Hey mac fanatics.
Need all of your advice. Am buying a gift for my wife who currently has a Dell Latitude D630 PC. Here's a quick outline of her requirements and the options as I see them - feel free to offer me your feedback.
1. Form factor - must be smaller and lighter than her current machine (13.3x9.3x1.3 inches, 5.1lbs) - the smaller and lighter, the better, as she uses a wheelchair and needs something that's easy to transport
2. Windows - must be able to run windows in Parallels or VMware (?) because she has a very small, simple application called CORE she uses to track her time for work and as far as I know, it's only a Windows app. She often refers to Excel while she uses it so that means it has to be run in parallel
3. Performance - her current PC is Intel Core Duo 2 at 2.0GHz w/ 1GB RAM on Windows Vista. It's PAINFULLY slow. Would a MAC with similar specs run faster or slower than a PC? Or about the same?
4. Price - I can't go north of $2k all-in... the lower, the better of course.
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OK so here are my options and what I like/don't like about each of them.
1. Macbook Air (non-SSD model) - perfect form factor, but much more expensive, and I'm worried whether it will be faster than her current machine or not. In addition, I'm skeptical as to whether it can run MAC OS and Windows in parallel - can it really do it and does it perform well? Also it's a first generation machine that may come with baggage as most do. Non-upgradability of RAM and non-replaceability of battery bugs me. Don't care much about lack of ports. Wouldn't want to get MBA without Apple Care, which pushes the price too high. Also worried that the moment I buy, the price will drop. Can get it for $1785 (CAD) with my EPP plus free iPod touch which I don't need but would be nice bonus.
2. Macbook - I'm more confident in performance and Windows parallel due to better tech specs (processor, HD size, etc) and of course the price is much cheaper so I can afford to upgrade RAM and get Applecare. Can get it for $1249 (CAD) on Education store plus free iPod touch which I don't need but would be a nice bonus. But the form factor is only marginally better than her current machine (12.8x8.9x1.1 inches, 5.0lbs) - 22% smaller, but only 0.1lb lighter.
3. NEW Macbook - I expect the price to be the same or marginally more than the current Macbook, which works great for me, and I expect the tech specs to be sufficient to meet all my needs. But the question is form factor which I have read a lot of speculation about, but nobody seems to know for sure. If the new MB is going to be any smaller or lighter than the current MB, I think we have a winner! Would aluminum vs. plastic housing make it lighter, or heavier? Do we have any insights into the actual form factor? Also, her BDAY is on August 28, so, I might run into some time pressure given that it's August 3 now and we still don't know what Apple has up it's sleeve.
ALL thoughts, ideas, experiences would be helpful!!!
Xian
Need all of your advice. Am buying a gift for my wife who currently has a Dell Latitude D630 PC. Here's a quick outline of her requirements and the options as I see them - feel free to offer me your feedback.
1. Form factor - must be smaller and lighter than her current machine (13.3x9.3x1.3 inches, 5.1lbs) - the smaller and lighter, the better, as she uses a wheelchair and needs something that's easy to transport
2. Windows - must be able to run windows in Parallels or VMware (?) because she has a very small, simple application called CORE she uses to track her time for work and as far as I know, it's only a Windows app. She often refers to Excel while she uses it so that means it has to be run in parallel
3. Performance - her current PC is Intel Core Duo 2 at 2.0GHz w/ 1GB RAM on Windows Vista. It's PAINFULLY slow. Would a MAC with similar specs run faster or slower than a PC? Or about the same?
4. Price - I can't go north of $2k all-in... the lower, the better of course.
---
OK so here are my options and what I like/don't like about each of them.
1. Macbook Air (non-SSD model) - perfect form factor, but much more expensive, and I'm worried whether it will be faster than her current machine or not. In addition, I'm skeptical as to whether it can run MAC OS and Windows in parallel - can it really do it and does it perform well? Also it's a first generation machine that may come with baggage as most do. Non-upgradability of RAM and non-replaceability of battery bugs me. Don't care much about lack of ports. Wouldn't want to get MBA without Apple Care, which pushes the price too high. Also worried that the moment I buy, the price will drop. Can get it for $1785 (CAD) with my EPP plus free iPod touch which I don't need but would be nice bonus.
2. Macbook - I'm more confident in performance and Windows parallel due to better tech specs (processor, HD size, etc) and of course the price is much cheaper so I can afford to upgrade RAM and get Applecare. Can get it for $1249 (CAD) on Education store plus free iPod touch which I don't need but would be a nice bonus. But the form factor is only marginally better than her current machine (12.8x8.9x1.1 inches, 5.0lbs) - 22% smaller, but only 0.1lb lighter.
3. NEW Macbook - I expect the price to be the same or marginally more than the current Macbook, which works great for me, and I expect the tech specs to be sufficient to meet all my needs. But the question is form factor which I have read a lot of speculation about, but nobody seems to know for sure. If the new MB is going to be any smaller or lighter than the current MB, I think we have a winner! Would aluminum vs. plastic housing make it lighter, or heavier? Do we have any insights into the actual form factor? Also, her BDAY is on August 28, so, I might run into some time pressure given that it's August 3 now and we still don't know what Apple has up it's sleeve.
ALL thoughts, ideas, experiences would be helpful!!!
Xian
