PC User wants to switch. Help?

lawrenc967 · January 4, 2007 9:06PM

Hello all.

I've had my eyes set on the MacBook Pro 15 inch, 2.33 ghz, for a while. I'm on the verge of purchasing, but I had a couple questions.

I'm thinking of running Parallels pretty extensively (daily), because I am in law school and I use a program called OneNote. Do you guys think I should go for 3gb of RAM, or will 2gb be enough?

ALso, does it matter where I purchase it from? I was thinking of getting it off of Amazon (no tax). If I have problems with it, will I be able to take it into an Apple store?

Thanks so much for whatever help you guys can give!

ireland · January 4, 2007 9:35PM

Firtsly I like to say congratulations on seeing the light, and welcome to the forums. I switched a year and a half or more ago and I can honestly say, what you hear is true, Mac's are that good.

Yes you can take it to an Apple store, you have 90 days phone support. Very handy. And you have 1 year Apple guaranteed parts and labor. When it comes to notebooks especially the Pro one's you're better off going will AppleCare, it's an extra $349 and is worth every penny. It gives you 3 years phone, parts and lobor support.

Now, about OneNote? 2 Gigs would be plenty, 2.33 Core 2 Duo, ziiiip!! Parallels is great. I'm a fan of Bootcamp too though, and it's fully native, so full speed ahead.

I'm sure some of the lads can give you more advice, in relation to OneNote. There might even be app. for the Mac that can do the same thing. Enjoy! And never look back, I know I didn't.

turnwrite · January 4, 2007 9:41PM

There are plenty of native Mac note-taking programs you can try. This would certainly be easier than going back to Windows just for note-taking. I can recommend some if you want. But if it is about the OneNote interface, and you must use that exact program, then why not use BootCamp? It is much faster than Parallels, since you boot directly into Windows rather than leaving OSX open.

ste · January 4, 2007 9:59PM

I just bought the very machine you are considering. I, too, considered Amazon, but ended up ordering online from Apple.com for three reasons:

1. I work for a university, so I qualified for the educational discount, which essentially cancelled out the sales tax I would have saved ordering from Amazon. As a law student, you also qualify for the educational discount.

2. The service so far from Apple.com has been excellent. The machine arrived quickly, and in perfect condition. Amazon is a good company, but I would not like to have to send a faulty laptop back to them if something went wrong.

3. You can customize your machine when you order from Apple online e.g. add extra RAM, a bigger hard drive, glossy screen, etc.

My advice: go with Apple.

fatcatdj · January 4, 2007 10:18PM

MAC MALL is a great place to buy a Mac.

lawrenc967 · January 5, 2007 2:06AM

Thanks for all the responses and the help!

I'm probably gonna be ordering the beauty soon, but I've decided to wait until the apple convention ends next week, to see if anything is coming down the pipeline that I might want to wait for.

Do you guys know if I can have both Parallels and BootCamp on the computer? Can I use the same windows installation cd that I have?

bacillus · January 5, 2007 6:14AM

I also use OneNote on my TabletPC. The cheapest way to go is to output it to PDF or email it to yourself directly.

AFAIK, there is no OneNote Viewer, but that might have changed.

Just a question - how do you use OneNote?

bacillus · January 5, 2007 6:18AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lawrenc967

Thanks for all the responses and the help!

I'm probably gonna be ordering the beauty soon, but I've decided to wait until the apple convention ends next week, to see if anything is coming down the pipeline that I might want to wait for.

Do you guys know if I can have both Parallels and BootCamp on the computer? Can I use the same windows installation cd that I have?

If the CD is OEM, which in all likelyhood it is - then no. You can install with it (assuming its SP2 or been slipstreamed to SP2), but after 30 days ... you know the rest of the story

Two legal options

1. Buy an OEM copy of XP for about 100$

2. Buy a retail copy of XP for well over 200 - 300$

The advantage of the retail is that you can remove it from your current computer and put it on other computers. Since XP is nearing the end of its life, then it might be better to go with an OEM - that is locked to one computer.

As for Parallels, yes you can have both. In fact, the current beta can boot from your BootCamp drive, so all you need to do is to do one install.

icfireball · January 5, 2007 1:31PM

Just so you know.. MS Word for mac has a special note taking program in it and there are many other very good note taking programs. Does your college REQUIRE one note?

ireland · January 5, 2007 1:52PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lawrenc967

Thanks for all the responses and the help!

I'm probably gonna be ordering the beauty soon, but I've decided to wait until the apple convention ends next week, to see if anything is coming down the pipeline that I might want to wait for.

You welcome. I'd recommend that too.

lawrenc967 · January 5, 2007 5:58PM

My school doesn't require onenote, but i've gotten so used to it... you know how that is.

Ok guys, I went down to the Apple store today to look at the MBP. Guess what? I walked out with one! HAHA!

Do you guys know if my external harddrive will work with it? Will I have to reformat my drive? I hope not.

icfireball · January 5, 2007 6:11PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lawrenc967

My school doesn't require onenote, but i've gotten so used to it... you know how that is.

Ok guys, I went down to the Apple store today to look at the MBP. Guess what? I walked out with one! HAHA!

Do you guys know if my external harddrive will work with it? Will I have to reformat my drive? I hope not.

Macs will read windows-formated external hard drivers.

lawrenc967 · January 7, 2007 1:09PM

Why didn't I switch sooner!?

It's so beautiful!

Now if only the back and forward buttons on my mouse would work =\\

Parallels kicks ass too!

kcmac · January 7, 2007 2:22PM

Congrats.

Parallels does look pretty interesting, especially with the new coherence feature. Virtualization/emulation is really gaining traction. It will only get better.

Be sure to post often with questions. Soon, you will be answering them.

teedoff087 · January 7, 2007 11:27PM

What type of mouse is it? If you install the drivers/software for that particular mouse, you shouldn't have any problems using back/forward buttons. Try looking on the manafacturer's site if the mouse didn't come with software or you somehow lost the CD.

lawrenc967 · January 8, 2007 9:51PM

yea, i did some searching, it doesn't seem like my mouse is supported. I have a logitech mx610.

Does anyone know of any mice out there where mac osx will let you use all the buttons on the mouse? It'd be nice to assign some buttons to things like dashboard or expose.

PC User wants to switch. Help?

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