Mac over PC?

[BlazinBWF]

Hello all,
This is my first post to this forum so if this post is in the wrong place or not appropriate for this forum please delete it.
I have just graduated high school and my Dell is now about 3 years old and I am ready for something new. I am considering either a Mac Book Pro or an IBM T series. For me the most logical purchase would probably be the IBM because I am going to major in Business and I currently ship orders for my online store and UPS does not make a printer that works with Macs so I would need virtual PC...which I hear cannot run everything that a regular windows machine can.
….Anyway I really like the Mac Book Pro for its aesthetics and I am a fan of OSX because of its stability...and again its attractive appearance.
My biggest concern is that I will have compatibility problems and that Apple does not offer the hefty warranty that Dell and IBM offer. I am very hard on my computers because I use them a lot and they move around quite a bit. During the 3 years I have had my Dell with comprehensive protection and next day onsite repair I have gone through 3 screens, 3 batteries, 2 motherboards, 4 keyboards...aside from the keyboards everything else that was replaced may have needed replacement because of the low quality of the components because my case is actually almost in perfect shape.
I have always been a fan of Apple and IBM because of the quality of their components but I am a little worried with the lid of the Mac Book Pro as when you shut the lid it doesn’t seem like it closes all the way if you look at if head on there is a good size gap between the top of the base and the screen. I looked at all the ones in the Mac store and they seem to have this problem…. I guess when it breaks I can just get the latch replaced.

Anyway I really want a Mac over a boring old IBM….I would really liked to be convinced into a Mac but right now it seems like the IBM is the way to go.

Please convince me otherwise.

 

[OnceUGoMac]

You can run Windows on a MacBook Pro, so the compatibility issue is a moot point. As far as the warranty is concerned, AppleCare does not support accidental damage. That said, you can tie it in with renter's or home insurance, so that becomes a moot point as well.

 

[plinden]

It looks like you want to be persuaded to get a Mac, but since you need it for business, you will just have to get what you need. I can't convince you of anything, but if you don't need a dedicated GPU, you might consider the MacBook instead. It might be more robust, but there's always been a lot of debate about whether the iBooks/MacBooks are more robust than the PowerBooks/MacBook Pros, and there's never been a satisfactory result as far as I can see. Also, with the $400 or so savings over the MBP you could get a cheap PC to handle your business needs and use the Mac for everything else.

The Intel Macs don't run VPC, instead there's a new program just released yesterday, called Parallels that's pretty good. You would have to buy Windows for it though. However, since it sits on top of OSX, I'm pretty sure that if a printer doesn't work in OS X it won't work using Parallels. What printers do UPS make though? Are these special UPS-only printers?

 

[BlazinBWF]

The UPS printers are made by Zebra I believe and they are the only prints I know of that print UPS shipping labels.
Here is the link to their printers I have the 2844...
http://www.ups.zebra.com/ctp/Products.aspx

I have read of drivers that you can buy for a lot of money like this one here:
http://www.peninsula-group.com/driver/

But moneywise it does not really make sense when a Windows machine would have no problem with this.

 

[plinden]

Well, it looks like your options are:
IBM PC
MacBook/Pro + cheapest PC you can get
MacBook/Pro + Parallels ($50-$80) + Windows (~$130 OEM) - might not work.
MacBook/Pro + Boot Camp + Windows (~$130) - but you have to reboot.
MacBook/Pro + UPS printer driver ($250)

Your savings on a MP over a MBP would allow you pay for a PC, or Parallels + Windows or the printer driver.