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First let me start off by saying that I didn't see a "help/support" area of the forums so I decided to post here. My apologies if this isn't the right spot.
Anyway, tomorrow I'll be picking up my first Mac. I'm 19 years old and I've been a PC user since I was about 4. I've decided to switch to Mac and I have a few questions. The Mac I'll be getting is the 13.3" MacBook Pro (2.53GHz, 4GB RAM, 250GB HDD, Nvidia 9400M).
1. I'm planning to install a secondary operating system (either Vista or Windows 7) on my Mac, not right away, but a bit down the road. I don't plan on using the Windows OS very often, but there are a few Windows only applications (ex. Project 64 and a few Windows based games) that I would like to continue to use. Do you think I should stick with Windows Vista (what I've been using for the past 3 years) or go to Windows 7? And if I decided to go the Windows 7 route, should I wait a while for the bugs to be worked out?
2. Doing a bit of research, I know there are 2 ways to go about running Windows on an Intel based Mac. Boot Camp or (Parallels/VM Fusion). I assume running Windows through Boot Camp is running Windows natively and would give it the best performance, especially for running my games (FEAR, Half-Life). Running Windows through Parallels or Fusion however would be more convenient because I wouldn't have to leave the Mac OS to access Windows. I'd prefer to use Fusion or Parallels but I'm worried it won't run my games as smoothly. Is this true?
3. If it is, then I'm wondering if I can do both with one copy of Fusion or Parallels and one copy of Windows. I'd use boot camp when I want to play the games and parallels for basic Windows applications. So can you do both?
4. How will running Windows on my Mac affect battery life? I know one of the benefits of having a Mac is the greater battery life over PC based laptops but can I still expect to get at least 4 or 5 hours out of the battery when running Windows? And what will the battery life be like when I use Windows and Mac together (Fusion or Parallels)?
5. Would you recommend Fusion or Parallels(which one)? Why?
6. If I run Windows on my Mac, will I need to run an antivirus to protect my computer?
7. Last Question. A few Blu-ray movies I've purchased a few months ago had the digital copy from iTunes available. So I downloaded those my PC. My PC crashed and I lost everything on it. So is there a way to re-download those movies through iTunes on my Mac when I get it, even though I've obviously used the codes?
Sorry for all the questions and thanks in advance for any input you may have.
Anyway, tomorrow I'll be picking up my first Mac. I'm 19 years old and I've been a PC user since I was about 4. I've decided to switch to Mac and I have a few questions. The Mac I'll be getting is the 13.3" MacBook Pro (2.53GHz, 4GB RAM, 250GB HDD, Nvidia 9400M).
1. I'm planning to install a secondary operating system (either Vista or Windows 7) on my Mac, not right away, but a bit down the road. I don't plan on using the Windows OS very often, but there are a few Windows only applications (ex. Project 64 and a few Windows based games) that I would like to continue to use. Do you think I should stick with Windows Vista (what I've been using for the past 3 years) or go to Windows 7? And if I decided to go the Windows 7 route, should I wait a while for the bugs to be worked out?
2. Doing a bit of research, I know there are 2 ways to go about running Windows on an Intel based Mac. Boot Camp or (Parallels/VM Fusion). I assume running Windows through Boot Camp is running Windows natively and would give it the best performance, especially for running my games (FEAR, Half-Life). Running Windows through Parallels or Fusion however would be more convenient because I wouldn't have to leave the Mac OS to access Windows. I'd prefer to use Fusion or Parallels but I'm worried it won't run my games as smoothly. Is this true?
3. If it is, then I'm wondering if I can do both with one copy of Fusion or Parallels and one copy of Windows. I'd use boot camp when I want to play the games and parallels for basic Windows applications. So can you do both?
4. How will running Windows on my Mac affect battery life? I know one of the benefits of having a Mac is the greater battery life over PC based laptops but can I still expect to get at least 4 or 5 hours out of the battery when running Windows? And what will the battery life be like when I use Windows and Mac together (Fusion or Parallels)?
5. Would you recommend Fusion or Parallels(which one)? Why?
6. If I run Windows on my Mac, will I need to run an antivirus to protect my computer?
7. Last Question. A few Blu-ray movies I've purchased a few months ago had the digital copy from iTunes available. So I downloaded those my PC. My PC crashed and I lost everything on it. So is there a way to re-download those movies through iTunes on my Mac when I get it, even though I've obviously used the codes?
Sorry for all the questions and thanks in advance for any input you may have.