If you have an Apple store in your village/town/city, I would suggest you go and ask those questions to them, but I think some of those applications will not be Apple compatible. I am not an economist so I am not familiar with that type of software.

I'm about to purchase a notebook myself, and after a lot of research I can tell you that I will get a pc but if I could afford an Apple, there is no question I would get an Apple. Apples are superior machines and Apple has excellent customer service. I have never heard of an Apple getting infected by a virus. They are dynamic, well designed and very reliable.

If by chance the software you use is Apple compatible and you can spend $2K, then get an Apple.

I am about to get an HP DV1217US, which has all the basics for a pc, including DVD writing, memory card readers, upgradeable memory to 2G, 80 G of hard drive space, excellent 14" wide screen, and more. You can check it out at www.bestbuy.com. The HP DV1000 series notebooks have received favorable reviews.

For notebook reviews, you can read in www.notebookreview.com

Hope this helps!

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Dickie Fernández

"Life is not about arriving to the grave in a well preserved, nice looking, smooth as silk and fresh body, but instead skidding in sideways in a overused, abused and rugged body with a martini in one hand, chocolate in the other and yelling 'woo hoo! What a ride!'"

If you want some more feedback about software compatibility and options then you might want to post a couple of questions here.

http://forums.macnn.com/index.php?

These forums will get you all the information you'll need about Macs. Today there was a thread by someone asking whether a powerbook was a reasonable choice for someone going to business school and worrying about software etc. Someone there should be able to offer specific advice for your software.

J.

You could always get windows emulation software for the mac and have the best of both worlds. apps will run slower under emulation software, but you can at least use them. for most business apps, having it run a little slower is no big deal.

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2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Yes, you can use a Mac for business. In particular, the latest MS Office applications provide very good transition from Mac to PC and back.

The most troubleseome things I've come across recently are in-house web sites (or web app servers) that are written specifically for IE. These are a menace and are, IMO, the calling card of the lazy IT person/manager.

Virtual PC (windows emulator) is not a terrific option on a powerbook. It runs like a slug even with tons of memory.

Lastly, if you're the least bit of a nerd (and perhaps even if you're not), OS X is muy interesting. It has significantly changed my relationship with personal computers.

If you know the software packages you will be using for your job you should look at their sites to read their requirements. We run software that just will not run on MACs so it isn't even a question here.

As for the comment about MACS never getting a virus, it has little (nothing) to do with OS itself but rather the sheer number of people running Windows vs MAC. If you are going to write malicious code the point is to infect as many people as possible right? I watch over 100 machines every day and we have not had a virus outbreak here in the 3 years I have been here so not sure that is an issue.

Thanks for all the replies. I have a list of the different software I'll be using and I'm going to the local Apple retailer this weekend to see what they have to say.