next computer a mac or pc from a current mac user

[DoFoT9]

how much cpu is used if I use vmware? The last time I tried it was a couple years ago, and it was using about half my cpu and 1 gig of ram just idling on a 2.2ghz mbp. Is this still the case? How much battery life would I lose doing it? Seems like a possible solution would be to vmware windows and use msoffice from there.

just considering all the options

you would probably expect the computer to hover around 5°C->10°C hotter, and lose around 30mins->1hr battery life. there are slightly more added CPU cycles. you could always pause the VM when you arent using it though which frees up those cycles

1GB RAM should be ok for running 1-2 programs at a time. both my Server 2008, OSX Server and Win7 have 1GB RAM. they work fine!

 

[flat4]

The age old debate..mac or pc

I really cant decide. I was tired of windows xp and crashes during my time in high school and before, so I got a mac for college. I've had a mac for my time through undergrad and it's been pretty nice. Mail and ical are great and all the freeware in osx seems very well done. MS Office was adequate, but it felt lacking in a number of areas compared to windows. Mainly, the lack of onenote really is unfortunate. For those that don't know, onenote is essentially a very flexible notetaking program. OSX word has a watered down equivalent - notebook view - but it doesn't hold a candle to onenote. I'm now going into grad school, where i will be taking a whole lot of notes, and considering whether to switch back to windows. I hear windows 7 is actually pretty decent now and the new taskbar at the bottom of the screen shares many similarities with the dock and expose. Time machine is great, but all the external hard drives these days ship with something similar for windows. It's a tough choice, and I'm debating between a new macbook pro 15 (base model w/ HR-AG) or an hp laptop and desktop (I already have a 24" monitor). HP laptop: http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s.../psg/notebooks/High_performance/dv6tse_series

dv6t select edition
2.53 i5
4 gb ddr3 ram
500 gb 7200 rpm hd
ati 5650 with switchable graphics to intel integrated
6 cell "high capacity" battery
weight: 5.5lbs = mbp weight

battery life will be lower, though, im sure, but it should be around 4 hrs with integrated graphics on and low brighness.

hp desktop:

i7 860
8 gb ram
1 tb hd
ati 5770

comes out to be just over 2k together, which is about what the mbp would cost with apple care

the hardware is obviously better, and i'm getting 2 computers vs 1 essentially, but osx is pretty slick. Then again, MS office for osx is far behind the windows equivalent, so it's a tough call. I also don't want to bother with virtualization (aka parallels) b\c it'll cut the battery life in half. Crossover also isn't a very good option b\c the software will be very buggy and inconsistent..so it's really a mac vs pc question. What do you guys think?

Go with windows 7, you will enjoy it.

 

[DoFoT9]

Go with windows 7, you will enjoy it.

windows 7 on the mac or pc