Should I change from Windows to MBP?

[theineffablebob]

I'd never buy a Mac desktop, but if you have the money, Macbook Pros are some of the best notebooks you can buy. There are only a handful of PCs that are competitive with Apple's MBPs.

Unless there are certain features that you require like a touchscreen, top-of-the-line graphics, or Quadro/FirePro graphics, a Macbook Pro is one of the best notebooks you can buy.

 

[amrabari]

I'd never buy a Mac desktop, but if you have the money, Macbook Pros are some of the best notebooks you can buy. There are only a handful of PCs that are competitive with Apple's MBPs.

Unless there are certain features that you require like a touchscreen, top-of-the-line graphics, or Quadro/FirePro graphics, a Macbook Pro is one of the best notebooks you can buy.

why?? the iMac looks very powerful and peace of air item ... if you would like to get the best desktop for your office, i would go for iMac ...

regarding the MBP, I feel it's very nice powerful and peace of air laptop, but the problem that you can't find a lot of software will work with it perfectly.

 

[monkeybagel]

I think today that is very true, however in the future I can see a change as more and more companies adopt Software as Service (SaaS) cloud applications like SalesForce, particularly among the SME (Small Medium Enterprise) marketplace. Yes larger businesses will be slower to move, but that is the way things are going. This is one of the reasons that Microsoft is pushing its own cloud based Office suite so hard (with mixed success at the moment), Office 365, as that is where the future is headed. Companies are increasing looking to liberate data stuck on someone's hard drive and make it more available to other co-workers to increase collaboration.

Many companies are dumping giving laptops to mobile employees and giving them tablets like the iPad instead. Now I am not suggesting this will happen quickly, or that the need for high powered desktops running niche software will go away, but over the next 3-5 years I think we will see a big change in how enterprise applications are developed. Once a corporate application is on the cloud and can be accessed via a web browser, it does not really matter if it is a PC, Mac or Tablet.

This will continue slowly until the first large-scale outage or data breach, and people will come to their senses and control their own data. Microsoft has been trying to get people to "rent" their software for over a decade and has had very limited success.

 

[Freyqq]

you will have to buy a mac version of office 2011. Other than that, sounds like you're good to go.

 

[bogatyr]

Thanks for your advice, will try the OmniGraffle and hope it do the job right..

Regarding the mail, we bought a domain online and I think it's IMAP but the problem when I send emails from outlook I can't see it in any other devices, not even if I login to the webmail account .. However when receiving emails I do ask the outlook to have a copy on the server so I can access it thru any device .. Is there a way to over come this problem when sending emails since I will be using the same mail application on the Mac & iOS?

Careful with OmniGraffle - definitely not on the same level as Visio. Also the Visio document/stencil support isn't 100% in it. It works well for a lot of things but Visio is better and if you already have a Visio license it isn't worth the $200.

If you plan on using the iPad version: it doesn't support the Mac version's docs 100% in addition to reduced Visio support. Unlike the Mac app, the ipad app I don't recommend at all.

OmniGroup offers great support unfortunately I can't share the stencils I'm using due to contractual limits. They did offer to look into my issues.

 

[amrabari]

Careful with OmniGraffle - definitely not on the same level as Visio. Also the Visio document/stencil support isn't 100% in it. It works well for a lot of things but Visio is better and if you already have a Visio license it isn't worth the $200.

If you plan on using the iPad version: it doesn't support the Mac version's docs 100% in addition to reduced Visio support. Unlike the Mac app, the ipad app I don't recommend at all.

OmniGroup offers great support unfortunately I can't share the stencils I'm using due to contractual limits. They did offer to look into my issues.

Sound that I should have VM version for office in order to us Visio to creat network designs and things like that ..

Also I want to ask, will outlook files work on the default mail application on Mac? And will the Mail Mac application accept calendar invitations and things like that?

 

[bogatyr]

Sound that I should have VM version for office in order to us Visio to creat network designs and things like that ..

Also I want to ask, will outlook files work on the default mail application on Mac? And will the Mail Mac application accept calendar invitations and things like that?

We use Exchange so I never had to import PST files. Calendar supports meeting invites (sending and receiving).

Can't see other user calendars if you use Exchange (not that I'm aware of) but when you add people to a calendar item it checks their availability and puts an icon stating available or not next to their name.

 

[glenthompson]

As for IE no offense but does anyone really use it anymore?

On occasions, mainly to download Firefox.

As another long time Windows user that switched, my path was similar to the OP. I started with an iPod Touch then my wife got the first iPad. After that we moved almost everything over.

We both still run parallels for a few Windows apps that don't have Mac equivalents. Before Christmas I had to spend 2 days getting rid of a malware infection on my brother's PC. We gave him my wife's old iPad for Xmas so maybe he will think about making the switch.

 

[jenz]

OS X is truly the reason I love Apple products. So yes, please, change to a MBP with Retina Display.

 

[amrabari]

We use Exchange so I never had to import PST files. Calendar supports meeting invites (sending and receiving).

Can't see other user calendars if you use Exchange (not that I'm aware of) but when you add people to a calendar item it checks their availability and puts an icon stating available or not next to their name.

I don't use exchange, we use web hosted email.. And I hope that I can import my old outlook files into OS X mail app without any problem.

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On occasions, mainly to download Firefox.

As another long time Windows user that switched, my path was similar to the OP. I started with an iPod Touch then my wife got the first iPad. After that we moved almost everything over.

We both still run parallels for a few Windows apps that don't have Mac equivalents. Before Christmas I had to spend 2 days getting rid of a malware infection on my brother's PC. We gave him my wife's old iPad for Xmas so maybe he will think about making the switch.

Yea.. Specially now you can integrate everything using icloud .. I wish that in the next OS X Apple will make more integration with icloud and make the icloud available for 3rd party apps.

Regarding malware .. I really hate it and I wish that I can overcome this issue in MBP.

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OS X is truly the reason I love Apple products. So yes, please, change to a MBP with Retina Display.

The Retina MBP is tooooo expensive specily if you want to get i7 and 512 SSD .. As I can't live with 128 of storage for my laptop .. So I think I will go with the normal MBP i7 with 1000GB of storage .. Even thou I love the new design of the rMBP ... But it's too expensive

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May I know does the Mac App Store has free apps? Or we should buy all the apps? As that will increase the total cost of the owner ship of the MBP

 

[CHMK]

i made the switch to mac earlier this year after about 7 years of windows. i love it. for some reason its just so much more organised and unified.

try it out, and if you really can't live with it return it: 14 day no questions asked return rule.

or run bootcamps as lots of people here have suggested.

 

[James_C]

I don't use exchange, we use web hosted email.. And I hope that I can import my old outlook files into OS X mail app without any problem.

Apple's Migration Assistant can transfer emails from Outlook to Apple Mail - but check the support document for details. However if you are using IMAP then all the mails should be stored on the server and Mac Mail will just need to Sync to the Server to pull them down to the Mail Client. You will only need to use Migration Assistant if you use a PoP mail server. Note that you will not be able to transfer archived email files, without buying a utility to convert them.

Yea.. Specially now you can integrate everything using icloud .. I wish that in the next OS X Apple will make more integration with icloud and make the icloud available for 3rd party apps.

iCloud is available for 3rd Party Apps, provided the developer supports it, like the excellent iA Writer for example.

Regarding malware .. I really hate it and I wish that I can overcome this issue in MBP.

There is Malware that can effect Macs, like keyloggers, but you do need to give it permission to install, so just make sure you know what you are giving permission to install on your Mac. I believe that currently there is no significant virus threat in the wild that can effect the Mac, although you could pass one on to someone using Windows via email forwarding.

May I know does the Mac App Store has free apps? Or we should buy all the apps? As that will increase the total cost of the owner ship of the MBP

The Mac App Store (MAS) does have free Apps, although I believe at the moment you don't have access to the MAS in your country yet ?

 

[BugBytes]

A Macbook Pro is fully capable of all the normal tasks you currently use Windows for. Mac OSX is also not hard to learn. I would say that if you have the money, yes it is a good idea.

 

[amrabari]

After the rumors that Apple is going to update there MBP line up, should I wait until I see the new MBP?

 

[KPOM]

After the rumors that Apple is going to update there MBP line up, should I wait until I see the new MBP?

I'd guess that the earliest we'll see updates is June or July, and only if the mobile Haswell chips are out by then. The 13" rMBP just came out 2 months ago. It probably won't be updated until late summer or early fall.

 

[saytheenay]

Beware Windows VMs on the rmbp. I use VirtualBox and Windows looks better on non-retina displays, from my experience, as does the Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection (the Mac version of RDP). If you want retina Windows, you can have it via Bootcamp, however, you will need to set the DPI in Windows to 150-200%, which, IMO, doesn't look as good as it does at 100%.

I use Windows VMs for Visio, SyncBack (a file syncing program), and servers (I am a software engineer), so I don't spend a lot of time in Windows directly. However, I have read some posts where people said it's not that different between retina and non-retina for VMs, and I would say it does look different, almost slightly blurry.

If you spend a lot of time in Windows (> 50%), get a Macbook Pro, iMac, or Air, but I wouldn't go retina in that scenario.

In general, you can always wait to switch because something better will always be coming around. When I switched, it was December 2010 and sandy bridge processors were right around the corner, however, I needed it then and I don't regret it at all. Get what you need when you need it.

If I can, I will generally buy around November-December because of Apple's Holiday return policy--you usually only get to January to return, otherwise, its 14 days.