The "new" Macs which run PC stuff

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Around October of 2005 I bought an iBook and haven't looked back. In fact, I think I've turned the thing off about 4 times.

My wife is returning to school, and needs a new desktop. Here's the issue:

She needs PC for her classroom. However, after a slew of recent viruses and nonsense, I want the house to get a Mac-based system for web browsing.

SO- I'm not familiar with the Intel Macs. Can they switch back and forth successfully? Someone told my wife that they aren't as stable doing that.
 
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Way... way too many specs to list.
Someone was wrong :)

it works just fine, as long as you get boot camp to install the OS correctly..
 

eric


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she needs a new desktop for school?

is it just to run some software? and if so, is it anything generic, or is it pretty specific?
 
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XPADREX
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It's an online schol which requires some things to be done in Microsoft Word, and I believe the interface works better with PC.

I was thinking of getting a mac mini, and letting her log on to the PC part for school, but log on to Mac for the kids to browse the Internet.

Is boot camp or whatnot expensive?

You also have to buy XP or Vista separately, right?
 
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Bootcamp allows you to partition your hard drive so you can install XP or Vista. Don't forget you can get Microsoft Office for Mac. I think you don't even need Windows for what you want to do, but with bootcamp you can install it anyway.

To check out Office Mac 08, click here.
 
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Can you find out exactly why she needs a PC?
My wife does an online course and submits documents written in OpenOffice (free) and uses the agent switcher in Safari to fool the system to believe she is using IE7.
 
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you could always use Parallels to access any windows stuff. i have to use windows to complete online courses on Navy Knowledge Online because the military thinks that there is only windows out there. it works fine for me.
 
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Al iMac 20" 2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
Bootcamp: a piece of software from Apple which splits you hard drive into two and installs Windows drivers. When the machine starts up, hold down alt if you want to boot into Windows.
Windows will run at native speed, as if it was on any old PC.

Parallels: software which enables you to switch between the two systems without rebooting. Runs at near native speeds, but not recommended for 3D gaming.
 
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parallels works great also with winxp. ran perfect.

also, there is a reason a Pennsylvania college (wilkes) just ditched all its pcs and went to macs running osx and windows.
 
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Don't forget the free virtualbox to run XP.
 
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I'd first find out exactly which specific programs/apps she'll need, because chances are, if they're things like MS Office and such, you can save yourself a lot of time and money by simply getting MS Office for the Mac. It's quite nice, actually, and my wife uses it for work all the time. Don't try and complicate things by assuming that a whole new computer is in order, or that you'll need to start with virtual environments and whatnot... Always best to start with the most simple solution first.

And as was also mentioned above, web sites can be fooled into thinking that the browser you're using is IE for simple access.
 

CrimsonRequiem


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I'd first find out exactly which specific programs/apps she'll need, because chances are, if they're things like MS Office and such, you can save yourself a lot of time and money by simply getting MS Office for the Mac. It's quite nice, actually, and my wife uses it for work all the time. Don't try and complicate things by assuming that a whole new computer is in order, or that you'll need to start with virtual environments and whatnot... Always best to start with the most simple solution first.

And as was also mentioned above, web sites can be fooled into thinking that the browser you're using is IE for simple access.

Although MS Office is available for the mac the layout of the whole thing is totally different than the Windows version. It took me awhile to get use to where everything is, which takes awhile to find and figure out how some stuff.

Not cool if the class is moving along quickly. >_<"
 
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It's an online schol which requires some things to be done in Microsoft Word, and I believe the interface works better with PC.

I was thinking of getting a mac mini, and letting her log on to the PC part for school, but log on to Mac for the kids to browse the Internet.

Is boot camp or whatnot expensive?

You also have to buy XP or Vista separately, right?

You have to have a separate Windows XP SP2 + or Windows Vista CD in order to use Boot camp and install Windows on another patition / volume. You could buy a version or just download a cracked one or something, 'genuine' isn't going to be an issue since you're going to be running it on Boot camp, so your main OS is the Macintosh. Anyhow, if you don't know how to get a 'cracked' Windows OS, just PM me and I'll help you out with a clean version.
 
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XPADREX
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Thanks for the replies- it looks like we'll be going with a mac mini, which with Leopard has Bot Camp on it. I've got XP to install, and a copy of MS Office.

Do we need parallels? I understand the issue is not having to reboot- I wonder if, in the long term, not having to reboot is better for the system.
 
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The system won't care either way... but your wife might! ;)

If you plan going the Parallels route, max out the RAM: it'll make the entire experience pretty smooth.
 
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First of all if you want FREE virtualisation try virtualbox first before paying for parallels.
Second on a mac mini I would only use bootcamp.
Just my 2 cents worth..
 
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XPADREX
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14" G4 iBook 512k, 60gb, 4 widgets.
Ordered the smaller mini, but upgraded the ram to the 2 gig.

I'm excited- I love my iBook, and pushed for this. Funny, though- my wife prefers the PC interface as she uses it exclusively at work. We'll make a convert of her yet!
 

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