Running windows on a Mac?
I honestly have no idea where to post this so feel free to move it wherever it needs to go.
I need to get a laptop soon for work. I will be using a laser templating system for measuring countertops that uses a HP PDA with built in CAD software to encode all the information it gets when on the jobsite. Technically, I could complete the whole job on the PDA and send the DXF file to the CNC machine by email. However, I know using a tiny PDA screen all day long will drive me nuts and make me go blind before I'm 40.
So, I want to get a laptop. I have an iMac at home and love it. All but one computer at work are Macs and the one that's a PC no one wants to use. In other words, I would like to stick with a Mac. I've heard you can run Windows on a Mac. The PDA can send the info via bluetooth to a laptop so it can be managed on a larger screen. I'm assuming the HP PDA will not work with OSX, so I would need windows on the laptop. Is this something that seems like it will work for my situation? Also, should I run XP rather than Vista? I don't want to make my laptop unstable by running two seperate operating systems, but REALLY don't want a Dell!
Also, will windows work on both MB and MB Pro's?
Any info you can give me will be great. I need to make this decision soon and would like to make it well informed.
I need to get a laptop soon for work. I will be using a laser templating system for measuring countertops that uses a HP PDA with built in CAD software to encode all the information it gets when on the jobsite. Technically, I could complete the whole job on the PDA and send the DXF file to the CNC machine by email. However, I know using a tiny PDA screen all day long will drive me nuts and make me go blind before I'm 40.
So, I want to get a laptop. I have an iMac at home and love it. All but one computer at work are Macs and the one that's a PC no one wants to use. In other words, I would like to stick with a Mac. I've heard you can run Windows on a Mac. The PDA can send the info via bluetooth to a laptop so it can be managed on a larger screen. I'm assuming the HP PDA will not work with OSX, so I would need windows on the laptop. Is this something that seems like it will work for my situation? Also, should I run XP rather than Vista? I don't want to make my laptop unstable by running two seperate operating systems, but REALLY don't want a Dell!
Also, will windows work on both MB and MB Pro's?Any info you can give me will be great. I need to make this decision soon and would like to make it well informed.
Comments
I'd go with XP for now, as Vista is largely unsupported by developers as of yet.
With Boot Camp, expect seamless operation with your HP PDA. With parallels and VMWare, I'd still expect it to work, but you never know. I've never used Bluetooth for anything.
MacBooks are the best bang for buck.
Boot Camp and Parallels and VMWare all work on any intel based mac, which is every Mac made for the last two years or so.
I'd go with XP for now, as Vista is largely unsupported by developers as of yet.
With Boot Camp, expect seamless operation with your HP PDA. With parallels and VMWare, I'd still expect it to work, but you never know. I've never used Bluetooth for anything.
MacBooks are the best bang for buck.
Cool. Thanks for the info. I'm a newbie to all this. Is there a quick run down somewhere of how Windows works on a Mac through each(Boot Camp, Parallels, VMWare). Meaning, if I have OSX running on the laptop, do I then shut down OSX and boot up Windows, etc. I'm looking to see if switching between the two 3 or 4 times a day is going to be crazy or not.
VMware and Parallels are both virtualization apps, meaning you can run both Windows and Mac OS X at the same time with each of them. With Boot Camp, you have to reboot, but Windows is given full access to system resources, unlike the others which share resources with Mac OS X.
i have xp on boot camp and it is nice for when i need to run internet explorer..pain in the rear that you cant run osx at the same time and even though rebooting doesnt take that long its a hassle. i just bought vmware fusion so i dont have to deal with it. after going through many reviews it seems like a better solution than parallels and it will already give me access to my xp partition so i dont have to reinstall windows. schwing!
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Thanks