Ho Ho Ho: Buying laptop for dad

[sepandee]

I have to buy my dad a laptop. Was thinking of the Lenovo X220 but then I found out it doesn't have an optical drive. Now i'm looking at the Sony Vaio VPCSB11FXB or at the Samsung Samsung NP350U2B-A01.

However, I might just buy a refurbished macbook pro. My question is, apart from any ideas/suggestions you may have about the aforementioned laptops, would it be perfectly OK if I ran a windows operating system on the MBP? My dad needs Windows, not OS X.

 

[sweetbrat]

Sure you can run Windows, using Bootcamp, Fusion, Parallels, etc. I'm confused, though...if your dad needs Windows, why would you buy a Mac for him instead of just sticking with a Windows machine?

 

[sepandee]

Sure you can run Windows, using Bootcamp, Fusion, Parallels, etc. I'm confused, though...if your dad needs Windows, why would you buy a Mac for him instead of just sticking with a Windows machine?

Because after working with both of them, and reading so many reviews, Apple laptops seem to be the only ones that are rated and reviewed in a consistent way. Any other brand and no matter what I search, there all always some issues with the laptop: overheating, the touchpad, flimsy hinges, plastic and flimsy feel.... there's always at least some complaints.

Plus, the laptop codes just confuse me. Apple's are easy; with SOny, for example, there's the S-serious, but then you get a bunch of codes after that. ANd once you figure that out, then you have to figure out the other codes that comes after that.

 

[dontwalkhand]

Go for it, I was thinking about doing the same for my parents with an older MacBook.

Use Parallels for Windows, that way you don't have to constantly be restarting between Mac OS & Windows with Bootcamp. Have him try out the Mac side of things for once as well, there is no need to get an MBP just to solely use Windows on.

 

[squeakr]

Bear in mind that those reviews are based upon stock configurations, which mean they are using OS X. Things do change slightly when running solely on Windows, such as the trackpad pluses of gestures don't always work as the reviews state. Also the newer machines don't support installations of XP through Bootcamp, if you need XP.

 

[sepandee]

Go for it, I was thinking about doing the same for my parents with an older MacBook.

Use Parallels for Windows, that way you don't have to constantly be restarting between Mac OS & Windows with Bootcamp. Have him try out the Mac side of things for once as well, there is no need to get an MBP just to solely use Windows on.

Isn't running Parallels a bit slower than using Bootcamp? At least that was my experience a few years ago. He doesn't need OS X at all, so why even bother with Parallels? Every time he turns the machine on he can just Bootcamp into windows.

And he doesn't need to try the Mac side really. At 73, he has to re-learn all the keyboard shortcuts. Plus, he has a few programs for his work that run only in Windows.

 

[squeakr]

Yeah, it might not be worth it then to relearn everything. Although when it comes to most of the keyboard shortcuts the only difference is Windows is Control+ key and OSX is Command+samekey (i.e. copy is Control-C in Windows and Command-C in OS X).

 

[dontwalkhand]

Isn't running Parallels a bit slower than using Bootcamp? At least that was my experience a few years ago. He doesn't need OS X at all, so why even bother with Parallels? Every time he turns the machine on he can just Bootcamp into windows.

And he doesn't need to try the Mac side really. At 73, he has to re-learn all the keyboard shortcuts. Plus, he has a few programs for his work that run only in Windows.

I use Parallels all the time with a basic Windows XP installation, and it does not feel slow at all, certainly not with today's Macs. RAM is key when using a computer with two OSes running at the same time.

Also, there is no need to really relearn anything other than using the Command Key rather than the Control Key to do keyboard shortcuts. (Though Windows has a dumb shortcut for 'redo' choosing Control Y instead of Command Shift Z...It would make sense to me to use the same key!...but other commands are literally the same). Command + C = Copy, Command + Z = Undo, Command + P = Print so on and so forth.

OS X is much more easier to grasp than Windows, and also, it is not that much of a learning curve, and can provide a more pleasant experience. Also, the lack of viruses is worth it alone.

If you don't mind me asking, what programs are only available in Windows that he needs? The Mac equivalents (sometimes free) are out there.

 

[sepandee]

If you don't mind me asking, what programs are only available in Windows that he needs? The Mac equivalents (sometimes free) are out there.

It's some program for his university. It's a custom program, so I doubt there's a Mac equivalent out there.