ZildjianKX said:
I'd try and find an off lease IBM Thinkpad, something like this would probably work well:
Thinkpad T-series
You could always go dell and get a faster machine, but it won't be anywhere near as well built.
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Mac User forced to buy PC
- Thread starter Schroedinger
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I'd try and find an off lease IBM Thinkpad, something like this would probably work well:
Thinkpad T-series
You could always go dell and get a faster machine, but it won't be anywhere near as well built.
No PC, just PB
I'm a student at GMU law and our test taking software only runs on PCs. That didn't stop me from buying a 12" PowerBook when my PC laptop died a year after I started school. How do I deal with taking exams? Borrow someone else's PC laptop for three days every six months. Hasn't been a problem so far.
And regarding floppy drives, some schools are now allowing students to uses flash drives rather than floppy disks for exam taking.
Best of luck with school.
I'm a student at GMU law and our test taking software only runs on PCs. That didn't stop me from buying a 12" PowerBook when my PC laptop died a year after I started school. How do I deal with taking exams? Borrow someone else's PC laptop for three days every six months. Hasn't been a problem so far.
And regarding floppy drives, some schools are now allowing students to uses flash drives rather than floppy disks for exam taking.
Best of luck with school.
OldManJimbo
macrumors 6502
vollspacken said:
My thoughts exactly - buy a cheap Windows machine off eBay - just enough to do the testing. Then real what you want and will keep for years.
question fear
macrumors 68020
Fukui said:
my roommate investigated this and here's why; the testing software reboots your computer into the testing program, you don't have access to windows or your files....vpc can't block out mac os and only allow testing software access.
at least thats how it is at her law school.
In the end...
I guess I should provide an update here. My results are not what I expected.
I ended up getting an IBM X40. I absolutely love it. The thing is as light as a feather (it's under 3 lbs.) It's perfect for the student lifestyle. It doesn't have an internal optical drive, so I bought an external IBM unit that runs off of USB power, but I never need the optical drive anyway as I use my iPod for music. Now for the blasphemy: for my purpose, being a law student, it is better than any Mac I could get. I'm finding that with the limited demands I make of it, XP is running just fine. Furthermore, there isn't a mac this small on the market.
However, all hope is not lost for me. I've decided that I'm going to get me a powerbook G5 the day they come out, whenever that may be.
I guess I should provide an update here. My results are not what I expected.
I ended up getting an IBM X40. I absolutely love it. The thing is as light as a feather (it's under 3 lbs.) It's perfect for the student lifestyle. It doesn't have an internal optical drive, so I bought an external IBM unit that runs off of USB power, but I never need the optical drive anyway as I use my iPod for music. Now for the blasphemy: for my purpose, being a law student, it is better than any Mac I could get. I'm finding that with the limited demands I make of it, XP is running just fine. Furthermore, there isn't a mac this small on the market.
However, all hope is not lost for me. I've decided that I'm going to get me a powerbook G5 the day they come out, whenever that may be.
Les Kern
macrumors 68040
Schroedinger said:
Absolutely. Right now I'm using a Sony Vaio 12" V505. It's wireless, very snappy and the screen is excellent. The battery lasts a good 3 hours, it's darned light. To be honest, it gives the PBook a run for the money... if it wasn't for XP, or SP2, or the lousy SW. 🙂 Oh, running Firefox on it is awesome, and it's more expensive than a similar PBook.
LOOK here
BornAgainMac
macrumors 604
What is wrong with Celeron?
I don't own one but what is wrong with Celerons? How would a 2.5 Ghz~ Celeron compare with a 600Mhz G3 or a Pentium III? I was happy with that class of a machine for even games and video encoding back when those were the high-end. Would a Celeron be faster than Virtual PC on a fast G4 or G5? Could it be that the components used with Celerons such as the built-in video card and lack of memory be the real bottleneck? I don't believe it causes blue screens. It would be most likely Windows, Memory, Heating problems, or a conflicting driver.
I was thinking of buying a super cheap desktop PC to run some PC only software that isn't available for the Mac and some old games from the 1990's.
Also I agree that it's better to buy the powerbook and a super cheap laptop to run that PC program for school. One of those 4.5 pounders without the CD drive. Who cares what brand or CPU it has since it is only a PC.
I don't own one but what is wrong with Celerons? How would a 2.5 Ghz~ Celeron compare with a 600Mhz G3 or a Pentium III? I was happy with that class of a machine for even games and video encoding back when those were the high-end. Would a Celeron be faster than Virtual PC on a fast G4 or G5? Could it be that the components used with Celerons such as the built-in video card and lack of memory be the real bottleneck? I don't believe it causes blue screens. It would be most likely Windows, Memory, Heating problems, or a conflicting driver.
I was thinking of buying a super cheap desktop PC to run some PC only software that isn't available for the Mac and some old games from the 1990's.
Also I agree that it's better to buy the powerbook and a super cheap laptop to run that PC program for school. One of those 4.5 pounders without the CD drive. Who cares what brand or CPU it has since it is only a PC.