PC girl defecting to mac - need advice

bobobear

After four PCs in ten years, I'm ready to make the move to a mac.

In college, no design but do have to run loads of awful clunky medical programs simultaneously, my current 4GB/i3 Samsung just can't handle it. Not to mention the rubbish battery life.

Looking at the new RMBPs - trying to decide which of three things to maximise - the processor, the RAM or the hard drive.

Options are
2.4GHz i5/2.6GHz i5/2.8GHz i7
4/8/16GB RAM
128/256/512GB flash drive

Can only really afford to max out one of these options, or middle-ground two of them.

Advice appreciated!

Zcott

Out of that lot I think only the flash drive can be upgraded, and even then it's not the easiest job. I'd say max the RAM and middle ground the other two.

Gordon

Are you sure that your programs will run on the mac?

DipStick McSwindler

This post has been deleted.

reniwren

Be 100% that all your needed software can be run on a mac especially when it comes to specialist software

bobobear

I think the software is half the problem. Every lecturer/demonstrator uses a mac, as well as 80% of the class. So the programs will almost certainly work better on a mac.

miralize

Be sure that they're not just running Windows on it.

bobobear

Ah - that is a very good point and hadn't occurred to me.

Is running windows a good/bad/pointless thing to do?
Why buy a mac and run windows on it?

Gordon

To run ms software for starters! What you need to do is get a list of all programs that you need to use, and would like to use and then find out what they are hungry for. If they need processing power, or memory or simply storage space for example. Then you can weigh up the pros and cons of moving to mac.

5uspect

I find Parallels good for windows virtualization. Pretty much everything works well with it (I run it with win7 on a 2012 iMac). The cost of Parallels and Windows licences will impact your budget while Parallels will severely kill your battery life.

As above find what non-native apps you need. Talk to your tutors and class mates about their experiences. Remember you can get native Office2011 for OS X and you should get the iWork apps for free now.

banquo

You can literally Alt+Tab between Windows and OSX [the Mac operating system], you won't need to constantly reboot your MacBook to change operating systems!

Well, with Parallels [the software that runs Windows on your Mac]

The rMBPs are very nice, but it's worth spending a little more to future-proof it. Max out the ram, maybe opt for a better processor if you can afford it. But the ram is a definite upgrade.

Also you will love it.

conor.hogan.2

banquo wrote: »

You can literally Alt+Tab between Windows and OSX [the Mac operating system], you won't need to constantly reboot your MacBook to change operating systems!

Well, with Parallels [the software that runs Windows on your Mac]

Same with Virtualbox, Parelels, fusion etc.

bobobear

Ok guys - about to pull the trigger.
2.4GHz i5, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD.

Also - massive thanks to whoever posted about the campus.ie discount. Getting a hefty 10% off.

Any final advice?

5uspect

Once you're confident it'll do what you need go for it.
The Edu discount also heavily discounts AppleCare to about €50 making it very worthwhile.

bobobear

Aaaaaaaaaaand it's done!

Estimated delivery date 10-17 January. Can't wait!

Thanks everyone - sure I'll be seeing you around the mac forum in a couple of weeks!

SpaceTime

reniwren wrote: »

Be 100% that all your needed software can be run on a mac especially when it comes to specialist software

Doesn't really matter, you can install Windows and use it on top of OS X with some extra software, or as a dual-boot machine without any special software required other than a copy of Windows.

Elessar

See if your college offer virtual desktops.

In my college you can run all the software you need via a virtual machine. We use a program called Citrix (free for mac). All you need to do is login on the student website, Citrix starts up and displays your desktop exactly as you would have it on a college computer. You're essentially running Windows via their own server, but it acts as if it's on your own computer. Pretty neat.