I'm going to college and thinking up my mac set up

Alright, so I'm graduating high school in a few days and I'm getting a 15" Mac Book Pro for graduation to take with me to UCSB. I haven't bought anything yet, not even the laptop but I'm looking for all the things I might need for it while I'm in college.

I'm trying to make a set up that involves both a windows Desktop and this laptop. I have a 22" monitor and I want to be able to dual screen with my laptop and easily switch my monitor back to viewing my PC screen as well. I don't even know if these exist but something like a DVI split with a switch to go from one connection to the other would be cool or something that could do that.

Also my parents tell me I need a dock for my laptop while it's in my dorm for safety reasons and for convenience.

I'm gonna need an external hard drive. And I was wondering if there was any way I could set up a network between the 2 without a router. Or at the very least an easy way to share files between the mac and the PC.

I'm a engineering student so I don't need the artsy software for the mac but I do need the basics so any tips or advice on what to buy there would be much apreciated.
Do I need anti-virus, spy sweepers, firewalls, etc.?

If anyone has any advise on any of these things it would really be appreciated. If you have a product that you'd like to recommends, I'd love to hear it. If you think I need anything else, or don't need something, I'd love to hear that too.

Thank you for any help you can give.

apu72727 said:

Do I need anti-virus, spy sweepers, firewalls, etc.?

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NO X 3.

apu72727 said:

I'm trying to make a set up that involves both a windows Desktop and this laptop. I have a 22" monitor and I want to be able to dual screen with my laptop and easily switch my monitor back to viewing my PC screen as well. I don't even know if these exist but something like a DVI split with a switch to go from one connection to the other would be cool or something that could do that.

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I have on of these hooked up to my monitor. It has four VGA inputs and a single VGA output. A switch allows me to change between each input. Have a look on amazon - mine cost about £5.

apu72727 said:

Also my parents tell me I need a dock for my laptop while it's in my dorm for safety reasons and for convenience.

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Absolutely no 'safety' is added by using a dock. Perhaps a little more convenient but I wouldn't bother to be honest. When I'm at my desk, my MBP gets its power cord, USB, audio output and mini DisplayPort output plugged in. Takes 10 seconds.

apu72727 said:

I'm gonna need an external hard drive. And I was wondering if there was any way I could set up a network between the 2 without a router. Or at the very least an easy way to share files between the mac and the PC.

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You can do this and just need to have a look into creating an ad hoc network between the two computers.

apu72727 said:

I'm a engineering student so I don't need the artsy software for the mac but I do need the basics so any tips or advice on what to buy there would be much apreciated.
Do I need anti-virus, spy sweepers, firewalls, etc.?

Click to expand...

No

Hope this helps!

Hello, there! I'm not sure if you need both a Mac and a Windows Machine. I would run Windows in Bootcamp or Parallels. If you will be downloading stuff to your Windows installation, yes, get a virus scanner in Windows. But, you don't need one for your mac. There's not much to protect them from.

I would recommend the following:
- Microsoft Office ($$$), iWork ($$), or OpenOffice (Free). All of these are fairly compatible and work similarly. Personally, I like iWork the best, but it's your choice.
- A good mail client. Most are free. I recommend Postbox (postbox-inc.com)

I hope this helps. Post or PM me if you have any questions.

I would also just run the Windows app in a virtual machine, you can toggle back and forth between MAC and Windows, I have XP loaded on my Imac and it easily runs AutoCad and my other Mac programs.

CrimsonRequiem said:

NO X 3.

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What about a program to fix the registry and stuff? I don’t know if Mac come with one but I have Tune-Up Utilities ’09 for my PC.
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True Bassist said:

I have on of these hooked up to my monitor. It has four VGA inputs and a single VGA output. A switch allows me to change between each input. Have a look on amazon - mine cost about £5.

Absolutely no 'safety' is added by using a dock. Perhaps a little more convenient but I wouldn't bother to be honest. When I'm at my desk, my MBP gets its power cord, USB, audio output and mini DisplayPort output plugged in. Takes 10 seconds.

You can do this and just need to have a look into creating an ad hoc network between the two computers.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info on the VGA splitter, I’ll look into it, if there is a certain brand or anything you recommend I’d appreciate a link.

I think I’m going to agree with you on the dock situation. I was looking and they cost so god**** much money I don’t think it’ll be worth it for a little extra organization. Anyone disagree?

I don’t know what an adhoc network is but I’ll do some research. I know my way around a computer for the most part so I shouldn’t be too hard to figure out. Thanks for the advise True Bassist.
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Since I’m creating a network between my 2 comuters, shouldn’t I have a realtime virus watch on my mac just so it can’t pass on viruses? Or is there any other way to prevent this?

^Just run Windows on your mac. Makes more sense and takes up less space.

You don't need a registry cleaner, virus protection, spybot blasters, etc for your Mac. You also don't need to defrag it. In fact, you don't need to to much of that kind of maintenance at all.

I would just get a copy of Windows, a copy of VMWare Fusion and run Windows from within your Macbook Pro. You'll need to get a registry cleaner, virus protection, etc for your Windows partition, but if something infects it, it won't have any effect on OS X. Just back up all your files, delete the Windows partition and create it again and you'll be all set.

I have a Windows desk top at home that I haven't used in months because I've got everything I need on my Macbook Pro. Not sure what I'm going to do with my old box, but one thing for sure, I'll have a little more room for more Mac peripherals!

I've never ran a computer on 2 OS's so I'd need to learn how. Any good tutorial to figure this out? I always want to learn how to run Linux with my PC as well, so if anyone knows of a good site for info on that...

Is there any way to lock your mac book to your desk so it doesn't go anywhere and can't get stolen?

apu72727 said:

I've never ran a computer on 2 OS's so I'd need to learn how. Any good tutorial to figure this out? I always want to learn how to run Linux with my PC as well, so if anyone knows of a good site for info on that...

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With a MB / MBP, you can install Windows via bootcamp (for best performance) which comes pre-installed with OS X Leopard. Then, whenever you want to boot into Windows restart the MB / MBP holding down 'alt' during startup. You will then be presented with an option to boot Windows or OS X.

You can also install virtualisation programmes (which don't run as well) such as VMWare which means you can run Windows as you would run a programme in the OS X normal setting. You literally have a window which opens up to show you Windows OS.

apu72727 said:

Is there any way to lock your mac book to your desk so it doesn't go anywhere and can't get stolen?

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You can get Kensington key-locks which can be used with MB / MBP's however I'm not sure what you could attach it to on your desk (remembering that it's gonna be a Uni desk belonging not to you!!!)

apu72727 said:

Is there any way to lock your mac book to your desk so it doesn't go anywhere and can't get stolen?

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Yeah, for sure. There are Kensington locks for Macbooks. They are available on Apple's website and probably at Apple Stores as well. Also mate, I'd suggest waiting until Apple up-specs the Macbook Pro and Snow Leopard, the next OS X, is released. They'll update the Macbook Pro in June and again in October. Snow Leopard will be released in the upcoming months so if you get a Macbook Pro at the end of August you should be fine.

I recommend VMware or Parallels over Bootcamp. With Bootcamp, you actually boot as if you were on a PC. In Parallels, VirtualBox, or VMware, you run Windows and Mac side-by-side.

From what I understand, it will be necessary to use completely re-boot your Mac in Windows in order to do some things that won't quite work with Parallels or Fusion, but personally, everything that I do can be done in Fusion from within OS X.

Either way you'll need to create the Windows partition with the Boot Camp Assistant in the applications menu. The assistant is pretty self-explanatory and easy to follow, but here's a tutorial:

Using Boot Camp to install Vista on your Mac: The Complete Walkthrough - Simple Help

After the partition is created and Windows is installed, you can either re-boot while holding down the Option key and you'll be presented with a choice of operating system, Mac OS X or Windows. To switch between OSes, you'll need to reboot and hold Option again, but if you buy a virtualization app, you can just start up Windows from within OS X.

I've never had a virtual machine on a Windows computer, so I don't know what to tell you about that.

It's tempting to wait until the latest version of the Macbook and Leopard are released, but there is ALWAYS a better version coming right around the corner. You'd be waiting forever to buy the ultimate, newest generation Mac. Wait for Snow Leopard if you want to, but remember that before school starts, you'll want to give yourself plenty of time to really get to know your Mac before you have to start using it all the time. If you have an issue or question, you won't want to have to put all your work on hold until you figure it out.

No, you don't have to create a partition if you will use virtualisation, at least not with Bootcamp. VirtualBox or Parallels will create an environment for that and partition that environment.

But will Parallels or Fusion allow you to boot directly into Windows if you need to play a video game or something?

no. But you said "either way". Implying that VirtualBox or Parallels would require a Bootcamp partition.

Oneironaut said:

But will Parallels or Fusion allow you to boot directly into Windows if you need to play a video game or something?

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If you are doing gaming then a virtual PC is not for you. It will be lacking the necessary drivers to render things in 3D. If you are going to game then you need to install Windows via Bootcamp.

Why is everyone that comes here so adamant about gaming on a notebook? T_T"

Good point, thats what my PC is for.

Right now I'm most interest on how to set up a network between my mac and pc so I can transfer files and what not.

Bump

How do you set up a network between a PC and Mac so you can transfer files or sync them together in any way.