Help with decision to switch?

Jawjuh · Jan 16, 2009

I hope this is the right place to post this. I am trying to decide to make the jump to a new macbook from a vista laptop. I work for a small consulting company and they don’t care as long as my communications such as word, excel, powerpoint, msn messenger, and pdf editing are transparent to them. Meaning no conversions necessary. It should be completely transparent to them that I am using an apple. I do have some questions though and I wonder if someone could please help.
• If I need to run a windows environment for a windows app, is the performance of that app equal to what it would be on a comparable windows laptop?
• I have read about decreased wifi signal strength on the alum macbooks. Is this real or a forum myth?
• Do the new macbooks use the centrino 2 chip and should I care?
• I don’t see an option to order a macbook with the built in ability to dial into Verizon for internet access. I guess I would need a USB modem. Did I miss something?
• Anyone know what the megapixel strength is of the isight camera? No one at apple or in the store could tell me.
• I know that I could use MS office for mac. Does that mean that I can use outlook the same way I use it today on the pc? We have an exchange server.
I hope these aren’t silly questions that have been answered a 100 times elsewhere. I looked around the forum but didn’t find the answers. Thank you in advance.

louishen · Jan 16, 2009

I will anser what I can

Windows - runs nativelly on the mac as fast as a comparable PC, but will run slighly faster in Bootcamp than in virtualisation software like Parrallels

Centrino - Apple have never used these lo cost chips, prefering the Penryn chips instead

iSight - is 640x480, but is capable of higher resolutions
iSight - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Office comes with Entourage, the Mac mail client, which can interface with Exchange email, global address books and clalendars

pantstofry · Jan 16, 2009

With everything said above, I agree.

My wifi signal is great, and I have an alum macbook

thats about all I can answer FOR SURE..

If you want my opinion or educated guess on other stuff just ask

Jawjuh · Jan 16, 2009

Thank you. On the isight camera, I heard it was at least 1.3 and possibly 2 megapixals. The link took me to the external camera. I wonder if the built in one on the new mac is higher resolution. I will need this for meetings so I'm asking.
On the wifi signal, may i ask approx how far you are from the router?

cwa107 · Jan 16, 2009

Jawjuh said:
I hope this is the right place to post this. I am trying to decide to make the jump to a new macbook from a vista laptop. I work for a small consulting company and they don’t care as long as my communications such as word, excel, powerpoint, msn messenger, and pdf editing are transparent to them. Meaning no conversions necessary. It should be completely transparent to them that I am using an apple. I do have some questions though and I wonder if someone could please help.
• If I need to run a windows environment for a windows app, is the performance of that app equal to what it would be on a comparable windows laptop?

Yes. If you use Boot Camp to install Windows, it runs natively on the system - since the Mac hardware is almost identical to any other x86 PC, it will run at the same speeds that a similarly configured PC would.

If you run it in a virtualized environment (for example, Parallels, VMWare Fusion or VirtualBox), expect a very slight performance penalty - particularly if you're using something that requires 3D acceleration.

• I have read about decreased wifi signal strength on the alum macbooks. Is this real or a forum myth?

Mostly myth. My MacBook Pro has about the same signal strength as my plastic Dells. I think a lot of this has to do with poor router placement.

• Do the new macbooks use the centrino 2 chip and should I care?

Centrino is a brand name for a certain combination of CPU, chipset and wireless card. This is nothing more than a marketing term, so no, it makes no difference.

• I don’t see an option to order a macbook with the built in ability to dial into Verizon for internet access. I guess I would need a USB modem. Did I miss something?

With standard dial-up Internet access going mostly by the wayside, Apple chose not to take up precious space by integrating a modem. So, if you need to dial-up, you can purchase a $40 add-on USB modem.

• Anyone know what the megapixel strength is of the isight camera? No one at apple or in the store could tell me.

It's a webcam. You're not going to take photos that you would want to frame with it. If you're video conferencing, bandwidth is extremely limited anyway, so trying to transmit anything beyond 1MP would be counterproductive to frame rate. Even high-end board room integrated video conferencing systems use >1MP cameras. If I had to judge by image resolution, I would guess it's along the lines of 1-2MP. Remember that a MP rating is not necessarily one of image quality, it's one of size (resolution). There's no need for a webcam to be capable of resolutions greater than 1024x768 because most people aren't using them to print photos.

Update: According to this site, the camera is 1.3MP

• I know that I could use MS office for mac. Does that mean that I can use outlook the same way I use it today on the pc? We have an exchange server.

MS Office for Mac includes Entourage, which is similar to Outlook in terms of capability, but not exactly the same feature-for-feature (although it does integrate with Exchange). If that's a big deal, this might be a sticking point for you. If, however, you have the same contempt for Outlook that I, as a Windows network administrator do, it might be a blessing to get away from it and try something new.

Also, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, I believe Apple's own Mail.app (included with OS X) has Exchange support.

I hope these aren’t silly questions that have been answered a 100 times elsewhere. I looked around the forum but didn’t find the answers. Thank you in advance.

The only silly question is the one that remains unasked.

Jawjuh · Jan 16, 2009

Great answers! You guys are helping me. Can I ask another "silly" question? I travel a lot on planes. I'm assuming even the 13 inch macbook is going to be difficult to work on in coach. I currently use a tablet pc from Fujitsu and it is awesome on the plane. Anyone experience this? It's going to be tough to get away from my tablet. I take notes in meetings with it all the time. I wish apple would make one of these. they are perfect to do it but I understand they have no interest.

cwa107 · Jan 16, 2009

Jawjuh said:
Great answers! You guys are helping me. Can I ask another "silly" question? I travel a lot on planes. I'm assuming even the 13 inch macbook is going to be difficult to work on in coach. I currently use a tablet pc from Fujitsu and it is awesome on the plane. Anyone experience this? It's going to be tough to get away from my tablet. I take notes in meetings with it all the time. I wish apple would make one of these. they are perfect to do it but I understand they have no interest.

I've used a 13" laptop on a plane with no problem at all.

How often do you actually use the stylus? In my work, I've found that most of my Tablet PC users end up using it like a laptop for the most part since the handwriting recognition is so weak. It's also still pretty cumbersome to write on because of the surface properties.

If you really, really want a Tablet, take a look at this:

Axiotron : Modbook

Jawjuh · Jan 16, 2009

Hmmm, that's interesting. It's a slate though which might not work for me. As you said, I spend most of my time in laptop mode. In meetings or on the airplane where space is a premium is where I'm in tablet mode. It's great for writing my notes directly into the system and checking emails, IM, etc. without being disruptive in any way. I'm becoming resigned to the fact that I may have to give that up however. I see advantages to the mac.