Talk me off the ledge!!!

[atlascott]

So I am starting a new job in a week, and need a laptop. Before the Expo, I was gonna buy an iBook...

But the new place is standardized on Windows, and has case management software on Windows, and has an office network. So I am seriously considering a PeeCee laptop, damn it all to hell!

Toshiba Satellite 300-S304 has a 1GHz PIII Mobility with speed step (saves battery life), 256 MB Ram, 16 MB DDR GeForce2Go graphics card, 20 GB HD, 8x4x24/8x Combo CDR/DVD drive. It is 12"x10"x1.4", and weighs 5 lbs. I can get one for around $1500, with Windows XP (I will request a different OS because of Gates' activation ********, but they will probably not accomodate). I will upgrade the ram immediately, since XP is a resource hog.

But in my heart, I dont want to do it. I dont want to pay Gates anything, ever. To add insult to injury, the new place is standrdized on M$ Office and uses Outlook (can you say virus). I do not want ot reward M$ for its illegal tactics. I do not want to reward them for thier second rate OS. I do not want to reward them for their "plug and play" OS that is riddled with bugs, security problems, and a registration program like something out of Schindler's List.


I want a cool, slim Mac. I want to use Appleworks and Applescript. I want to learn some Unix command lines. I want to customize my Mac. I want to show the PC world that Macs rock. But I think the PC might be the better choice here...

PLEASE, TALK ME OFF OF THE LEDGE BEFORE I JUMP!!!!!

 

[cryptochrome]

Just get Connectix Virtual PC. It may not be powerful enough for games but you shouldn't have a problem running business software on it, AFAIK.

 

[mmcneil]

VPC on a Mac

I am currently running a 400Mhz G3 BK and VPC. VPC ends up equivalent to a 100 Mhz P III. I do some application testing and Office things in VPC. I do NOT think it is acceptable as an every day OS.

You can of course run office etc. on the Mac and use VPC only when you have to. The major issue here is whether the custom application would run well.

If you really want a responsive VPC you will have to go for a high end Tibook. I suspect you will get an equivalent of a 300 Mhz machine. With a high end iBook I would expect no more than 200 Mhz performance.

As far as all the networking stuff, VPC works pretty flawlessly in an M$ network environment and OS X has the potential (with a lot of twidling).

VPC 5.0 is a MAJOR memory hog. If you elect to go this route, you will need 512K minimum, 1 GByte would be better, especially with OS X.

Good Luck

 

[Hemingray]

Jump! Jump!

I've been a loyal Mac user since 1984. My world revolves around macs. But buddy... if it's more practical to use a PC laptop in your environment... do it! Don't let loyalty get in the way of practicality.

 

[Falleron]

Get the mac

Its simple! Get the ibook + get office for the mac. That solves that problem + OSX should allow you to interface with the pc network so that problem is resolved. Outlook is available for mac, so the only problem is that you might have one or two programs that require a pc and thats where virtual pc comes in. I have used it quite a bit + have found it runs everything fine apart from games (Get as much ram as possible though - 512Mb more if u can).

You might end up paying a little more for the mac to start off with but long term it will save you money!!!

 

[Gloria]

I use a Ti Powerbook in an all Windows office. Ther's no problem opening win-office files on Mac & vice-versa (just remember to put extensions on the files. Office 4 win can't work without the .doc tags.)

The only problem you could have is acces to the network. Luckily, Thursby (www.thursby.com) sells Dave, a great program that lets you work & print via the network.

OK, it might not be the easiest way, but your iBook will definitely be the sexiest computer in the office (and isn't that what we all want?)

 

[Hemingray]

Another solution.

I also agree with Falleron's solution. I myself wouldn't buy a PC period.

But then again, I wouldn't put myself in a PC environment in the first place.

So, you have a few options:
1) Buy a PC and miss the Mac
2) Buy a Mac and make due with VPC
3) Convert the entire office to Mac

 

[Falleron]

If you want a mac get one! There are various ways to get round the problems. R u really a mac person atlascott? This will decide it!

 

[evildead]

apps

You may need some 3rd party apps like Dave and Virtual PC (as the others have mentiond) I have used both and they work fine. You do need a bucket of RAM to run VPC and I would stay away from WinXP if your going to use it. Verison 5.0 is nice. Think of it this way.. are you going to get any ooohs and Haaaaas when you bust out your Dell? NO!! Everyone is going to want to see your TiBook. It well be more work to get it to run correctly in your NT environment... but hey.. it will be worth it. And if your company has site licences on all their Windows apps and OS's, you can use them with VPC... no problem. They install and work the same way as they would on a PC.... if thats a good thing.

 

[mischief]

$$$

Any money you save on a PC WILL be spent on service, consultants, technicians, downtime and parts you didn't know you needed.

 

[Normal Guy]

Problem Fix

I don't know why we are talking about this. There's no problem here. There's also no reason for him to consider a PC. You can't call it practical, it's conformity if he does. Simple fix, I run a local network with both macs and pcs and everything is fine.

1.) get a Ti PowerBook skip the iBook if you'll be using VPC
2.) if the network printers and file servers there run on IP then mac should have no problem doing either one. IPX ... hmm MSNetworking .. find another job
3.) Get a copy of MS Office for Mac should have no problems.
4.) you can run the customer relation junk in VPC the G4 should preform fine, along with any msnetworking tasks that aren't macable.
5.) If your office's servers are all MS, IT isn't doing it's homework. They need to go linux or unix. Also as mentioned above there is software to allow you to access MS Domains and junk. Check out a Mac Zones or CDW.

I wish you well. Don't be a sissy, buy the mac. How is anyone in your office ever going to see that they are wasting time if you don't show them?

 

[evildead]

very true

My budy got a PC and thought he saved him self a lot of cash...

then he realized that the SCSI card and contoller was crap, so were the Video and Sound cards. He uses it for Digital recording and mixing so his highend sound card he got for it did not work with anything in it. After troble shooting for months, he had to replace all most everything in the box... in including the mother bord!! He spent a lot of cash trying to get that dam thing to work. He even told me last night "the reason why everyone in Music recording buys Mac's, is because the work. Emagin if you had a big time customer comming in to the sudio and your PC failed, the sound card went out, you had a driver problem, or you get a blue screen. With a Mac,you plug in your cards,, load your drivers and apps and you start making money"