help running programs...

I just started a new job where I will eventually need a laptop in the next few months. I've been wanting one for awhile now, so this will finally give me the drive to go out and get one. I currently own a desktop PC, but want a macbook or powerbook for sure. i've fallen in love with macs over the past year and dont want to get another dell. ANYWAYS, my question is, i will be using lots of software for use with my clients and for business use. it is all windows based software. what do you guys recommend? i REALLY hope there are options that allow me to still have a mac. your help would be great.

thanks.
ryan

G'day daysaway & welcome to Mac-Forums. What software do you plan on using (windows type) and we'll see what's availabe. The news is good in that dept.

well.. good question. im not positive what they are called. im an insurance agent, so a lot are programs developed by my company (Bankers Life and Causality) to help crunch numbers and find specific policy premiums for people. a lot of it is power point presentations to show the benefits of the policy's for prospective clients, that i know can easily be run on a mac, but the other software is what im concerned about. i will wish i knew the names of these programs, but i honestly dont at the moment.

Well, there's a nifty little program called "Parallels" that will allow you to run Windows on your Mac.

As long as the programs aren't resource intensive (which I doubt insurance related software would) then like Sebastian said, go buy this wonderful piece of software called Parallels and you can have Windows and Mac OS X running happily side by side.

If you need to run a Windows program, then Parallels is what you would need. Parallels is just the thing for the occasional need to run a Windows program here and there. Just be sure to get a new Mac with an Intel processor for that. The PowerBook and iBook series can't run Parallels. They rely on the Virtual PC software to run Windows which is not the best option. Virutal PC is very slow, even for simple Windows programs.

However, since you need the machine for business use, and because that means heavy reliance on Windows, then I would advise against a Mac in your case... at least for work use. Just because you can run Windows on a Mac, doesn't mean that you neccessarily should. For something important like your job, I recommend getting the best tool for the job and unfortunately a Mac doesn't seem to be it in this case.