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Bootcamp good enough for school

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frankm007

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 1, 2006
121
0
I currently own an intel mac, however, since I can't take this to school I bought an acer travelmate 8204 several months ago.

With the release of bootcamp and parallels, i'd love to go back to mac for my school needs as well.

I am starting law school and want to know if bootcamp/parallels is stable enough (as stable as it would be on a pc) to replace my acer with the macbook pro?

Thanx!

I personally hate having a pc around for just "one" use...a macbook with windows would have so many more use, but...w/e works best.
 
Chundles

Chundles

macrumors G5
Jul 4, 2005
12,037
493
Bootcamp is Windows. A lot of people seem to think that Boot Camp is a program that runs whilst you are running Windows, it isnt. Boot Camp is the name Apple gave to a small program that provides a disc of drivers for Windows and sets up appropriate partitions on the hard drive. After you use Boot Camp to set up Windows on your Mac, you never run it again unless you want to delete Windows off your system.

Once Boot Camp has been used you have a fully native Windows computer. To XP, theMac is just another PC, there's no program running beneath it, your Mac is a Windows PC.
 
V

Virtualball

macrumors 6502
Jun 5, 2006
402
21
Yes, I dont understand why people ask this question. As far as hardware is concerned, the MacBook IS a Windows machine (Yes I know its a little different, but it surely doesnt resemble a Mac computer :p) I remember hearing that the MacBook can even run Windows faster then Mac OS X!
 
F

frankm007

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 1, 2006
121
0
I just needed some reassurance before I burned the acer to hell... :p
 
F

frankm007

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 1, 2006
121
0
Well... just placed my order for a mbp! and will be saying "bye bye" to the acer on monday! :D
 
benthewraith

benthewraith

macrumors 68040
May 27, 2006
3,140
143
Fort Lauderdale, FL
frankm007 said:
Well... just placed my order for a mbp! and will be saying "bye bye" to the acer on monday! :D
Click to expand...

I wouldn't recommend burning the Acer. I'd either just keep it as a completely seperate Windows machine, or sell it to pay back some of the $$$ that you spent on the MBP. ;)
 
craigatkinson

craigatkinson

macrumors regular
Jan 31, 2006
231
32
I didn't read through the other posts, so I don't know if this was brought up already or not. If your planning on using a mac at law school, the only way you'll be able to use your computer to take exams is if you have windows installed on bootcamp. Law schools use a special software called examsoft that only works on windows, and it won't work if you use parallels or any kind of software that runs windows within the mac os. Mac will still make it possible for you to be able to access outside documents like your notes or what not. So if you planning on using your mac in law school then load windows on bootcamp.

frankm007 said:
I currently own an intel mac, however, since I can't take this to school I bought an acer travelmate 8204 several months ago.

With the release of bootcamp and parallels, i'd love to go back to mac for my school needs as well.

I am starting law school and want to know if bootcamp/parallels is stable enough (as stable as it would be on a pc) to replace my acer with the macbook pro?

Thanx!

I personally hate having a pc around for just "one" use...a macbook with windows would have so many more use, but...w/e works best.
Click to expand...
 
F

frankm007

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 1, 2006
121
0
Craig,

That is exactly what the school said, it's all about "Examsoft". I'll definitely install bootcamp then!

Have your had any experience with examsoft? If so, how does it work?

Thanks!
 
craigatkinson

craigatkinson

macrumors regular
Jan 31, 2006
231
32
Not yet. I will be a 1L this fall. I've just done a lot of research before hand so I could make sure I did everything right. I refuse to buy a PC, so I was bound and determine to find a work around. Luckily apple provided bootcamp and solved all my problems. I bought a macbook pro, installed windows, and now I'm ready to go.

What examsoft does is it locks up your computer so you cannot exit the program. They don't want you getting off of the program and accessing documents and getting answers off the internet and such. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) the mac OS will not allow the program to lock it up. I mean why in the world would you ever want an OS to lock up? Windows owns the market on locking up computers. :) Anyways, now apple has made it possible for you to install an OS on your computer that locks up really well! So you can have the best of both worlds.

frankm007 said:
Craig,

That is exactly what the school said, it's all about "Examsoft". I'll definitely install bootcamp then!

Have your had any experience with examsoft? If so, how does it work?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
F

frankm007

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 1, 2006
121
0
Congrats on the acceptance, a little OT here but where are you going? I'm in Miami, so UoM it is. I can't wait, I too start in the fall. :)

I can't wait to get my MBP next week, install bootcamp and get it all set-up as well... I couldn't stand that acer lol
 
craigatkinson

craigatkinson

macrumors regular
Jan 31, 2006
231
32
I live in Idaho so I'm going to the University of Idaho. It's in Moscow, Idaho, up north in the pan handle. I think I'm really going to like it.
 
kaboutertje

kaboutertje

macrumors regular
Jul 7, 2006
175
0
Amsterdam, Netherlands
What is this examsoft you are talking about? I'm studying law in the Netherlands, but I barely use my pc for it. I only use software to look up jurisprudence and some other articles.
Do you actually get your exams on a computer? Cause that doesn't really sound foul proof, Google anyone?

Totally offtopic but just curious :)
 
craigatkinson

craigatkinson

macrumors regular
Jan 31, 2006
231
32
Yes, at my college we take our final exams on a computer. We don't have to, but that is an option. All examsoft is is a simple word processor to write the exam out on. As long as your taking the test the program will not allow you to exit out of it. I think its pretty a pretty reliable system.

kaboutertje said:
What is this examsoft you are talking about? I'm studying law in the Netherlands, but I barely use my pc for it. I only use software to look up jurisprudence and some other articles.
Do you actually get your exams on a computer? Cause that doesn't really sound foul proof, Google anyone?

Totally offtopic but just curious :)
Click to expand...
 
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