Goodbye PC, I'm Going MacPro -- BUT -- Need Advise
I'm buying a MacPro... and I've been waiting for this a LONG TIME.
My PC's days are numbered. I can no longer afford to depend on "my pc" for my internet marketing business.
But.. before I pull the trigger and place my order, I wanted to tap in to some of the "wisdom" in this community and ask a few questions. If you can lend any helpful insight, it'd be much appreciated...
1) With Leopard's impending release for October, do I wait OR do I buy now, and then upgrade down the road? I was told upgrading would be as simple as putting in a cd and waiting approx 30 min while it virtually upgraded itself, smooth and simple. Does this sound right? For those of you with more experience, what would you do?
2) To support my business, I need to run quite a few programs that are only made for PCs. I need to be able to run those on a MAC. I know I have two options: run windows on my MAC OR go with emulation software. My plan is to go w/emulation and 4 GB of RAM. Other than cost, are there any major drawbacks to this approach? I'm told I'll be able to run any of my pc programs and the big advantage of course would be I don't have to run a windows environment and deal with microsoft security updates, xp to vista migration, virus & spyware issues, dll conflicts and all the headaches that are causing me to make this shift in the first place.
I also will be doing a fair amount of video editing & photoshop work so wouldn't mind having the 4GB of ram.
Any thoughts or advise... please post.
Thank You!
Mark
My PC's days are numbered. I can no longer afford to depend on "my pc" for my internet marketing business.
But.. before I pull the trigger and place my order, I wanted to tap in to some of the "wisdom" in this community and ask a few questions. If you can lend any helpful insight, it'd be much appreciated...
1) With Leopard's impending release for October, do I wait OR do I buy now, and then upgrade down the road? I was told upgrading would be as simple as putting in a cd and waiting approx 30 min while it virtually upgraded itself, smooth and simple. Does this sound right? For those of you with more experience, what would you do?
2) To support my business, I need to run quite a few programs that are only made for PCs. I need to be able to run those on a MAC. I know I have two options: run windows on my MAC OR go with emulation software. My plan is to go w/emulation and 4 GB of RAM. Other than cost, are there any major drawbacks to this approach? I'm told I'll be able to run any of my pc programs and the big advantage of course would be I don't have to run a windows environment and deal with microsoft security updates, xp to vista migration, virus & spyware issues, dll conflicts and all the headaches that are causing me to make this shift in the first place.
I also will be doing a fair amount of video editing & photoshop work so wouldn't mind having the 4GB of ram.
Any thoughts or advise... please post.
Thank You!
Mark
Comments
You should get it now and upgrade down the road. Why wait 4 or 5 months for a measily $129? I guarantee you won't regret buying your computer now as opposed to later. In addition, upgrading is simple. To an extent, popping the dvd in and waiting is about as much as you'll probably end up doing.
The emulation/run natively debate mostly depends on the types of programs you use. People generally run XP native on their mac's when they are using graphic and video intensive software.
But if you're just doing video editing and photoshop work, why not use the mac versions?
Nevertheless, go get your Mac Pro and worry about the small details later...
As for the emulation/natively question.. I run some very critical pc-only applications that support my internet marketing business. These are not particularly resource intensive programs ... BUT... I do need to be able to run them. Sadly, they are not written for Apple OSX, only PC. My main concern is that I'll be able to run them. A few require the microsoft's .NET framework to run, but I see that too is available for Mac.
Thank you for sharing your comments.
Mark
Personally, I think if you're going to drop down the dough for a Mac Pro, the cost of leopard shouldn't matter.
You should get it now and upgrade down the road. Why wait 4 or 5 months for a measily $129? I guarantee you won't regret buying your computer now as opposed to later. In addition, upgrading is simple. To an extent, popping the dvd in and waiting is about as much as you'll probably end up doing.
The emulation/run natively debate mostly depends on the types of programs you use. People generally run XP native on their mac's when they are using graphic and video intensive software.
But if you're just doing video editing and photoshop work, why not use the mac versions?
Nevertheless, go get your Mac Pro and worry about the small details later...
1) With Leopard's impending release for October, do I wait OR do I buy now, and then upgrade down the road? I was told upgrading would be as simple as putting in a cd and waiting approx 30 min while it virtually upgraded itself, smooth and simple. Does this sound right? For those of you with more experience, what would you do?
Yeah I would buy now. Upgrading the system is pretty easy and so are making system backups. You can get free cloning software and boot from external drives in case anything goes wrong. Leopard is going to have quite significant changes so I would wait until a while after people test it before upgrading.
2) To support my business, I need to run quite a few programs that are only made for PCs. I need to be able to run those on a MAC. I know I have two options: run windows on my MAC OR go with emulation software. My plan is to go w/emulation and 4 GB of RAM. Other than cost, are there any major drawbacks to this approach? I'm told I'll be able to run any of my pc programs and the big advantage of course would be I don't have to run a windows environment and deal with microsoft security updates, xp to vista migration, virus & spyware issues, dll conflicts and all the headaches that are causing me to make this shift in the first place.
You won't be using emulation - that was the case with the PPC Macs as they had to emulate a different processor. On Intel we have virtualization and native booting of Windows. If you don't need heavy 3D or doing things with device programming then virtualization software like Parallels or VMWare would suit just fine. They are actually quite inexpensive - VMWare is about £40.
You do still have to run Windows though. There is only one solution where you don't called Crossover but it's not compatible with a wide enough range of software and it costs about the same as the virtualization products. The advantage is you don't have to pay for a Windows license but if you plan on running Windows, chances are you have one already.
I also will be doing a fair amount of video editing & photoshop work so wouldn't mind having the 4GB of ram.
4GB is a good amount. You shouldn't need more than that. We have a workstation with 4GB Ram at work and it gets used for video editing and such and it honestly barely reaches the 2GB mark - I've never seen it past 2GB in the 2 years we've had it. I don't watch it constantly though. If I remember right, Final Cut 5 can only use up to 2.5GB Ram.
Get the X1900 GPU upgrade too. The graphics performance is much better.
WRT 2) Running Windows in emulation on a Mac is not going to entirely free you from malware and thus it is not going to free you from security updates or anything else. Your virtual machine can still get infected, and trashed. That said, the chances that your software will run are very good unless it requires directX.
I'm buying a MacPro... and I've been waiting for this a LONG TIME.
My PC's days are numbered. I can no longer afford to depend on "my pc" for my internet marketing business.
But.. before I pull the trigger and place my order, I wanted to tap in to some of the "wisdom" in this community and ask a few questions. If you can lend any helpful insight, it'd be much appreciated...
1) With Leopard's impending release for October, do I wait OR do I buy now, and then upgrade down the road? I was told upgrading would be as simple as putting in a cd and waiting approx 30 min while it virtually upgraded itself, smooth and simple. Does this sound right? For those of you with more experience, what would you do?
2) To support my business, I need to run quite a few programs that are only made for PCs. I need to be able to run those on a MAC. I know I have two options: run windows on my MAC OR go with emulation software. My plan is to go w/emulation and 4 GB of RAM. Other than cost, are there any major drawbacks to this approach? I'm told I'll be able to run any of my pc programs and the big advantage of course would be I don't have to run a windows environment and deal with microsoft security updates, xp to vista migration, virus & spyware issues, dll conflicts and all the headaches that are causing me to make this shift in the first place.
I also will be doing a fair amount of video editing & photoshop work so wouldn't mind having the 4GB of ram.
Any thoughts or advise... please post.
Thank You!
Mark
go for it get it now
I'm planning on the following.. (and since I'm not familiar yet with MAC, hopefully my comments below will be understandable even if I use a few incorrect words/phrases)
1) Run Parallels for virtualization. I'll only need this for some of the special PC programs I'll be running specific for internet marketing -- and I'll take the data they produce and store it on the Mac side. If I pick-up a virus or spyware while running Parallels, I believe I can simply reinstall it Parallels (or restore a previous image), and that my data in the Mac folders will be uneffected. Plus, if I do my financial transactions on the MAC side even if I picked up a "nasty" through parallels, it shouldn't hurt me. Also, I'm told the latest version of Parallels does support directx although not 100% for directx 3d yet.
2) Re: X1900 GPU, I'm assuming you mean the ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB (2 x dual-link DVI)? If so.. thank you for that suggestion, I will go that route.
3) I am not going to wait for Leopard -- based on your suggestions, it makes sense to move forward now, and upgrade later (AFTER Leopard has been released and shown itself to be stable). Sounds like the upgradge should be no problem at that time.
Thank you everyone for your input -- it is much appreciated. I'm looking forward to making the leap.
Mark
90% or more of my computer time will be on MAC... not in Parallels.
There are a good number of programs I run to support my business that are written only for Windows which is why I need Parallels, but they are not necessarily ones I need to run on a daily basis.
Mark
If I pick-up a virus or spyware while running Parallels, I believe I can simply reinstall it Parallels (or restore a previous image), and that my data in the Mac folders will be uneffected. Plus, if I do my financial transactions on the MAC side even if I picked up a "nasty" through parallels, it shouldn't hurt me.
If you use a disk image with Parallels, it would be a simple case of replacing the image with a backup - a simple file copy. Just back up your Parallels image in a working state somewhere every week or so.
You can also boot a Bootcamp partition with Parallels. That has advantages and disadvantages. It's not as easy to fix if it messes up but it means that if Parallels is acting up then you can reboot directly into Windows and still get your work done.
I started on Parallels but moved to Bootcamp. It actually discourages you from using Windows because of the rebooting. I used Windows more often when I used Parallels. I still have Parallels around so I can boot both ways with the same system. Parallels for not having to reboot, native boot for full compatibility with things like 3D.
You might want to use Bootcamp as soon as you get it and set up a partition even if you don't plan to use it because Bootcamp is set to stop working some time in September I think. It's a time-limited beta. This does mean you wouldn't be able to remove it but you don't need to set it to use more that 20GB, mine is at 10GB but that gets a bit tight sometimes. On a 250GB or more drive, you probably won't notice the space lost to it.
Also, I'm told the latest version of Parallels does support directx although not 100% for directx 3d yet.
Yeah, the compatibility isn't complete but we'll see how it goes.
2) Re: X1900 GPU, I'm assuming you mean the ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB (2 x dual-link DVI)? If so.. thank you for that suggestion, I will go that route.
Yes that's the card. It's a relatively inexpensive upgrade but the performance increase for hardware acceleration is about a factor of 3:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/graphi...=722&chart=318
(the 7300GT is 4th from bottom and the X1900 XT is 10th from the top).
Honestly, I really don't understand why someone would buy a Mac in order to run Windows software. Parallels works great, and it's fine for the occasional Windows software, and I use it myself. But if your most critical day-to-day software is for Windows, I really don't think you should get a Mac.
On the low end hardware I'd be inclined to agree but on the workstation end, Macs are pretty well priced. I compared a Boxx workstation not too long ago against the Mac Pro and not only was the Boxx about 50% more, it was still slower than the Mac Pro. So even if you were running Windows on it mainly, it's still a good deal.
On the low end hardware I'd be inclined to agree but on the workstation end, Macs are pretty well priced. I compared a Boxx workstation not too long ago against the Mac Pro and not only was the Boxx about 50% more, it was still slower than the Mac Pro. So even if you were running Windows on it mainly, it's still a good deal.
I'm not talking speed or price, I'm talking overall experience. I don't mind running the occasional, non-critical Windows app on a Mac, but I wouldn't want to run a critical app frequently.
I'm not talking speed or price, I'm talking overall experience. I don't mind running the occasional, non-critical Windows app on a Mac, but I wouldn't want to run a critical app frequently.
I realise you're probably meaning Parallels. I meant in general that booting Windows natively is no worse than a PC and since the hardware deal is good, even buying it for running Windows alone is ok.
This is very helpful.. thank you everyone.
I'm planning on the following.. (and since I'm not familiar yet with MAC, hopefully my comments below will be understandable even if I use a few incorrect words/phrases)
1) Run Parallels for virtualization. I'll only need this for some of the special PC programs I'll be running specific for internet marketing -- and I'll take the data they produce and store it on the Mac side. If I pick-up a virus or spyware while running Parallels, I believe I can simply reinstall it Parallels (or restore a previous image), and that my data in the Mac folders will be uneffected. Plus, if I do my financial transactions on the MAC side even if I picked up a "nasty" through parallels, it shouldn't hurt me. Also, I'm told the latest version of Parallels does support directx although not 100% for directx 3d yet.
Yes. Parallels image restore and new Snapshot Manager and DirectX3D support in 3.0 is good. Please do consider Avast.Com very seriously for your antivirus needs. Please do NOT use Vista instead XP2 Pro, and turn off all updating, blah blah blah rubbish services.
2) Re: X1900 GPU, I'm assuming you mean the ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB (2 x dual-link DVI)? If so.. thank you for that suggestion, I will go that route.
Yes, might as well go for the X1900XT 512MB with your 4GB RAM, etc, etc.
3) I am not going to wait for Leopard -- based on your suggestions, it makes sense to move forward now, and upgrade later (AFTER Leopard has been released and shown itself to be stable). Sounds like the upgradge should be no problem at that time.
That's right, for business you'd want to be on Tiger 10.4 for at least until the end of the year, then evaluate the situation post MacWorld January 2008. (iLife 08, iWork 08, etc. etc.)
Thank you everyone for your input -- it is much appreciated. I'm looking forward to making the leap.
Mark
Yes, I think you will not regret it.
Hi all ~ Rather than begin a new thread I thought I would try to weave in on this one with a similar question as the initial poster here. I am making the shift from PC to MAC platform and plan on purchasing two systems, an iMac for home (for multiple users) and a MB or MBP for myself for grad school. I have been watching the recent announcements and this website over the past few weeks/months in an attempt to determine when to pull the trigger. Seems clear that waiting for the redesigned iMac in late July is a no brainer, but MacBook seems a bit less straight forward. I was initially looking at MBP, but think MB will suffice, especially if we have a iMac at home...However with Leopard being released in October and possible enhancements to the MBs around that time, does it make sense to hobble along on my PC laptop and switch to Mac with the iMac release in July/August and MB in October with release of Leopard. Or are changes to MB likely to be insignificant in October and purchasing now...(the path of least resistance and less patience...) the way to go? I figure this forum has a significant amount of MAC future product knowledge and experience to help guide this decision...Thanks for your thoughts and advice...
Unless you absolutely need a MacBook now I would wait for the next revision to see if it gets the Santa Rosa technology. The main reason to wait for Santa Rosa is for better graphics (GMA x3100), others are faster font-side bus, supports 4GB RAM (MacBook will most likely stay at 2GB), faster memory. There might be more but I am not sure. Also, since the MacBook uses shared RAM you should max out the memory, currently 2GB.
If you use a disk image with Parallels, it would be a simple case of replacing the image with a backup - a simple file copy. Just back up your Parallels image in a working state somewhere every week or so.
You can also boot a Boot-camp partition with Parallels. That has advantages and disadvantages. It's not as easy to fix if it messes up but it means that if Parallels is acting up then you can reboot directly into Windows and still get your work done.
I started on Parallels but moved to Boot-camp. It actually discourages you from using Windows because of the rebooting. I used Windows more often when I used Parallels. I still have Parallels around so I can boot both ways with the same system. Parallels for not having to reboot, native boot for full compatibility with things like 3D.
You might want to use Bootcamp as soon as you get it and set up a partition even if you don't plan to use it because Bootcamp is set to stop working some time in September I think. It's a time-limited beta. This does mean you wouldn't be able to remove it but you don't need to set it to use more that 20GB, mine is at 10GB but that gets a bit tight sometimes. On a 250GB or more drive, you probably won't notice the space lost to it.
Yeah, the compatibility isn't complete but we'll see how it goes.
Yes that's the card. It's a relatively inexpensive upgrade but the performance increase for hardware acceleration is about a factor of 3:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/graphi...=722&chart=318
(the 7300GT is 4th from bottom and the X1900 XT is 10th from the top).
On the low end hardware I'd be inclined to agree but on the workstation end, Macs are pretty well priced. I compared a Boxx workstation not too long ago against the Mac Pro and not only was the Boxx about 50% more, it was still slower than the Mac Pro. So even if you were running Windows on it mainly, it's still a good deal.
Marvin being that it seems like you know more about this than anyone, Can you tell me if I need to use two windows installs for boot-camp, and parallels, or can I use the same install on the same hard disk?
Marvin being that it seems like you know more about this than anyone, Can you tell me if I need to use two windows installs for boot-camp, and parallels, or can I use the same install on the same hard disk?
You can use the same install.
Parallels has an option at the bit where you choose your boot image where you can specify the Bootcamp partition.
So you would use Bootcamp, partition the drive, install Windows. Then on the Mac side, you just open Parallels, select the partition and run it.
There are some differences booting the Bootcamp partition though. Some people have said it's slower and I found it allocates a huge file (about 1.5GB) on the Mac drive - possibly the VM swap file but I don't know why it doesn't put it on the Bootcamp partition. The slowness could happen if you don't have enough space left on your drive. You also have to make sure you shut Parallels down properly or Windows won't boot natively because it modifies the boot files and only puts them back the way they were when you shut down Parallels correctly.
Nonetheless, I still think it's a better way to do it because you don't need a shared folder if you make sure to format your partition as FAT32. The files are just on your partition and easily accessible from the Mac side. File copying this way is much quicker. Say you were working on a Photoshop file in Windows under Parallels. If you used a Parallels image, you'd have to copy the file through your shared folder every time you did something with it on the Mac side. With the partition, you can open it in preview or whatever without even copying it.