I want to switch to a Mac - but have some questions
Alright, here's the story:
I have been using PCs now for 15 years or so since Windows 3.1. I currently run my own business as both a designer and a programmer, producing large and small projects mainly for the web.
I currently use Windows (still on XP) on a custom PC day in day out and don't have any major problems with it - it gets the job done for me. But since 2003 or so, I've become gradually more and more addicted to keeping a watch on Apple news and checking out all their latest hardware and software. It's gotten to the stage now where my packed RSS reader is pretty much 50% Apple, which is mad, saying as the only Apple product I own is an iPod (5G 60GB).
I am in the market for a new computer and needless to say, I want a Mac.
For me, the only viable choice of Mac would be a Mac Pro. I quite often work with large files in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Maya, etc and mostly always have several resource intensive applications and services running concurrently. I have also already invested in two 24" monitors which I want to keep. Business has been going well recently and so money is not a serious issue (though I can't go nuts).
So what is stopping me? Well, before the ability to run Windows on a Mac, it was pretty much impossible for me to switch over. But now that you can, it finally seems like a real possibility, though I have to admit that I am anxious that I would be making things more awkward more myself by doing so.
Here are the main reasons I want a Mac:
I am hoping for some knowledgable comments that will annul my worries. But if you think getting a Mac would be a bad idea for my setup and needs, I'd prefer honesty (though who on these forums is really going to tell me that
)
I have been using PCs now for 15 years or so since Windows 3.1. I currently run my own business as both a designer and a programmer, producing large and small projects mainly for the web.
I currently use Windows (still on XP) on a custom PC day in day out and don't have any major problems with it - it gets the job done for me. But since 2003 or so, I've become gradually more and more addicted to keeping a watch on Apple news and checking out all their latest hardware and software. It's gotten to the stage now where my packed RSS reader is pretty much 50% Apple, which is mad, saying as the only Apple product I own is an iPod (5G 60GB).
I am in the market for a new computer and needless to say, I want a Mac.
For me, the only viable choice of Mac would be a Mac Pro. I quite often work with large files in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Maya, etc and mostly always have several resource intensive applications and services running concurrently. I have also already invested in two 24" monitors which I want to keep. Business has been going well recently and so money is not a serious issue (though I can't go nuts).
So what is stopping me? Well, before the ability to run Windows on a Mac, it was pretty much impossible for me to switch over. But now that you can, it finally seems like a real possibility, though I have to admit that I am anxious that I would be making things more awkward more myself by doing so.
Here are the main reasons I want a Mac:
- Mac OS X - I'm very impressed with it and would love to use it every day instead of Windows
- Mac Pro hardware - beautiful, powerful, and QUIET (I hate my PC's noise)
- Several apps I use have Mac versions (some of which might run better on a Mac and they'll look way better in Aqua too) e.g. Adobe Creative Suite, Maya, Office, Skype, iTunes, etc
- No need for antispyware/antivirus resource eating programs
- Can still run WIndows programs - and Parallels coherence mode looks great.
- Apple seem to have a much more impressive future product line up which moves along a lot quicker than Microsoft
- Windows Programs - As I said at the start, I am a web designer/developer. The technology I use for this is ASP.NET. I can't change that - I have already invested a lot of time and resources over the years into building my own frameworks and I am very happy to use them - I like ASP.NET. My IDE of choice is Visual Studio.NET 2005. I also use SQL Server 2005 database and IIS server, both of which I run locally on my machine. I would need to run all these on my Mac as well, using Parallels (boot camp not an option - i need to use them alongside Mac programs). There are a few other Windows-only programs I would need as well. Questions:
- Does anybody have experience running these programs via Parallels on a Mac? Any problems at all?
- When OS X boots up, will I then have to go though a lengthy "boot" into Windows via Parallels, or will my Windows apps just be there, ready to launch?
- Does Parallels support dual screen monitors ok?
- Spaces in Leopard looks like a great feature. I would love if one of my spaces could basically be all my main Windows apps across two monitors. This should be ok, shouldn't it?
- Are there ANY issues to be aware of when it comes to sharing files between my Mac and my clients' PCs?
- Backup - I run my own business, and cannot afford to lose a day's work. I currently religioulsy back up my work as I go. I would need to back up both Mac files and Windows files. Time machine in Leopard looks great - can anyone confirm that Time Machine will also support backing up files in your Windows virtual machine?? I would prefer not to have two seperate backup tasks to do. Any other ideas here?
I am hoping for some knowledgable comments that will annul my worries. But if you think getting a Mac would be a bad idea for my setup and needs, I'd prefer honesty (though who on these forums is really going to tell me that
)
Comments
- Does anybody have experience running these programs via Parallels on a Mac? Any problems at all?
- When OS X boots up, will I then have to go though a lengthy "boot" into Windows via Parallels, or will my Windows apps just be there, ready to launch?
- Does Parallels support dual screen monitors ok?
- Spaces in Leopard looks like a great feature. I would love if one of my spaces could basically be all my main Windows apps across two monitors. This should be ok, shouldn't it?
- Are there ANY issues to be aware of when it comes to sharing files between my Mac and my clients' PCs?
[*]Backup - I run my own business, and cannot afford to lose a day's work. I currently religiousy back up my work as I go. I would need to back up both Mac files and Windows files. Time machine in Leopard looks great - can anyone confirm that Time Machine will also support backing up files in your Windows virtual machine?? I would prefer not to have two seperate backup tasks to do. Any other ideas here?[/LIST]- OK, though I don't use the same software you do, I use it for work related software (2 Ghz Core2Duo macbook) and can tell you that in general, Parallels works beautifully and I have yet to encounter a windows app that doesn't work all right. On a dualcore Mac with decent ram (2GB), a parallels windows installation will essentially function as a decent single core pc and run everything that pc will. Performance is more than adequate and I work with some large files as well as ODBC coupled databases over the windows network at work. I have no doubts whatsoever that your programs will work fine.
- Off course, you have to boot parallels after you boot osX, but both boot very quickly. The integration is also great, you can put shortcuts to windows apps in the dock, and if parallels is't already running, it will automatically boot.
- Dual monitors work great. I have a macbook I connect to a 19 inch Dell screen at work and use windows on one screen and osX on the other.
- spaces should work great with this
- I haven't encountered any difficulties with sharing files with windows pc's/network drives apart from the annoying habit of osX to leave osX system files (they begin with a dot) on any pc drive when you acces the drive form within osX. But that is just a little annoyance.
- Backup: your parallels virtual machine resides in a virtual harddisk file in a directory on your mac harddrive. Copy that directory and you're done. Also, windows can access files that are stored outside the virtual harddisk so there is no real need to store your work inside the virtual machine anyway if you don't want to.
Hope the above helps, and remember: you can always use Bootcamp as a backup to use your welldesigned Mac hardware as any other pc and fully utilizing the hardware's capabilities.Good luck switching!
Since I own a Mac Pro right now I'd be happy to answer any more questions you have regarding speed and anything else. Hope that helps.
While my needs aren't as strong as yours, I also use a Windows program to do simple web design. After the end of 2007, I'll switch them over to a Mac program. I just don't have the time to do it now.
One problem that I've had backing up stuff, is getting the external usb drive to finish the backup. If you noticed above, one of the comments was that Parallels places ALL of the Windows virtual machine in a single file, actually two files, but one is probably a pointer-type file. My virtual machine, Windows, is almost 8GB large. From what I can tell, usb can only handle a file smaller than 4GB. To solve the problem, I am using an external FireWire drive. I've had no problems since trying the FW drive. By the way, I tried MANY usb drives/enclosures with little or no reliable success.
It should also be noted that I use the paid version of SuperDuper, and/or SilverKeeper to back up my iMac.
This may change next week. If the new hardware is worth the upgrade, I'll probably get a new iMac, and will switch out my old Linksys router for a new AirPort Extreme.
The extreme will allow an external usb drive to attach to it for backing up over the network. However, if that usb drive will also not work with a file over 4GB, I'll be sticking with my FireWire drive.
Of course, one disclaimer, I may be completely wrong about the 4GB file size limitations, but that's all that I can come up with as the solution to my problems.
Good luck switching! I did it a year ago and have never regretted it.