Gustav casuality, need new machine

[chrisandersen]

Someone stole my PC from my SUV while at a hotel after evacuating from the hurricane. Now I need a new one, and saw the 24" imac at best buy. I was very impressed. I loss all of the pictures, documents, etc.

I use Quickbooks Pro 2008 for my business, email and just general office type of usage. Quickbooks for the mac 2007 is available from Intuit, but doesn't accept credit card payments from my customers. Could I use parallels, fusion or crossover with my QB disks?

I have a Dell laptop running XP Home that will get me by until I decide. Thanks

 

[mkrishnan]

Could I use parallels, fusion or crossover with my QB disks?

Parallels and Fusion should handle it without any problems... VMWare even has a video describing the same issue you had:

http://blogs.vmware.com/teamfusion/2008/05/switching-to-vm.html

At least software wise, it should be fine. Is there any hardware involved with getting credit card info into QB? It should still probably be fine, but you probably also have to double check on the hardware device if so.

Bootcamp will also certainly run it, although it'll be a nuisance. Bootcamp will be fine regardless of the hardware, too, as long as it's something that can plug into a port or slot the Mac in question has.

From CodeWeavers' website, it looks like QB2008 isn't going to be great on CrossOver -- it's not listed in their compatibility database at all, and previous versions such as 2004 are only listed at the Bronze level of support.

 

[chrisandersen]

No, there is no device. It is all software driven credit card info transmitted.

Another question. The base 24" Imac comes with 2 GB ram, for $200 extra another 2 GB. Is this worth the money considering I will be using this other windows emulator?

 

[miiles]

The $200 RAM upgrade is not worth it from Apple. You should get the upgrade for the VMWare or Parallels, but do not buy it from Apple. Crucial has some memory that you can buy specifically for your iMac and install it yourself. It will probably save you around $100 dollars. Even if you aren't a DIY computer kind of guy, installing RAM is super easy, in your "Everything Mac" book that will come with your new iMac there are directions, and pictures on how to do this.

Hope this helps, and you will definitely enjoy your new iMac, should you purchase one.

 

[Yoursh]

You'll want the extra ram if your going to do emulation, but go buy and install it yourself. It's alot cheaper and fairly easy to do.

For referance, when I run windows in emulation on my Mac Pro or Macbook the ram usage tops out with the 2GB installed. It runs fine but running anything else does start to bog down.

 

[DesignerOnMac]

No, there is no device. It is all software driven credit card info transmitted.

Another question. The base 24" Imac comes with 2 GB ram, for $200 extra another 2 GB. Is this worth the money considering I will be using this other windows emulator?

Buy RAM from someone else other than Apple, for a lot less!!! OWC is a good choice, or datamemory.com. They are in NH, might not be the cheapest, but they have name brand RAM and lifetime warranties! Stay away from unfamiliar RAM names. iMac RAM is common RAM is is inexpensive right now.

I have an Alum iMac extreme, 24", and love it!!

 

[chrisandersen]

What about the $200 for 2.8 to 3.0, probably won't see the difference, huh?

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

What about the $200 for 2.8 to 3.0, probably won't see the difference, huh?

I assume you are mentioning the cpu processing spped (GHZ), so no, there is virtually no difference. My friends 2.4GHZ MacBook runs at the same speed as my 2.2GHZ, and no one can tell the difference, not even while we're gaming and the notebooks side-by-side.

And another note, Kingston, Crucial (already mentioned), Samsung/Micron (factory-originals) and also Hynix and OWC, OZC are also good ram brands to look for. Macsales.com is a great site for computer parts.

 

[103734]

I just chimed in to tell you to make sure you changed all your passwords, all you need is some guy getting into all your accounts and screwing you over.

 

[chrisandersen]

Quickbooks for Mac '07

Got the 24" Imac and love it to death. But, the QB for Mac 07 version is terrible. It is at least 3 years behind the windows version. Basic functions not included are the preview window for all accounts, can't download from bank directly, no credit card accepts, UPS intergration, etc. Besides that, my main file would not even import into the mac version. ARGH. If you are used to QB08 on windows, do not buy the mac version until it is updated.

Ok, now I have to do VM to run my old QB and my stamps.com program to print my postage, and UPS worldship to ship my packages.

The guy at the apple store was very reluctant to recommend these VM programs because of going to the 'dark side', so to speak.