Can you run pc programs on mac now? If so, how successfully do they work?
Can you run pc programs on mac now? If so, how successfully do they work?
You can use Parallels or VMWare to run Windows programs on your PC or you can use Bootcamp and run Windows natively on your Mac. Note, you still need to buy a copy of windows as well as your Mac so that add extra expense.
Or you can look at what you use the machine for and use the equivalent OSX programs. For most people, they never need to run windows apps, they just think they do. Internet, email, photos, iTunes, word processing - there are mac programs for all of these, and they work as well, if not better than the Windows equivalents.
As someone that builds computers on the side, Lenovo (IBM) is pretty much my standard recommendation for anyone buying a business laptop. Their customer service is truly above and beyond in addition to selling a great product.
2nd the toughbook nomination. My sis just got the Y5 and its gorgeous and I like the touchpad/mouse.
IBM X-series are sweet too, friend of mine runs an online business and he’s probably gone through 5-6 of them and keeps buying them.
Imho, your requirements are pretty simple. I say stick with what’s small and in your price range, and maybe spend the $ on an extra battery or two. Also, the bigger companies have true “internationl warranties” you might want to look into. (I know IBM works, friend of mine traveled a lot (north america<->europe<->asia) whereas my co-worker said her toshiba wasn’t supported when she brought it over. Go figure.)
Or you can look at what you use the machine for and use the equivalent OSX programs.
I agree for most things that is correct. (Although Word is not nearly as friendly as Wordperfect) I use a database program every single day which refuses to make a mac version because of the dominance of pc, and there is just no getting away from it.
Does using Parallels have any drawbacks? Advantages over Bootcamp?
Hard to go wrong with either a Lenovo or a Mac with your requirements. Personally, I’d go with the mac, just because Windows is such a pain in the ass, but either one will keep you happy. A lot of people I know have hemmed and hawed about mac vs pc, but I haven’t met one yet who has bought the mac and regretted it.
In either case, load up on as much RAM as you can afford. If you go with a mac, get the RAM from another vendor as Apple charges too much.
Tom, great post and timely. I just got a Computrainer. They send you the min sys requirements form I want to run to a LCD TV so it was really about the video card for me. I went to Best Buy and other places, but ended up ordering one from Dell for <$950 shipped. They key for me was the processor and NVidia 8400 graphics card. They had some instant rebates on preset machines.
Note, I bough my wife a Mac for Christmas and she loves it and I love it, but loading windows and doing all that to make the PC programs work, plus trying to get from her would be a conflict. However, I really like the Mac’s.
I just wanted on that would do the Computrainer, HR monitors, Garmin, and financial software, etc.
what is the case made of for the Macbooks? The case being the part surrounding the guts of the laptop.
thanks
As someone that builds computers on the side, Lenovo (IBM) is pretty much my standard recommendation for anyone buying a business laptop. Their customer service is truly above and beyond in addition to selling a great product.
http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/
Second this. Well-built machines.
I’m not sure exactly, some plastic polymer of sorts. Mac chat support couldn’t tell me either. It’s fairly dense, though, not flimsy or easily distorted like you’d see in some other laptops.
Mac aside. If you don’t want a Mac then my comments apply and I am not posting this to enter into a Mac vs Windows opinion.
I have been buying laptops as the IT Director for my company for over 7 years now. We are a consulting firm and 80% of our associates are on the road virtually every week and we do IT consulting. The consultants use there laptops everyday and take them back and forth from client office to hotel and put them through a ton of abuse. We usually replace them between 3-4 years as a matter of policy rather than need or failure.
I buy Lenovo Thinkpads(formerly IBM). About once per year, I review other brands and I always come to the same conclusion. For business users, there is nothing better in the way of function, form, styling, support, longevity and features for the traveling consultant. If you need a heavy duty picture/video machine, they are not the way to go (Lenovo does have some new models that may fit in this category but I have not tested those). But if you want a laptop that can survive a fall, does not fall apart like other brands, performs well, has great support, is reasonably light, excellent battery life, and looks professional, you cannot beat a Lenovo T or X series.
If you do some research, you will find that Thinkpads have always been in the top rated laptops. Often running #1 or 2 year after year. If you want ultra-portable, then the X series is the way to go.
I just went through a review to get a new laptop for our president. He wanted something “cool” looking and ultra-portable so it looks like he is on the cutting edge. In the end, I could not recommend anything with a good concience other than a Lenovo after reviewing about 5 other laptops. He ended up getting the executive class x series thinkpad that has a nice looking leather cover. That will make it stand out and give him that bling factor he is looking for.
My .02, FWIW.
My wife’s requirments are basically the same as yours. She runs a small engineering consulting firm so mostly uses Office, email and web browser. She uses the 13" Macbook. Whatever you get, get a small portable hard drive to back up in case it gets stolen or broken. She uses a Firelite portable drive. Office and photoshop elements were recently updated for the mac. The macbook pro is a better choice for more involved photo editing or video editing.
i seem to keep hearing that IBM’s thinkpads have the best build quality in the business.
Those are the most bomb-proof laptops I have ever used. I love the Mac, but “rugged” isn’t on the list of adjectives I’d use for it.
If know an IBM or Lenovo employee you can get some great discounts. We have 3 IBM/Lenovo systems, and R and T series and one has been great, one ok, and one (T60) has been horrible. It spent so much time in repair, my daughter (a CS major) needed to buy another machine. We found a used Panasonic Toughbook, this is what a lot of the CS majors use at her college. They do tend to use older models, putting on Linux doesn’t need the horsepower of Windows.
Find a computer with a good warranty, toughbooks are 3 years.
Mac aside. If you don’t want a Mac then my comments apply and I am not posting this to enter into a Mac vs Windows opinion.
I have been buying laptops as the IT Director for my company for over 7 years now. We are a consulting firm and 80% of our associates are on the road virtually every week and we do IT consulting. The consultants use there laptops everyday and take them back and forth from client office to hotel and put them through a ton of abuse. We usually replace them between 3-4 years as a matter of policy rather than need or failure.
I buy Lenovo Thinkpads(formerly IBM). About once per year, I review other brands and I always come to the same conclusion. For business users, there is nothing better in the way of function, form, styling, support, longevity and features for the traveling consultant. If you need a heavy duty picture/video machine, they are not the way to go (Lenovo does have some new models that may fit in this category but I have not tested those). But if you want a laptop that can survive a fall, does not fall apart like other brands, performs well, has great support, is reasonably light, excellent battery life, and looks professional, you cannot beat a Lenovo T or X series.
If you do some research, you will find that Thinkpads have always been in the top rated laptops. Often running #1 or 2 year after year. If you want ultra-portable, then the X series is the way to go.
I just went through a review to get a new laptop for our president. He wanted something “cool” looking and ultra-portable so it looks like he is on the cutting edge. In the end, I could not recommend anything with a good concience other than a Lenovo after reviewing about 5 other laptops. He ended up getting the executive class x series thinkpad that has a nice looking leather cover. That will make it stand out and give him that bling factor he is looking for.
My .02, FWIW.
But what do you think of the Mac? Why did you recommend Lenovo Thinkpads to your associates instead of a Mac? And do you think it will work well with Photoshop Elements?
In the business world, unless you are in the video/graphics/web world, Mac is not even considered an option in most cases. Businesses run all sorts of applications that most people have never heard of or they are built by the company they work for. These applications don’t run on Macs and that alone takes them out of contention. It is as simple as taking a survey of what laptops business professionals are using. It is very rare to find a business professional using a Mac as their laptop.
In general, I have no issue with a Mac for personal use or maybe some small business or as I already mentioned in the world of anything related to design. The applications are much more seasoned on the Mac than the PC and most that learn the Mac will say it is much more intuitive in when doing design and working with those applications. If I were buying a machine for a graphics artist, I would definately buy a Mac. I actually did this for our part time graphic artist and we spent almost 10k on the Mac with all the software he would ever need. I have considered getting a Mac myself since we do so much picture editing but I think the learning curve would be too much for my wife at this point. Maybe we will try someday anyway but it is an expensive experiment.
Photoshop Elements runs on Windows, so it should be fine. I have not used it. I use the full version of Photoshop on my home laptop for our picture editing (we do some amature photography) and that laptop is a IBM Thinkpad as well.
I will add too, that if you go with a PC over a Mac, do what you can to get XP rather than Vista. I just reviewed this again, and I have no intention of going to Vista even on the new laptops we purchase at this point. Still too many issues and no compelling reason from a business perspective.
I will add, that in general, my comments refer specifically to the T & X series laptops. One additional positive for Lenovo is that that the on-site next business day warranty is much less expensive than its competitors.
Brad,
I’m running Leopard and have been contemplating a Computrainer; however, of concern to me is this blurb on the RacerMate website:
“Currently CompuTrainer hardware is not compatible with Apple/Mac Computers, although, in some cases, CompuTrainer software may run using the Mac based “Virtual PC™” program. The issue’s still existing revolve around the serial communication protocol, which is quite different between IBM compatible PC’s and Mac computers. The use of a USB to Serial adapter installed while the Virtual PC™ program is running has allowed PC1 to operate, but issues still exist with CompuTrainer 3D. This is likely due to some incompatibility between the emulation program and the USB to Serial adapter and higher demand on the system 3D requires. It has been extremely difficult to diagnose. Eventually Mac may resolve these issues with the increasing development and standardizing USB (Universal Serial Bus) protocols and further improvements to the Virtual PC™ program, but to date this has not been accomplished.”
How do you work around this?
Anything as long as it does not come from Best Buy.
http://www.dailytech.com/Woman+Sues+Best+Buy+For+54M+Over+Lost+Laptop/article10665.htm
Using boot camp is fully functional windows. You will not have that problem with a computrainer or anything else. I haven’t tried it with VMware yet (will within the week). Just to show you, Virtual PC hasn’t been used on the mac for about 3 years now. Computrainer hasn’t updated their crap forever.
Any concern with using the RacerMate serial-to-USB adaptor?