Advice for friend: two computers or 1?

[celebrian23]

Okay this is the story. My friend has a powerbook G4. Her dad bought it for her when she was in 10th grade. She'll be attending Ohio State in the fall studying computer science and engineering. The problem? All of the engineering at Ohio State is 100% windows based. Her dad wants her to get a macbook pro, so she can dual boot, but like 90% of you, she's an apple fanboy who finds the very thought disgusting. Her other choice is to get a Dell. (it will be a dell if it's another computer, no other brand- her dad knows his stuff, he's been working in computers for over 20 years). She doesn't want that either. Well she can just use the computer labs you say, problem is she's a commuter about 15-20 minutes away. So which road would you go down if you had to choose one? Give up your beloved PPC computer for an intel computer you'll dual boot into vista with, or have two seperate computers?

Please, no stupid "why'd she choose a pc college, windows is stupid comments

FORGOT: money is not to be considered, it's really not an object in this case, if she goes intel, it will be a macbook pro

 

[codo]

Well, firstly, anyone who finds the thought of installing Windows on a Mac "disgusting" is odd... Or doesn’t get out much.

Just tell her to get a MacBook and be done with it, much more efficient.

 

[Killyp]

Get a cheap compact PC laptop, like one of those tiny Sony things (if they aren't too expensive), run it barebones, and if it's small enough, she can carry it alongside her PowerBook. If she gets a 17" bag, she can have her PowerBook and PC in it.

Also, the Boot Camp beta says "preview", suggesting that all the betas will run out when Apple releases the final version which is almost certainly going to cost money, so running the XP operating system on Macs isn't a long term thing.

 

[mkrishnan]

I'm with Codo...unless the MBP is too big physically, I just don't see why one would buy two computers and use a Windows PC alongside a PB/G4 when an Intel Mac is an option....

P.S. So I haven't been at Michigan Engineering in a long time, but PC based? That wows me out. Hardly any real work was done on anything other than Sun/HP workstations running Unix when I was at Michigan. The PCs (which were a mix of Windows and Apple) were just for MS Office, surfing, and stuff like that.

P.P.S. Boot Camp is a beta, but it's just a disk of drivers. If you get it now, it will not stop working or cost money to keep working in the future, even if the final version is not free but is part of Leopard.

 

[tipdrill407]

In this situation I would go with Dell or some other windows pc maker. Boot Camp is still in Beta so you could run into certain problems in a 100% windows environment.

 

[iShane]

If I was her I would just take the MacBook Pro. Its a very nice computer and you can dual boot so she won't have to give up the OS X platform entirely.

 

[prostuff1]

Okay this is the story. My friend has a powerbook G4. Her dad bought it for her when she was in 10th grade. She'll be attending Ohio State in the fall studying computer science and engineering. The problem? All of the engineering at Ohio State is 100% windows based. Her dad wants her to get a macbook pro, so she can dual boot, but like 90% of you, she's an apple fanboy who finds the very thought disgusting. Her other choice is to get a Dell. (it will be a dell if it's another computer, no other brand- her dad knows his stuff, he's been working in computers for over 20 years). She doesn't want that either. Well she can just use the computer labs you say, problem is she's a commuter about 15-20 minutes away. So which road would you go down if you had to choose one? Give up your beloved PPC computer for an intel computer you'll dual boot into vista with, or have two seperate computers?

Please, no stupid "why'd she choose a pc college, windows is stupid comments

FORGOT: money is not to be considered, it's really not an object in this case, if she goes intel, it will be a macbook pro

It not all windows based. I know for a fact!! I am in the exact same major and i had no problems with software.

I am at OSU now and i got through my first year just fine using my iBook and iMac. All the programs we used worked just fine on my PPC mac.

If she still thinks it is going to be a problem then i would suggest getting a MBP and installing parallels. For programming i dont see a problem with it not being full speed and 3D graphics.

She should be ok with her current laptop, I was with my 2 PPC macs.

 

[celebrian23]

All she knows is what the people in the program told her (she talked to students and professors- upperclassmen students). I wouldn't know though

 

[benthewraith]

All she knows is what the people in the program told her (she talked to students and professors- upperclassmen students). I wouldn't know though

Just tell her to suck it up and get the MBP. She can keep it on two totally seperate partitions that can't communicate with each other (eg Windows writing to Mac OS X and Mac OS X writing to Windows.). Powerbook G4 in tenth grade....that's about four years ago, if she wants to keep the computer till the end, she needs a new one. Just my two cents.

Besides, I'm sure her AppleCare extended warranty is close to expiring if it hasn't already, so...

 

[prostuff1]

All she knows is what the people in the program told her (she talked to students and professors- upperclassmen students). I wouldn't know though

Yeah, i realize that. I was told the same thing and basically said screw it. I was not going to force myself to use a windows machine all the time for school work. I basically went to the lab for the things that had to be done in windows, which honeslty i can not remember one specific thing that HAD to be. There were a few little annoyances in MatLab because of defualt fonts but besides that all was just fine.

I still think a MBP and parallels is the best option for her needs.

I actually plan on getting a MBP when leapord and merom get into them so that i can install windows and use it when absolutley necessary...and whem i am to lazy to go to the lab.

 

[kevbo111]

I'm in a similar situation. My engineering department (@ BU), STRONGLY recommends a Windows computer, probably for applications stuff. However, I'm really interested in getting a Macbook Pro (which would be my first Apple !). Despite all the good things you guys have been saying about running engineering software on Macs, there must be SOME reason they prefer Windows over Macs. I assume from what I've read that Windows should run just like on a PC when using BootCamp, but I don't know how practical constantly switching between OS's will be. And if you can't access files on one partition via the other (which I assume is the case), It will peobably be a hassel to move files from one to another using an external drive of some sort.

So, I'm stuck in a debate with myself over which pathway to go down. BU has a pretty good deal on IBM/Lenovo's, and I was thinking about getting the T60 of some configuration. I really want to try out a Mac though. To put it simply, I'm bored of Windows. I've already explored all I can in XP, and I really want to spend some time exploring something interesting and new (for me). So it's probably between either the T60 or a Macbook Pro. I still don't know yet. Unfortunately, the Macbook Pro is $300 - $600 more expensive than the T60, depending on the exact model and the configuration; and 2 computers is definitely out of the question for me, since I'll probably be paying for it myself, from my personal account of almost nothing. So, I don't know what'll happen...

 

[NYmacAttack]

I figure I should add my input since I just graduated with my Mechanical engineering degree. While lots of good stuff has been brought up here i feel like i should clarify some things. All software that I ever needed ran on my mac.

HOWEVER, There is ton of software that is windows only. The problem is even if you have a windows PC you WILL NOT be running these. Most of the time you are down in the computer labs. These programs are very expensive( CATIA, ANSYS, PRO/E) so most schools will not give you a copy anyway. Also some of the software just requires so much that it would be a pain to run it on a laptop (calculations would take forever).

So for the MAJORITY of thing you would do in engineering you mac laptop would be fine. Matlab and Mathematica run w/o a problem.

 

[Counterfit]

I recall several versions of AutoCAD with serials and cracks floating around on a DC hub inside my previous school's network.


Not that I ever used it. Windows only, and I hope it stays that way. Damn thing has created an entire industry out of learning to use it.


Now for my suggestion, MBP with Boot Camp AND Parallels.

 

[Mord]

MBP, no questions, seriously who cares, it's faster prettier and she can dual boot as required.

why are we even talking about this, i don't get this whole brand loyalty fanboyism, i use macs because they are better, and if i need to boot windows i will.

 

[xfiftyfour]

yeah, i can't believe it's even a question..especially for someone so obviously in love with macs. MBP for sure. So what if she has to boot into windows for a few assignments? It's still a mac. and a GOOD mac at that.