So Many (quick) questions before switching to a Mac (please help)

M57


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Hi,

I'm a Web Developer currently using Windows. I'm seriously considering buy a Macbook, but I'd like to ask a few questions firt about Macs. I only need short answers (no need for tutorial links..etc), I can research the long answers later when I actually get a mac:

Macbook:
1) Shall I buy a macbook, or is there a better model coming soon I should wait for? I plan on running Leopard eventually by the way.

2) The macbook is so expensive, will spare parts be expensive as well if I needed maintenance after the warranty expires?

3) I have dual monitors at home, can I use them both for OS X through my macbook?

4) Any specific backdraws I should be aware of before getting a Macbook?

5) Will it be possible to move my outlook e-mail messages to Mail?

Stability:
6) I've seen how smooth OS X runs at the shop - does it really stay like that no matter how long you use it? because, in windows machines, things tend to be slower after using the OS for months.

7) Is there anything I should do periodically to insure the OS runs as good as it was out of the box?


Parallels:
8) When I need to open a file using a windows program, is it possible to do instantly within Mac OS X?

9) Can Parallels run windows application within OS X with their native speed or slower?

10) Will I be able to use my machine's hardware feature in windows through Parallels?

11) If I use IE6 (or any program) to open a document, will it be updated upon refresh when I modify the document in OS X? (development purposes)


That's all I have for now ;)


Your help is much appreciated :)
 
Joined
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UK, London
Your Mac's Specs
13 inch Macbook Pro Retina, 2.7ghz, 128gb SSD
1)The Macbooks just got updated, so I don't think that they'll update them again in the next few months.

2) I customized a dell laptop with near enough the same spec as a macbook and found that the dell costs well over £1000

3)Yh you can use dual monitors, however you need to buy a mini dvi adapter I think

4)only two USB ports, no firewire 800 - thats bout it for me

5) I'm not 100% sure about that one, there must be though

6) I've had my first macbook for 7 months know and have not seen any major speed decreases. You don't need to do stuff like Defragging or use programs like ccleaner or registry cleaners like you do on windows.

7) not sure

8)not sure

9)not sure

10)not sure

11)not sure
 
Joined
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New Mexico, USA
Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP 2.0 GHz, Core Duo, 2 GB Ram
Hi,

I'm a Web Developer currently using Windows. I'm seriously considering buy a Macbook, but I'd like to ask a few questions firt about Macs. I only need short answers (no need for tutorial links..etc), I can research the long answers later when I actually get a mac:

Macbook:
1) Shall I buy a macbook, or is there a better model coming soon I should wait for? I plan on running Leopard eventually by the way.

2) The macbook is so expensive, will spare parts be expensive as well if I needed maintenance after the warranty expires?

3) I have dual monitors at home, can I use them both for OS X through my macbook?

4) Any specific backdraws I should be aware of before getting a Macbook?

5) Will it be possible to move my outlook e-mail messages to Mail?

Stability:
6) I've seen how smooth OS X runs at the shop - does it really stay like that no matter how long you use it? because, in windows machines, things tend to be slower after using the OS for months.

7) Is there anything I should do periodically to insure the OS runs as good as it was out of the box?

Just clean up any extra files that you don't need to keep occasionally...but you won't really see any major slowdown except in boot time....and that is only a little as you add alot of stuff to the drive and it begins to get full.

Parallels:
8) When I need to open a file using a windows program, is it possible to do instantly within Mac OS X?
If you run parallels, absolutely, but some windows files will open in OS X under similar apps...pdf, html, .doc, .xls, .rtf, .txt, picture files, movie files, etc.

9) Can Parallels run windows application within OS X with their native speed or slower?
I've used parallels with great results, but depending on the machine, you may notice some slowing, as well as depending on the app you are trying to run. I have a macbook pro, and an iMac, so can't compare straight to a macbook, but I think you'll be pleased, and there is always bootcamp if you really, really need the extra speed.

10) Will I be able to use my machine's hardware feature in windows through Parallels?
yep, except maybe Firewire.

11) If I use IE6 (or any program) to open a document, will it be updated upon refresh when I modify the document in OS X? (development purposes)
Not sure on that one.

That's all I have for now ;)


Your help is much appreciated :)
 
Joined
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Your Mac's Specs
13" Macbook Pro 2.26Ghz Unibody 4G RAM 160G HDD Superdrive
I can answer the Parallels on a Macbook. I'm finding that I'm probably going to want to upgrade to 2GB of RAM if I'm going to be doing Parallels stuff. It runs the apps that I use it for reasonbly well, but there is a bit of a lag when I first bring it up. I usually have a VM suspended at any given time and when I 'wake it up' theres a short period where things kind of dog down a bit as resources are allocated to it. For example if I switch to Safari or something of that nature I'll get a 'beachball' (that's Mac OS X's way of telling you "hold on man, I'll get to it in a minute") until everything is finally 'up' and I can start launching things.

Once that's done though, it's like sitting at my Dell running XP. I used it quite extensively at this conference I was attending when I didn't want to lug the Dell with me to use the Corporate apps. If switching around it still kind of dogged a bit on the Mac side though, hence the need for an additional gig of RAM. So if you're going to do a lot of Parallels stuff, get the 2Gig.

As for the hardware, Parallels supports the USB ports, built-in bluetooth (but it does 'steal' it away from Mac OS X, so if you're using a bluetooth keyboard/mouse they'll quit working when you boot up the VM), the CD drive, and video camera. I'm pretty sure it does NOT support the firewire port at this time. The wireless network is virtualized and will work over whatever the Mac is connected to.
 
Joined
Jun 8, 2007
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Your Mac's Specs
iMac 20, C2D 2.16 GHz, 3Gb, 250Gb
I'm also a web developer, switched about a week ago and now I'm wondering why I didn't do it earlier. :)

4: I suggest to go with iMac. Macbook has very small screen, so its hard to see pixels when editing images in Photoshop. I'm using iMac 20 and its just brilliant. Pixels are right size to be able to edit everything, all colors are correct.

11: Unless you setup some proxy, it will update.
 
Joined
Mar 22, 2007
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Your Mac's Specs
imac G3 450MHZ 512 RAM DVD
Throwing something in about the monitors - you will only be able to use one of your extra monitors with the imac, macbook and macbook pro

For both the iMac and the macbook you'll need an adapter as noted above

In the end of the day you'll be using a max of two monitors, if you were expecting to use three it results in a big performance hit
 

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