Buying 15 inch MBP...need advice!

green6767 · Jul 28, 2006

This will be my first Mac ever...I am switching from the PC world and this MBP will be replacing my desktop PC for college. I am a medical student, so this computer will be used alot for notes, presentations, multi-tasking, internet, email, and other normal functions. Some light graphic work and photo work may also be done aswell. As far as upgrades go, 2 Gigs of Ram, 100 GB@ 7200 RPM HD, wireless mouse, and MS Office for Mac so far. Here are my questions from a newb to the MAC world:

Two things I needed from my PC were: MS Office with Powerpoint and Word and IE with Outlook Express. I have found out that I can get MS Office for Mac, so that takes care of that. As far as IE...is that supported with Mac, and how can I get that? Do I have to run Windows on my mac to get IE and Outlook Express? Which bring me to my next question.

How does a person run Windows XP on their Mac? Does running some kind of program like this alter the Mac's ability to filter viruses so well as it already does? I am very sorry for the basic questions, but after searching, it seems as though most people know what their talking about on here, and it was a bit over my head at the moment....(newb mac user for ya). I appreciate any advice or comments....Thanks in advance!

Dallas

ShillAT · Jul 28, 2006

OK. Let's start: you DON'T need IE. Safari works much better. Not to mention Camino and Firefox (both of which are downloadable for mac). Now, you can use Mail just like outlook express. To run XP on your mac, you need:
A. a one-disk, non-upgrade copy of windows XP with SP2 pre-installed.
B. a blank CD-R.
C. a printed out set of instructions on installing boot camp.
D. Boot Camp Assistant.

You'll have to get the first two yourself. The rest is here: http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

Honestly, only use XP for things you can ONLY do on windows like games or special programs. What I would do to avoid getting a virus on your XP partition and having infect your OSX partition as well is limit your internet use on XP and download something like adaware SE, so that the viruses you will inevitably catch on XP can be deleted.

And I didn't know they made 100 MB 7200 RPM hard drives

!

green6767 · Jul 28, 2006

Sorry bout the HD thing, its fixed now, i'm new at this. As far as IE goes, I visit sites, especially my school site for grades, homework, quizes, etc....right on the home page, "REQUIRES IE 6". Do I really have to have IE for a site like that, or can I use something else to "trick" it? As far as having XP on my computer....i'd rather not of I can help it. I mean, if i'm going to switch from PC to MAC, I really want to switch, as I am tired of the hassle that comes with PC's. I mean, if I really need my PC for something, I'll always have it I guess.

fliP · Jul 29, 2006

I would be surprised if Safari or Mozilla didn't work on your school site. The internet is fairly mac friendly. I may not be the best person to speak for this as I have only had mine for a few days but I've been on it for about 12hours/day since then

It's a great machine and I love mine. I did install XP today just for the occasional LAN party I may join and it works good too. Even my BT Mighty Mouse works good in XP. I'm very, very happy now that I have everything loaded up on here. Welcome to the team!

pinktank · Jul 29, 2006

Hmm may I advice you to wait a week? I think there will be no releasses but still, wwdc is 7th of august and they may release a new mbp

chaslam · Jul 29, 2006

green6767 said:
Sorry bout the HD thing, its fixed now, i'm new at this. As far as IE goes, I visit sites, especially my school site for grades, homework, quizes, etc....right on the home page, "REQUIRES IE 6". Do I really have to have IE for a site like that, or can I use something else to "trick" it? As far as having XP on my computer....i'd rather not of I can help it. I mean, if i'm going to switch from PC to MAC, I really want to switch, as I am tired of the hassle that comes with PC's. I mean, if I really need my PC for something, I'll always have it I guess.

AS far as needing IE 6 goes, I doubt that it would acually make a difference. They probably just recommend you use IE 6 as it was made to work on that, but to be honest all web browsers are very similar and work pretty much the same way.

Do you have firefox or any other form of web browser installed on your PC? If you dont, download say firefox and try your schools website on that and see if it works.

IE used to be available for macs, but just checked and it looks like it no longer is. To be honest ive used it before and its nothing special anyway (infact it was pretty crap, I use Camino now which I really like, and im really fussy with web browsers hehe).

Ive been using a mac for a year now and have just brought my second one (macbook) and ive only ever seen 1 web page that isnt compatible with a mac browser (and believe it or not its on the website I help run hehe), so your schools website should run fine.

green6767 · Jul 29, 2006

I appreciate the replies! You have all helped me a lot so far. I will definately be getting a macbook pro very soon, just trying to decide on a few other things to "add" to it...hehe

PumpkinLand · Jul 29, 2006

green6767 said:
This will be my first Mac ever...I am switching from the PC world and this MBP will be replacing my desktop PC for college. I am a medical student, so this computer will be used alot for notes, presentations, multi-tasking, internet, email, and other normal functions. Some light graphic work and photo work may also be done aswell. As far as upgrades go, 2 Gigs of Ram, 100 GB@ 7200 RPM HD, wireless mouse, and MS Office for Mac so far. Here are my questions from a newb to the MAC world:

Two things I needed from my PC were: MS Office with Powerpoint and Word and IE with Outlook Express. I have found out that I can get MS Office for Mac, so that takes care of that. As far as IE...is that supported with Mac, and how can I get that? Do I have to run Windows on my mac to get IE and Outlook Express? Which bring me to my next question.

How does a person run Windows XP on their Mac? Does running some kind of program like this alter the Mac's ability to filter viruses so well as it already does? I am very sorry for the basic questions, but after searching, it seems as though most people know what their talking about on here, and it was a bit over my head at the moment....(newb mac user for ya). I appreciate any advice or comments....Thanks in advance!

Dallas

You don't need IE. Safari will work just as good or better, you can get Firefox or Camino. You can run XP via Bootcamp, although it's in beta it works fine.

Also, IE comes on Mac although it isn't supported by MS anymore. So unless you really need to go on a site that requires IE and Safari or Camino won't work then you can get that.

ShillAT · Jul 29, 2006

I think I see what you're talking about. We have a similar message that pops up on some portions of my school's website. Anyway, on my school's website, firefox didn't work on Mac OR PC, but safari did. I would just use safari.

qktony · Aug 1, 2006

It's my first Apple too....no advice but just buy it!

MacWill · Aug 2, 2006

I just changed for the first time as well and got a MBP a month and half ago.

Some things

1) Microsoft Office for Mac is fine. A little different but fine.
2) Safari takes care of IE perfectly. Don't worry

menace3054 · Aug 2, 2006

MacWill said:
I just changed for the first time as well and got a MBP a month and half ago.

Some things

1) Microsoft Office for Mac is fine. A little different but fine.
2) Safari takes care of IE perfectly. Don't worry

in my opinion office for mac is better

ShillAT · Aug 2, 2006

oh yeah, this may be too late, but for what you're doing, you don't need an MBP. Just get a macbook. Also, if you want the two gigs of ram get one gig from apple and then buy one more gig aftermarket. MUCH cheaper.

Buying 15 inch MBP...need advice!

green6767

ShillAT

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fliP

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pinktank

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chaslam

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PumpkinLand

ShillAT

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MacWill

menace3054

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