want to buy my first MBP

[eyalez]

Hi all. I'm new around here.

I heard a lot of good stuff about the MBP and I already have an iPhone and Ipad 2 (which I can hardly live without) so I was really considering on buying a MBP and complete the set, and try to see what people so like about it. but I have a few problems I'd like you to help me solve.

1. I want to but at least 15" MBP, which is quit expensive as it is, and I was wondering if I should add somthing to it, or for my basic uses it'll do? (studying, music, movies, some games like LOL, diablo3 and such - pretty reguler things)

2. maybe I should have start with this, but here, in my country, most computers are windows, and in most universitys and colleges you can't present your projects and works in other apps but word (you have to present it in Word, or any other windows app). I know, the teachers here are lazy.
so I took to some guys here that have MB and they told me they kind of sorry they got one, beacuse it's awesome and all, but it sucks here at schools. they also told me that you can buy some other apps that will change the works to be "readable" by windows apps, but it's expensive.

3.does external hd need to be reboot if it was in a windows os before? I can't switch it between 2 diffrent OS computers?

sorry for the long thread!
thanks a lot for all who can and want to help!

peace!

 

[Herdfan]

2. maybe I should have start with this, but here, in my country, most computers are windows, and in most universitys and colleges you can't present your projects and works in other apps but word (you have to present it in Word, or any other windows app). I know, the teachers here are lazy.

There is a Word for Mac. And Excel and Powerpoint. So not a problem.

 

[LachlanH]

Firstly, Microsoft Office, including word, is available for OSX.

Secondly, OpenOffice is available for Mac. It is free, and can open and save Word documents.

Thirdly, you could use Bootcamp or even VMWare/Parallels and run Windows on your Mac.




If you want a Mac, I wouldn't let the fact that others use Windows stop you, there are ways around this issue.

 

[eyalez]

Thanks for the quick answer!

But what about the external hard drive?
Is it problematic to switch it between two different OS (like windows and Mac)?

And do I need to upgrade some of the computer features (like ram or something) or it will handle games such as diablo easly?

Thanks again!

 

[Herdfan]

Depending on the drive, you will probably need to reformat it before you can write to it. The Mac will read the data as it is.

There are two ways to put Windows on a Mac.

1) Use Bootcamp. This uses a partition on your main drive and allows you to install Windows 7 (only 7 on current Macs). Switching between the two is a simple reboot.

2) Use virtualization software such as VMWare Fusion or Parallels. These programs allow you to run a virtual copy of Windows (any version) as a program on your Mac. So if you only need one Windows program, you can run it in a window. Both work very well.

Rams is easy to upgrade. The amount of RAM you would need to play the game on a Windows machine is the amount you will need to play it on the Mac.