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MBP vs MB for med school

A

AtlJohn1980

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 4, 2006
25
0
Atlanta, GA
Hello all, I'm new to the forum and to macs for that matter. I will be going to PA school (med school lite) the beginning of June. Here is my dilema. I have to have a laptop for school and it has to be able to run windows since they have software that OS X does not support. I have decided that I just can't imagine myself spending another dime on a stupid Win. computer when I could buy a wonderful mac. I have had Win. computers since I was little, but have always had the same problems as every other windows user......making the stupid thing work longer than 2 months. So time for the Mac.

Now, knowing that I have to be able to run windows and windows programs and yes i want to do it on a mac, which would you rather have the MBP or the MB? Price is somewhat of a factor but I'm also not going to skimp on my computer if I have to spend 2100 thats fine to get the MBP 1.67 Duo. Not sure if I would want it to dual boot or do VPC, most likely VPC. This will be my main computer, so I am looking for it to be a portable desktop. Notes, presentations, case historys, etc will all have to be done on this computer. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.
 
Currently VPC doesn't work on MBPs. Microsoft is "working" on it. Which probably means they are sitting on their hands waiting to see if someone can get a dual-booter going, at which point they will declare VPC dead on the Mac. Or they've actually got a huge tank of monkeys with computers banging away at keyboard hoping that eventually they will magically come up with the fix.
 
AtlJohn1980 said:
Now, knowing that I have to be able to run windows and windows programs and yes i want to do it on a mac, which would you rather have the MBP or the MB?
Click to expand...

If you're looking to run windows programs on an Intel-based Mac, you shouldn't hold your breath. Currently, there are no programs that will emulate a Windows operating system on an Intel Mac. I don't remember hearing any news about Microsoft releasing Virtual PC 8 any time soon. Also, Windows currently will not boot on an Intel Mac, but if you'd like to take a shot at getting it to work, there's over a $10000 prize to the first person that does it.
 
There is no way we can make a great decision when specs for a standard MacBook are only speculation. Also take into account dual booting is not yet possible, so if you need windows you might have to wait...
 
Lets Play the assumption game. :)

Hrmm....10,000 huh? It sucks that I can look over medical texts yet I'm dumber than Windows when it comes to programming. It just doesn't register. It is unfortuante, I could use that for tuition....should cover about a months worth. :)

Okey now the assumption game.....lets just ASSSSSSSSUUUUMMMEE......that the mac books will be comming out in core solo 1.67 and 1.83 versions with the HD's and all the other stuff that others have posted that they thought they would be, etc, blah, blah, blah. And lets assume that I will be able to stall and use this crappy Toshiba POS for a little while when school starts and I'll be able to show them my shiney new what ever and a box of Virtual PC and say see look its for mac and they being just as dumb as i am about computers will nod their heads and smile, saying okey thats good. Lets also assume that Vista will work and be available around November and that VPC will be comming out by July *holds breath*. So with those assumptions, give me your best advice. Also, this free iPod stuff for students with qualifying mac purchase.......if i'm supposed to have this Laptop June 6th, I'm pretty screwed when it comes to that aren't I?
 
AtlJohn, I'd suggest that you just buy the 15" or 17" powerbook. i do medical imagings myself, make all the necessary reports and such on my pb, and it all works FLAWLESSLY. i love my pb for its sweet design but also because it gets me past most of my colleagues much more comfortably :) (but let me also say that most of my fellow interns have macs these days). i mean, if you're going to need all that entertainment stuff like frontrow, or need that much speed, AND have the money to spend, then by all means, go for it. but keep in mind that for you to go to PA school, focus on your work, be efficient, etc, you'll be better off with the tried-and-true design and not with rev.a of mbp. pb's go for a lot cheaper these days too.
 
RyuMD, you are right, focus on my studies is paramount. I took at look at my first semester, and after seeing that I would need some 20 + different books there was a bit of a hard swallowing/gulping sound. So the last thing I want to worry about is my computer working/not working. I just went and looked at the 17" PPC Power Book, it will cost me the exact same as the new Intel. I'm assuming you are saying go with the PPC vs the Intel due to it being a reliable version of the PPC and it will run VPC 7. Am I correct in those assumptions? Also when you were going through Med School or with the current residents/interns do you find any problems using things like ADAM, etc on your Mac??? What about the various Pharmacology programs out there, is there one in particular you can recommend for Mac, they have said it is recommended to have one, but they only gave recommendations for ones that were for Windows or didn't say if they worked with mac. Thanks

P.S.-yes I need my multimedia, studying will be impossible without iTune playing some sort of a calming music. I don't want to go postal on anyone now. :)
 
AtlJohn1980 said:
Hrmm....10,000 huh? It sucks that I can look over medical texts yet I'm dumber than Windows when it comes to programming. It just doesn't register. It is unfortuante, I could use that for tuition....should cover about a months worth. :)

Okey now the assumption game.....lets just ASSSSSSSSUUUUMMMEE......that the mac books will be comming out in core solo 1.67 and 1.83 versions with the HD's and all the other stuff that others have posted that they thought they would be, etc, blah, blah, blah. And lets assume that I will be able to stall and use this crappy Toshiba POS for a little while when school starts and I'll be able to show them my shiney new what ever and a box of Virtual PC and say see look its for mac and they being just as dumb as i am about computers will nod their heads and smile, saying okey thats good. Lets also assume that Vista will work and be available around November and that VPC will be comming out by July *holds breath*. So with those assumptions, give me your best advice. Also, this free iPod stuff for students with qualifying mac purchase.......if i'm supposed to have this Laptop June 6th, I'm pretty screwed when it comes to that aren't I?
Click to expand...

what programs do you need to use exactly that are windows specific? i can't really imagine anything that a pa school would want you to install
 
The ones I know for sure are ADAM Interactive Anatomy Software, it says that its designed for XP, it doesn't say it won't work on OS X but it also doesn't say it will. We use this extensively the first year. There is also some software that I know they give us but they did not tell us the titles of them. Office won't be a problem we have to have Powerpoint, Excel and Word, all of which Apple has for mac already. It is also highly recommended to get a Pharmacology refrence software tool as well, like the PDR, but they did not give exact title names. They said they would provide us with a list of required titles. I only found out about Adam because it came up in the interview. I guess students in the past have had problems with the fact that real cadavers have not been used and instead virtual or video of freshly deceased cadavers have been used instead. They gave adam as an example of what they require. We are also going to be using some sort of software that will give us case's that we then have to figure out. You figure out the case on the computer. They showed it to me, it had a person there naked and they complained of various symptoms you would then go through a list of tests, and click enter. The program spits out values, you then have to go to the next step are more tests needed or can you make a diagnosis.......that is something we also use in the first year in trying to prepare for our rotations. I do not know the name of that software either. But it was a windows machine that it was running on.
 
We might have a winner here

Hrrrrrmmmmm..............veeerrrrrryyyyyyy interesting........I didn't know that someone had made emulation software yet for the Intel Mac *gets a little excited*. That would certainly fix my little problem now woudln't it. I wonder how slow it runs XP??
 
why don't you just keep your current computer for the windows-only programs then?
 
Keep a windows computer....WHY?!?!?!?!?!

:confused: Why would I want to keep a windows computer ????? just kidding I am going to keep it, the PROBLEM is this is a 4+yr old laptop, it runs on a Celeron Processor at 998Mghz and 133 mghz FSB and USB 1.1 :) . The school wants you to have a laptop that has at minimum a Pentium III but has a strong prefrence for a Centrino with 512 Mb Ram,and a 40 GB HD, I have a 20gb,I'm just afraid they won't accept this one. Did I also mention it feels like the computer is about to die and the restoration disks are crapy. I wish I had a full version of Windows instead of just an XP upgrade but I'm not going to go spend some 300 + dollars when I could spend it on a new computer just to go buy XP when I dont' want to use Windows anymore than I absolutly have too.
 
Save the $$ and get the cheapest win/dell laptop you can find. I know it's ironic for me to say this here (and I, being a Mac Fiend), but with the time, energy, and debt you'll incur over the years, you probably won't take advantage of all the graphics/audio/video high end capabilities of a Mac anyway. I have plenty of friends in Med School now; not only do they not know (nor have time for) what an iPod or iTunes is, they much prefer invest their money on a solid pair of glasses and a hot meal every now and then.
 
Almost offended

I'm not sure exactally how to respond to that last post djkny.....I'm not here to have you tell me to go get a Dell...if I wanted to hear that I would ask my mother. I'm here for Mac advice, thanks. As for the rest of your comments I would rather have a good laptop that will last me after medical school so that I don't have to go buy another one with all that debt as you pointed out. And some of us do know what iPods and iTunes are for, and some of us do make movies, and edit video and music content. I wasn't always medically inclined, there was a time I did alot of compositional work and orchestral score renditions on the computer, doesn't sound like I wont' be using the full capacity of a power book or MBP.
 
I would go with the MBP.

And there is few things that you might need Windows for.

I am also going to be going into Med School soon and i don't own a windows based computer and i wont when i get into med school either.

The reasons that i would go with the MBP is, just in case you needed windows VPC would be faster on the MBP than the MB i am guessing.

Also the ability to span your screen over multiple monitors is very nice for doing multiple documents at once.

Good luck with Med School, medicine is always fun.

My only thing with med school is that well i know i will get my MD but i don't know if i will end up being a doctor, i will probably get a PhD or two and become some sort of scientist.

mmmmm quantum physics
 
Thanks Eva.......quantum mechanics huh.....I don't know how advanced your knowledge of quantum mechanics, string theory, kaluza-klein theory, Yang-Mills Fields are, but there is a great book called Hyperspace which goes over all of that stuff, its a great read, I've always been interested in the relationships between quantum mechanics, Relativity and string theory, and this book is trying hard to bring it all together. Just got done with Relativity, and now focusing on Quantum mechanics sorting out all the various leptons, quarks, mesons, etc. You might wanna seek it out if you havn't. And thanks for your idea.

As for medicine, I'm definatly looking foward to getting my PA-C and then specializing probably in Vascular Medicine with a focus on Lymphedema. There seems to be a big need for someone knowledgeable in the subject area.
 
Bochs emulates Windows on Macs and its free. Also, it is now a universal binary. I am using it on my Intel iMac and it is faster than VPC on my Dual 2.0GHz PowerMac.
 
Topgun, bochs being the link a few posts back, and you are using XP or 98, have you come across any problems with it, and what about using USB devices I saw that it didn't have support for that. Anything else to know about it????
 
Switch majors and go to pharmacy school like me...most of the software is both pc/osx...and the majority of all presentations/imaging/documentation is based on webct.

also pharmacist make $100K+ a year...:p

id go with the MBP..
 
Thats two for MBP, one for MB and *hiss* one for Dell. Anyone else have any experience with using Mac's in Med/PA school????


PA's make 100K + as well :)
 
I don't know how you can expect a sensible answer to this when we don't know what the specs or cost of the macbook will be...
 
matperk said:
http://www.openosx.com/wintel/index.html

I don't know if it works--but it sure says it does.
Click to expand...

Yeah...

WinTel is our popular Cocoa graphical user interface used to control the included powerful underlying open-source "Bochs" x86 emulation software (Bochs is pronounced as Box). We now include both PowerPC and Intel optimized binaries.
Click to expand...

I heard bochs was really really slow when wintel was on PPC. It might be fast now that it's not emulating x86 though.
 
AtlJohn1980 said:
... quantum mechanics, string theory, kaluza-klein theory, Yang-Mills Fields ...
Click to expand...

Wow.. I've never thought I was gonnna see those terms here :eek:

Anyhow..
fun stuff :cool:
 
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