Thinking of switching: a few questions

Im thinking of switching but there are a few things i havent managed to find out
1. does parralal desktop or vmfusion run directx 9/10 apps in windows? i know vmfusion does 8.1 but i couldnt find anything out about parralel
2. i am thinking of getting a mac book pro with a geoforce 8600m gt graphics card but apparently there have been issues with it on pcs, does this applie to macs? and does anyone know if said card will work with maya as its not listed as a supported card

thanks for any help

1. If you intend to play games in a virtual machine, you will be disappointed. Boot Camp is the better option.

2. Issues with the 8600? Not that I know of, do you have any links to these issues you speak of? I don't know why it wouldn't work with Maya. Did you check their website?

no i dont have any links
i checked autodesks website but its not listed, theres no reason why it wouldnt work but i just want to make sure
can parrallel/vmfusion still use demanding apps such as maya?
thanx for the swift reply

Elephant Inc said:

no i dont have any links
i checked autodesks website but its not listed, theres no reason why it wouldnt work but i just want to make sure
can parrallel/vmfusion still use demanding apps such as maya?
thanx for the swift reply

Click to expand...

You have to realize that you are running a secondary OS inside an emulator inside yet another OS. While this is fine for a lot of software that don't need the full power of today's computers, anything that DOES require the latest and greatest will choke under these conditions.

Besides that, why would you want to switch to OS X just to keep running Windows apps in Windows in an window? It'd make more sense to be seeking out OS X native replacements.

There is a mac version of maya but i dont want to pay $6000 for it when i have the pc version
thats the only think i want it for, oh and microsoft flight simulator (when i say it i mean vmfusion not the mac )

I'm sure a flight simulator would run fine. I can't imagine why it wouldn't. Also I think you'll be surprised as a switcher, that once you try OS X you'll like it. As long as you approach it with an open mind. I've just switched, and in the past I'd not given mac a chance. I'm completely happy with os x in fact I really like it. I've caught on to things very fast, and have even come to appreciate why things are the way they are.

To be honest before two weeks ago i had never thought about a mac
but i took a visit to an apple shop
then had 3 BSOD and a virus in a week and started to wonder

the latest flightsim uses directx 9 and is a real resource hog tough
should run fine on bootcamp though

Elephant Inc said:

There is a mac version of maya but i dont want to pay $6000 for it when i have the pc version
thats the only think i want it for, oh and microsoft flight simulator (when i say it i mean vmfusion not the mac )

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OUchie... well I can certainly understand that! Unfortunately, you really are stuck with dual-booting OSX and Windows to use Maya (or so I would think) and most games for certain. I've not had good experiences with any games yet in VMWare Fusion, even relatively simple ones from 8-10 years ago!

I'll be perfectly honest though... booting out from one OS to another gets old QUICK! You could try running those apps under Crossover. That's a 3rd-party app that lets you run Windows apps under OS X without the whole overhead of an emulator and second OS running. Support is hit or miss... some things work better than others. Many things not at all. But the apps/games that do work well work VERY well.... as if they were native to OS X. I checked the compatibility database and Maya is listed as not working, though that's a year or so since last mentioned. Flight Simulator, depending on the version, works to an extent, though again there's no mention of how it works with the current Crossover versions.

well that doesnt matter to me much, i can surive with boot camp
BUt one thing, if i have an external can it be used in mac os x and windows or does one format it a special way?
the reason i ask is cos you have to set aside space when dual booting

cheers for the help

BTW im a self admitted nerd, so is mac really for me? or is it for the general puplic

Elephant Inc said:

well that doesnt matter to me much, i can surive with boot camp
BUt one thing, if i have an external can it be used in mac os x and windows or does one format it a special way?
the reason i ask is cos you have to set aside space when dual booting

Click to expand...

You can't put Windows on the external drive, but otherwise if you want to share it between Windows and OS X, you can. Out of the box, OS X can read/write to FAT32 partitions and read-only NTFS. There is 3rd party software available to let OS X write to NTFS partitions also... I recommend that route due to some limitations of FAT32, some of which are severe, especially on larger drives. You can get software for Windows to let Windows read/write OS X's HFS+ partitions, but by no means would I recommend that. You'd be leaving your OS X system vulnerable to Windows and all the malware that it risks picking up.

Elephant Inc said:

BTW im a self admitted nerd, so is mac really for me? or is it for the general puplic

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OS X is for everyone. Easy and simple enough for the general public, but so modifiable to suit most nerds too.

ok cheers
now i have no reasons not to buy a mac
but i dont really have any to buy one besides the lack of viruses, so why should i, all the things have found just mention stabilty and the like but does it have any useful features or anything?

lifeisabeach said:

OS X is for everyone. Easy and simple enough for the general public, but so modifiable to suit most nerds too.

Click to expand...

When OS X first came out, I remember someone writing that OS X was "Unix for everybody".
It really is.
I've got some deep Linux/FreeBSD roots (ran FreeBSD/Linux as my primary OS starting in the mid-90s) and when my employer-at-the-time showed us the OS X beta and opened up Terminal and started using unix commands, I KNEW I was in love
To this day, I still keep a terminal window open to do various things that I just find are faster and easier to do from the command line (instead of some 3rd party gui app/wrapper for existing OS X cli utilities).

At the miniute i just dont see the point in going throught the hassle of switching
but then again im struggaling to see why not
dont supose anyone has any material that mat sway me cos i really dont like sitting on the fence]i love to take a side and debate

This might be just me...

I'm not fully switched over and it's my love of games like seek-and-finds and directx dependent games (the ones that realarcade and reflexive put out :Blushing: that I'm still stuck on lol (the apps I've tried work well on parallels tho - it would also be nice if parallels could upgrade it's dx ability without having to buy a new version). I find that Mac has a better visual/graphic appeal.

I feel more secure often, for the lack of pc virus interaction possibilities (this goes for email and web). I have found it much 'smoother' but my PC is also pretty old hehe. The Mac is also A LOT quieter. I use the Bamboo pen tablet and it just seems natural on a mac! I think Ical, Garageband and TimeMachine are unique to mac, and Ical is pretty useful and my freinds daughter really likes Garageband, I don't have an external hd, so no comment on TimeMachine (BTW if there are equivs to these in the PC world then they cost not just money but in BSODs, downtime and frustration).

Speaking of Frustration, I've noticed my mood when I am on the Mac is less harried, I'm more creative and productive and even more willing to venture into things I never had the time to be bothered to figure out. So it's not just about what you see, it's about the quality of your time, the quality of your emotional sanity and relationships. Hmmm I just thought I wonder how many ppl in prison, have anger management problem or are sitting in a psychiatrists office use Mac and how many use PC lol

I think there are more widgets for Mac too. The quality of Mac you buy will also have much to do with what you can and can't do (I have a mini so I don't think it's a lot better then my old PC.

Elephant Inc said:

to buy one besides the lack of viruses, so why should i, all the things have found just mention stabilty and the like but does it have any useful features or anything?

Click to expand...

Oh theres one thing i forgot
does ilife (particuly garageband) come free with a mac
cos garageband looks really good, is it for making music form scratch?
I need epic music for my animations and it looks pretty good

Yes, if you buy a new Mac you'll get whatever version of iLife that comes with Leopard at the time. Garageband is in there, along with some other goodies, like iMovie.

good
is garage band any good?

My brother in law uses it to crank out CDs of his own music. He's a pretty good musician and uses Garageband on his Macbook (which I convinced him to buy) to compliment his instrumentals and vocals. I've heard his stuff and it sounds good to me. He also has a thing with iTunes where he can publish his work and get a little extra money.

So yes I'd say it's pretty good. If it isn't enough for you, there are plenty of other "Pro" applications for the Mac to make music.

You also might want to check out http://www.apple.com/macosx/ and http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/. I think what I find/found most appealing with Mac (and this even goes back to the short time with OS 9) is what you pay for in the PC world you don't in Mac. Voice is standard, no need for crossover ethernet, all packages of Mac Leopard are $129 (I think) a lot more useful and neat things come with Mac OSX. It comes with widgets, but when I went to find more it was just like the firefox extensions list lol all kinds for many diff things (some are useless or silly lol).

What I left out of my previous reply: Installing/Uninstalling is easy for 90% of progs (and that 10% might be more due to that tech talk sometimes goes above my head, and worse is I still don't wholly understand tech and mac). No Registry entries, I think the closest equiv is prefs files. I think defrag is only necessary for small files, otherwise Mac does this automatically. I've noticed that often with Mac equivs, they often have added abilities or capabilities that you either have to hunt down for an added prog or pay for in PC. Some have told me this is because it's easier to keep something enabled then it is to mask or disable it (a common practice with ms and many PC companies - and there's no accounting for short-sightedness when you are spending more time fighting with a prog to make it work).

is garage band any good? What the 11 year old pumped out of it after a few minutes amazed me and sounded professional. Given it's there and not crippleware, you can expand when you want, if you want...