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Long time Windows User to MBP

E

erdembey

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 16, 2011
8
0
Hi all,

First of macrumors is a great resource for mac related stuff.
I am interested in mac osx and macbook pro ... Especially with the latest release of the MBP it seems it's very solid product.
I've tested the macbook 13" and 15" in bestbuy.

What i want to learn from the actual mac users to the transition process.
I am a long time windows user. Several years ago i've moved all my computer related usages to notebooks. I've tried several brands hp, toshiba and finally sony vaio.
I am mainly work on php/mysql development, simple graphics via adobe photoshop, ms office tools, active email communication and some times C++ / C# development.

What i tought is i may go with a 2011 13" macbook pro (may be 15" but i want to have mobility) and install paralels to have windows simultenaously. I dont want to use bootcamp for alltime windows as this is gonna be a mac that's why i only want to use windows-only tasks via paralels.

Also i am interested in games a lot, sc II, bf 2, civ, steam means i am going to use paralels also for my gaming requirements.

Once again my notebook seems to leave me alone that's why i want to move on with mac.

Finally my question as follows; is it an overkill to use a mbp for this way ?

Can anyone share his/her thoughts on this issue ?

Thanks.
 
My first PC was a dos based Amstrad 8086 with 640k ram and a single 3.5" 720k disk drive, cga graphics cards and a 9600 bps modem. To say I've been in the PC world a long time is an understatement. I've been in it since the beginning.

I too have been seduced by what I'm seeing from the new Apple lineup and a few months ago I decided to pick up a 13" whenever the new ones came out. So, I'm typing this post on a new MacBook Pro 13" with the i5 processor. Its a lovely machine that gets carried around with me all the time, everywhere I go. Parallels's coherence mode is just perfect when I just need one Windows app since it allows my Mac to perform just the way I want it to in OS X and simultaneously I can access that one critical Windows app. Performance is quite good on this machine but an upgrade to 8 gb maybe in order if you use Parallel's to run memory intensive programs. If you do upgrade its a mere $90 from Newegg or your online retailer of choice.

The battery on this laptop is as good as you've heard so its highly portable. I routinely get 6-8 hours out of it with no effort on my part to do so. I leave wifi, bluetooth and the keyboard backlighting turned all constantly. Plus, the weight is perfect for carrying around.

To answer your question, I don't think its overkill to use a MBP this way at all. If you can afford it and you treat it will you could easily use it for several years due to the high build quality. If you didn't want to do that you could easily resell it for decent money when you are ready. Having this much power in a portable unit is just lovely. Its not an overkill at all.

I'm not a developer so I can't speak to those projects of yours but I'm sure someone else will pop in who can. If you have any other questions just ask.

Enjoy your MBP.
 
Hello Dustin,

Thank you for your comments. It seems i am going to move on and buy a macbook pro soon.
Nearly all comments about the product is positive.

But i want to listen/read real world scenarios mainly on development and windows replacement issues.
 
I know that you can do C++ in xcode, and mac works well with mysql. I hear they are good among developers. I myself want to get a macbook pro and I have been a .Net developer for some time now. I will be moving on to Java development now so I still can't figure out if a mac is right for me. Sure I can install windows via bootcamp or parallels but if my job requires me to use windows for java most of the time then I see it as a waste of money. I barely use laptops but I've used a macbook at my job currently to test our web sites. I really enjoy this machine but if Steve Jobs does not want to go forth with Java updates then it will do me no good.

Too bad, because I was about to buy one last week and I spoke with a mac guy at the store. His advice was to contact my manager and ask specifically what the company uses for development before making the purchase..which was nice of him because most others would just tell you everything will work to get you to buy one.
 
Just a bit of advice, if you play steam (or any fps) games at all seriously, you won't want to run them in osx. I have found the mouse acceleration in osx to be unbearable in fps games (hl2, css, dod, etc) and find myself needing bootcamp just for this reason.
 
ddehr026, thank you for your advice.
I am planning on using paralels for windows related programs and mainly for gaming ...
 
I don't see why that would be overkill for a MacBook pro. Sounds like it can do exactly that and more. Welcome aboard!
 
erdembey said:
ddehr026, thank you for your advice.
I am planning on using paralels for windows related programs and mainly for gaming ...
Click to expand...

Sounds like a plan. Also I might recommend 8gb of ram if go you that route so everything goes smooth in virtual windows :)
 
Since 2 weeks ago, I was a long time PC user. Mac is the best thing I ever did (on the internet/computer world) I forked out a good £2000, but it's bloody worth it. I have no need to use my desktop anymore it just stays turned off. I can do everything on my MBP. I play Rome: Total War. But mostly use this for music, internet, and some other intensive tasks. Honestly you won't regret.
 
I need to decide by this weekend if i want to buy one as well. I get an educational employee discount before I resign next week so it would be worth using that while I can..decisions, decisions.
 
Like Dustin, I too have been in the PC world for a while. My first computer was an Apple II+ (which I still have in storage) and a Leading Edge 8086.

I moved from Windows to Mac about 4 years ago and found my early efforts rather frustrating because I was a big time keyboard-shortcut user on the Windows side. Some of that translates to the OSX side, but not all. If you're a big keyboard person, like I was, then the shortcut key learning process (and the subtle keyboard key location differences) takes some getting used to - at least it did for me.

I've used Parallels and VMware and can offer these two pieces of advice - 1) again the shortcut key transitions between OSX and the VM will take a little getting used to (you'll probably have to map some manually like print-screen) and 2) get an external drive (FW800, internal ODD replacement, or Thunderbolt when they come out) to run your VMs on if you use them a lot.

The disk thrashing that occurs with heavily used VMs can really take a toll on your performance and disk. This is probably less of an issue with SSDs, although someone with SSD experience would have to verify that.

Welcome aboard. I've loved working in both spaces using my Mac as the Host OS. I use it exclusively for work now as well.
 
I can't speak to the development tools available (although I have a programmer/friend who uses a MBP for his work). He prefers a Mac over anything Windows for software development - mostly because of the stability.

I was a long time WinDoze user (even beta tested Win95) up until April of last year. When Photoshop CS5 was announced, I made the switch to a MBP. Absolutely no regrets about making the switch. I still have my older Gateway laptop that runs Win7 Ultimate on it. I use it mostly for Windows-based games (including Steam), and...well...that's about it - games.

Transition wise, since you're currently using MS Office, all of your documents are comptatible with the Mac version of office. You can even import your PST file from the Windows version of Outlook to the Mac version. Same with your Photoshop files.

Personally, I'd recommend a 15" MBP over a 13" - primarily for the screen size. 15" is easier on the eyes, but still quite portable.

For every Windows application I used, I've found a Mac equivalent that's as good, if not better, than what I had in Windows.

From a gaming standpoint, I've played a couple of older LucasArts games on my MBP - they run quite well.

Personally, I wouldn't want to run Windows on my MBP - mostly because I get enough of Windows at work.
 
erdembey said:
Also i am interested in games a lot, sc II, bf 2, civ, steam means i am going to use paralels also for my gaming requirements.
Click to expand...
BF2 may just work but SC2 probably not. I tried C&C3 in parallels and while it starts and loads a level it becomes a slide show after I built some units. In Bootcamp it works fine even in high though.
VMs are way better for gaming now then they used to be but still that is not saying much.

15" is mobile enough more and more people here on campus use 15" today. I don't know their reasons but for me programming and working on the 15" HD is just way better. I just cannot or don't want to get used to a tiny 13" screen.

MBP is only overkill if you use pay a lot of money and use it only once a week. If you only do web surfing and typing papers it is still not overkill if you use it many hours each day. MBP are not the most powerful notebooks and the great stuff is a decent screen a great touchpad and good battery life. It doesn't need a heavy workload nor does it need to be some special sort of work.
 
erdembey said:
Finally my question as follows; is it an overkill to use a mbp for this way ?
Click to expand...

I humbly think that it is not an overkill to use the MBP the way you're going to use it. At least you intend to use Mac OS most of the time, so there shouldn't be any kind of problem. For me, I've been using Windows only (through BootCamp) 24/7 on my MBP since 2009 & enjoying it a lot. :)
 
Thank you very much for the replies.

dusk007; from what i see in the youtube new version of the paralels seems to solve the issues with gaming. But for me, i believe we should move our gaming needs to consoles :) but it's an another discussion topic ...

Also about the overkill issue, i am using my notebook nearly all the day ... both social wise and office related issues. I am using my own notebook in my workplace also ...

Bending Pixels; my current notebook is son vaio 13.3" and around 2 kg. That's why i am looking around the same sizes ... Also correct me if i am wrong but it seems in 15" and 17" there are so much unused space ... This is my point of view :)

On the microsoft office issue, i may replace editors and email clients. From what i heard about the mailing is an issue with exchange and/or big file sizes and/or mass usage ...

nikhsub1; via bootcamp we are moving away from mac to a high performance notebook. In this why we can move on with powerfull dell or so ...
 
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