I really dont want a Macbook...

[marchcapital]

I really dont want to buy a Macbook. I'm a university student studying commerce, so i have been looking at purchaseing a Thinkpad X60s for a long time. I need somthing thats good at word processing and creating spread sheets, graphs, charts, all that good stuff. Macs just can't hold a candle to PC's in that regard.

Although, having said that, anything comprable to the macbook in the PC world in the specs department are way to expensive.(Thinkpad, for ex.) Does anyone here use their Macs soley for the purposes i stated above, and didnt purchase your mac because u wanted to do graphic design or record an album?

Also this question is for anyone: What is your opinions on how Macs fair in the business sector of the world(Real Estate Agent, for ex.) rather then the creative.

 

[ghall]

Macs are pretty versitile machines. My mother's getting a MacBook and all she's going to use it for is word processing, and checking her email, and some web surfing. Plus, their excellent for storing photos, music, and such. If your looking for a notebook, the entry model MacBook should be an excellent choice for you.

Good luck.

 

[CanadaRAM]

This one is easy then: Don't get the MacBook if you don't want it.

Real Estate is a special case: You usually have to run the software provided by the Real Estate Board that governs the area you are practising in, so find that out first.

But how long is it until you will be in the workforce? if >3 years, it doesn't signify in your decision today because you will want a completely new and modern machine by then.

Macs just can't hold a candle to PC's in that regard.

That premise is pretty much uninformed.
MS Office 2004 Mac. OmniGraffle. iWork. OpenOffice/NeoOffice.

But like I said, if you don't want it for intangible reasons, don't get it.

 

[topgunn]

If you want the Macbook's specs but don't want the Mac part, you could always use it to run Windows and never install Mac OS on it.

 

[racurrie]

There's always the option to employ BootCamp (free) or Parallels ($50 now, $80 soon). BootCamp will allow basically a native installation of Windows, and Parallels allows virtualization of Windows (taking advantage of the virtualization architecture built into the new processors) at nearly full-speed. And as CanadaRAM said, there are options for Mac that can handle the majority of your needs (most of which sound like they can be covered off by MS Office 2004 Mac).

 

[kretzy]

As CanadaRAM said, Macs are quite capable of producing "word processing and creating spread sheets, graphs, charts, all that good stuff". I study commerce at uni as well and so far the only program I've had to run that isn't Mac compatible is a statistics program called Eviews. I used VPC and the PCs at Uni to get around this problem. Also much of the other PC only software is available through the Uni on a Citrix Server, which also works quite well.

Also, remember that a MacBook is capable of running Windows in several ways, so it leaves your options pretty open.

 

[plinden]

I really dont want to buy a Macbook. I'm a university student studying commerce, so i have been looking at purchaseing a Thinkpad X60s for a long time. I need somthing thats good at word processing and creating spread sheets, graphs, charts, all that good stuff. Macs just can't hold a candle to PC's in that regard.

I'm not sure why you think that. More details of how you came to this conclusion would be nice.

I use my iMac for everything - Java and C++ code development, writing documentation using Word, viewing PRD and scheduling documents (our management uses Excel spreadsheets for those). I have Office:Mac on my iMac and can do all you've said as well as or better than on my PC. I hear that about the only thing missing is an MS Project replacement ... but I'm sure there are some out there. I don't use it but some of our managers do.

I also use it for "creative" purposes - ie. making DVDs out of our DV movies, if you can call that creative.

Although, having said that, anything comprable to the macbook in the PC world in the specs department are way to expensive.(Thinkpad, for ex.) Does anyone here use their Macs soley for the purposes i stated above, and didnt purchase your mac because u wanted to do graphic design or record an album?

No, I got a Mac because it provided the best all round computer for my needs. All the software development and business software that I need is available. I can also use it straight out of the box for organizing my music, photos and home movies. I even had Windows XP (in a 30 day evaluation period before deciding not to activate it) running in Parallels and evaluated Visual Studio for some code development. I still have three Linux distros running in Parallels.

About the only thing I don't use it for is to play games, but that's only because I no longer have time not because it's a "bad" computer for games (I could get a few hours a week playing if I didn't spend so much time on MacRumors). I'll probably waste a few hours of my life with Civ 4 when I get it.

Also this question is for anyone: What is your opinions on how Macs fair in the business sector of the world(Real Estate Agent, for ex.) rather then the creative.

There are some missing pieces of essential business software on the Mac, but with Parallels and an XP install (although it would cost upwards of $300 more depending on where you buy it, although buying an OEM XP disk is much cheaper) you can do anything you can do on a PC, and more.

 

[marchcapital]

That premise is pretty much uninformed.
MS Office 2004 Mac. OmniGraffle. iWork. OpenOffice/NeoOffice.

I had an iBook...and purchased the Office software. Its way slower then Office on a PC by far.

 

[marchcapital]

I believe the price is whats going to do it for me. You just can't compete. I dont actually go to uni, im studying via correspondence...so im constantly on my comp. 24 seven almost lol.

The black Macbook is my prefered machine. I beleive the onlything holding me back is the glossy reflective screen.

I doubt anyone cares but im currently using linux distro Drapper Drake 6.04(Ubuntu) i prefer unix based operating systems.

 

[aristobrat]

There are some missing pieces of essential business software on the Mac, but with Parallels and an XP install (although it would cost upwards of $300 more depending on where you buy it, although buying an OEM XP disk is much cheaper) you can do anything you can do on a PC, and more.

Ditto.

If it wouldn't set an unmanageable precedent at work (we have around 800 managed Windows here), I'd use my personal MacBook exclusively.

Everything I "have to do in Windows" (which for me is pretty much just Visio and our helpdesk ticketing program) I can easily do with Parallels.

Everything else I would LOVE to do in OS X. For example, I think that Excel for OS X is sooooooo much nicer to use than Windows Excel.

 

[aristobrat]

I had an iBook...and purchased the Office software. Its way slower then Office on a PC by far.

Hmm, I've had no problems with the speed of Office on my MacBook (which amazes me, since it's using Rosetta), but I'm not use Excel with 5000 data points (or editing 400 page Word documents) either.

I doubt anyone cares but im currently using linux distro Drapper Drake 6.04(Ubuntu) i prefer unix based operating systems.

So you're using OpenOffice to make your spreadsheets, graphs, charts, etc?

 

[plinden]

... an iBook ... way slower then a PC ...

So what exactly are you comparing here?

I notice no difference between Office on my 2.26GHz P-M Dell laptop and my iMac (1.83GHz Core Duo with 2GB RAM) or my wife's MacBook (1.83GHz Core Duo with 1GB RAM). Opening Word on the iMac takes three bounces of the icon in the dock, and five or six on the MacBook (presumably due to Rosetta and lower RAM). But it takes longer to open Word on the PC (just tested it). That may just be the way the PC is set up though. It's from work and they have it locked down with an anti-spyware app and an antivirus checker that checks every program on launch and file on opening/saving.

That's not to say there is no difference during actual use. If I did something CPU intensive Rosetta would probably show itself, but it's fast enough to keep up with my typing or 99% of whatever anyone else does with Office without the difference being noticeable.

 

[besler3035]

I had an iBook...and purchased the Office software. Its way slower then Office on a PC by far.

Office '04 for PowerPC machines is pretty slow, like you said. I have an iBook too, and I really think it's slow.

However...I've tried Office (the same version) on a new Intel iMac with 2 GHz and it's lightning fast.

 

[Chrispy]

If you want the Macbook's specs but don't want the Mac part, you could always use it to run Windows and never install Mac OS on it.

As sick as that statement is it is true. Windows runs VERY VERY well on a MB.

 

[pianoman]

i vote for getting a mac and then running windows via bootcamp if you need to. if you're concerned about performance and storage, bump up the RAM and hard drive space and go for the faster processor.

or, if you feel like spending a little more money, go for the MBP with upgraded RAM and hard drive.

i don't think you'll regret buying a mac over a pc, even if you just use it for spreadsheets, etc. because now you can do everything on a mac. there are really no excuses for not getting one (price may be a good reason, but when you compare everything you get out of the box, it really doesn't hold up).

 

[dornoforpyros]

hmm you don't want a macbook? ok, don't buy one then? I fail to see the point of this thread on a mac forum. Go to a PC forum and say "what's a stylish notebook for college" or something.

Think about it, would you walk into Subway and be like "I don't want a sub, I want McDonalds"

 

[Sutekidane]

Don't buy one. Problem solved!

 

[supremedesigner]

If you want the Macbook's specs but don't want the Mac part, you could always use it to run Windows and never install Mac OS on it.

Hmmm...that's interesting. What happen if you get rid of MAC OS X and just only install XP on it, will it be as fast as what it was under bootcamp OR slow, same speed, like on Dell laptop? Please advise!

 

[chairguru22]

with Bootcamp, Macs can run Windows now. that said, its still in beta and i dont exactly trust it completely (especially for any real stuff like schoolwork or trading stocks etc) but, in a year or so i think a lot of the issues will be resolved and Bootcamp will probably come with a price and be supported (at least on the compatibility end).

remember to get a large HD though to hold all your stuff...

 

[FullmetalZ26]

I doubt anyone cares but im currently using linux distro Drapper Drake 6.04(Ubuntu) i prefer unix based operating systems.

If you like unix, then what's not to like about OS X? Tons of popular apps that show up in Linux and BSD distros are already ported and often packaged for OS X. One of the major reasons I switched back to the Mac was because they managed to take the core of my favorite OS (FreeBSD) and make it painless to use as an everyday desktop computer. I can use the computer without having to worry about kernel options, shared libraries, or installation dependencies, but then I can drop right into Terminal and mount_nfs or ftp to my heart's content.

 

[dpaanlka]

Macs just can't hold a candle to PC's in that regard.

First sentence to render a "huh" in my mind for today!

Were you aware that Microsoft Word and Excel existed on Macintosh before on Windows? In the case of Excel, Macintosh was it's launch platform.

They run perfectly fast on my PowerBook G4, my mom's MacBook, and even my System 7 machines (the older versions of course).

 

[CanadaRAM]

I had an iBook...and purchased the Office software. Its way slower then Office on a PC by far.

I believe the price is whats going to do it for me. You just can't compete. I dont actually go to uni, im studying via correspondence...so im constantly on my comp. 24 seven almost lol.

The black Macbook is my prefered machine. I beleive the onlything holding me back is the glossy reflective screen.

I doubt anyone cares but im currently using linux distro Drapper Drake 6.04(Ubuntu) i prefer unix based operating systems.

Conceptual dislocation mate.
We are not Apple.
We are not trying to sell you a computer.
Please don't take issue with us about whether a Mac is a good value for you, or whether your preconcieved notions make the advice we have given you in good faith invalid or not.
You want a Linux or Windows machine, fill your boots.
You want assistance with a Macintosh, this is the right place.
You want an argument, go somewhere else and troll.

 

[dpaanlka]

Notice he has ~150 posts - quite a lot for someone on MR who doesn't own a Macintosh. I dunno if hes trolling, more likely just seriously misinformed.

 

[debrey]

I use my MBP for word processing and spread sheets (I'm a graduate student, so this is my real work), as well as for internet browsing and itunes. The word processing and spread sheets are perhaps a tad slower because of rosetta, but not at all in a bothersome way (I do have 2 gigs of ram).

-- David

 

[vniow]

Notice he has ~150 posts - quite a lot for someone on MR who doesn't own a Macintosh.

~7000 here

My ownership goes in and out depending on my needs at the time.

There's a lot of people here who stick around and gather advice and info before they spring on one.