hankolerd]

I have tried parallels and vmware fusion, and i was not very impressed by either compared to the performance that comes from boot camp, considering a mac with boot camp runs windows apps faster than a completely comparable pc does. As far as I know everything will be completely functional in windows. I am running Vista through boot camp, and can generally see more computers on the network than other windows users on the network, and can usually see even more when I am booted into OSX.

To put it simply, with a mac running boot camp and vista, is exactly like running a dell with vista, except much faster, you have a built in camera & microphone(iMac or laptops), and you have firewire ports. But if he found ways to do all his networking through OSX, I am convinced after a week of using it, he would be a hardcore mac fan.

I convinced a guy I work with to get a mac mini instead of a dell to run his home business. instead of installing windows he bought new software for all of the things he needed for his business that were mac compatible, he said it was actually fairly easy to find, and that all the software works better and is easier to use. When he got it he had about 15 minutes to play with it before coming to work, and he said in those first 15 minutes that he already liked it better than any of the 5 dells he had owned in the last 5 years. Last I talked to him he has had it for a year, and has yet to find a single hiccup with it, and all he said is that he kinda wants to buy a new faster mini(he has the 1.83 single core).