MacBook For Work

[djinn]

I currently own a 2.33ghz Macbook Pro for home use but need a new work PC. I work at IBM and they hate giving their employees good laptops. What makes it even worse is I just got promoted and they want to give me a used T30. I am to the point of just going to Apple and getting a Black Macbook. I would only need Parallels for my Email until I can get the mac VPN software. I really hate Windows.

Ideas, opinions?

 

[mkrishnan]

Is the Lenovo selloff part of why they hate to give you more recent Thinkpads? Or is it just pride and expectations with respect to how long a Thinkpad should last? Anyway, I guess, if you're willing to foot the bill, go for it.

 

[danny_w]

If IBM is anything like they used to be, I'd be surprised if they allowed you to use your own laptop. Have you checked into their policies about this?

 

[djinn]

I use my own thinkpad right now. You just have to sign a property pass.

IBM is just cheap when it comes to giving their employees good hardware. Even the laptop I bought for my other position was better then any 3rd line managers. With all the coding all I do and Virtual Machine stuff I do, their laptop they would give me would be a T30 with 512 RAM, bah.

 

[djinn]

How fragile are the Macbooks to the macbook pros? I know with the pros they can dent and scratch easily.

 

[iLoveMyMBP]

How fragile are the Macbooks to the macbook pros? I know with the pros they can dent and scratch easily.

IMO macbook's and macbookpros are really sturdy. I used to have G4 powerbook then upgrade to a macbookpro. I'd say get a nice zip-around sleave and make sure there isn't a lot of weight on it and u should be good

 

[mkrishnan]

How fragile are the Macbooks to the macbook pros? I know with the pros they can dent and scratch easily.

Speaking from the iBook, I feel like it's second only to the Thinkpad in terms of what I've used (Toshiba, Dell, IBM, Apple). And one thing I noticed is that with my TPad, the drive tray got wonky after a while, which is not an issue here.

 

[johnmartin78]

I currently own a 2.33ghz Macbook Pro for home use but need a new work PC. I work at IBM and they hate giving their employees good laptops. What makes it even worse is I just got promoted and they want to give me a used T30. I am to the point of just going to Apple and getting a Black Macbook. I would only need Parallels for my Email until I can get the mac VPN software. I really hate Windows.

Ideas, opinions?

I know one thing,it'd be like the most pwn thing ever to walk into IBM and see people using Macbooks.

 

[djinn]

So I went out and bought my black macbook for work. Ordered my 2gig of ram from newegg which should come tomorrow. I think the only concern I have is, what is the wear worries on the black macbook? Mostly the keyboard, trackpad, and wrist pads.

I do have the iSkin for my macbook pro and its cool and all, but sometimes overprotective gets in the way of productivity.

 

[taildragger]

I imagine that its not just IBM, all large corporations should be like that. Most off the machines that they have are usually just used for typic docs and running excel. When I worked at shell I got an evo (I think) compaq that was about4 or more years old. The thing sucked, but it was more than willing to do my spreadsheets and documents, although my ppt for my final presentation nearly killed it (my 20 minute presentation was forced into a 1.5 hours with lots of graphics).

That being said, from a corporate point of view, why do they need to go out and buy new machines when the old ones are working fine. I know that its nice to work on new computers, but sometimes thats just not going to happen. Even with your coding I doubt that you need a sophisticated machine, although I bet that a nice fat monitor would be a real plus.

Although I am curious as to why you didn't get a lenovo notebook, they are really nice and that employee discount should be real nice

PS, what part of the country do they have you in, I am currently seeking a position with them and want to know that I am not going to be the only person potentially catching flack for having a mac.

 

[djinn]

I imagine that its not just IBM, all large corporations should be like that. Most off the machines that they have are usually just used for typic docs and running excel. When I worked at shell I got an evo (I think) compaq that was about4 or more years old. The thing sucked, but it was more than willing to do my spreadsheets and documents, although my ppt for my final presentation nearly killed it (my 20 minute presentation was forced into a 1.5 hours with lots of graphics).

That being said, from a corporate point of view, why do they need to go out and buy new machines when the old ones are working fine. I know that its nice to work on new computers, but sometimes thats just not going to happen. Even with your coding I doubt that you need a sophisticated machine, although I bet that a nice fat monitor would be a real plus.

Although I am curious as to why you didn't get a lenovo notebook, they are really nice and that employee discount should be real nice

PS, what part of the country do they have you in, I am currently seeking a position with them and want to know that I am not going to be the only person potentially catching flack for having a mac.

IBM Policy is when you get promoted you receive a new machine. Thats if you didn't have a previous asset to be transferred with you. In this case, my manager didn't sign me off with any assets. So technically it looks as if I never had a machine. To be honest I don't want a machine with Windows on it and IBM is currently in the works to get rid of all Windows. Their goal is to move to Linux before considering Vista. Whats also nice is that IBM supports the mac community. So all the tools I need to do my job for the most part are covered. Also the machine they wanted to supply me was a T30. I do a lot of coding but I do a lot of testing on Virtual Servers on my laptop. Seeing how I am 90% remote I have my test lab on my laptop.

The Thinkpad/Lenovo laptops are quite nice, I'm on my personal one as I type this. And yes, our discounts are very nice.

I live in Colorado but work remotely. My customer site is in Denver so it does allow me to go into the office when needed. If you want to work for IBM your best bet is to start as a contractor. Thats how the majority of IBMers get in. And IBM doesn't frown on MACs, they actually like them.