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Computer for School

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Hey all -- I have a bit of a dilemma. I am attending the local community college right now because I'm more focused on my work than my education. As I continue my education, I will be taking more and more computer classes, although the majority, if not all of them require Windows. I, of course, have a real computer (MBP). Do I (A) buy a really really cheap PC and use it for school, or (B) get Windows for my computer and see if that will work.


Correct me if I'm wrong, but running Windows on the Mac thru Parallels or BootCamp should basically make your Mac into a PC just by booting into the Windows OS, right?


Help me understand what I'd need to do to get Windows set up on my machine, since I'd prefer to just do things that way and not have to purchase a PC.
 
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iLindzo,

I would venture that your productivity would benefit from simply running windows on your mac. You already have all of the machine that you need. You can always run XP or Vista in bootcamp, but Parallels doesn't cost that much and it makes using the other OS work and feel like a charm.

I would also check with your school, I know that mine (Virginia Tech) offers a discount on Parallels so maybe your community college system has some kind of deal as well. If not, $80~ is definitely cheaper than another laptop, right?

Good luck!
 
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Other than the cost for another copy of windows, I would second the parallels idea, for school needs. When school is over, you can dump the windows. ;)
 
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iLindzo
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Can you quickly explain the difference between Bootcamp and Parallels to me?

And how much is it for Windows?
 
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bootcamp you have to boot into it, parallels/fusion you can hit a key combo and simply switch between the two. But if you are going to be using CPU/grapich demanding tasks a fusion/parallels won't keep up.

How much is what for windows?? Vista is 199 i think, but get a copy of XP if you can, (they stopped selling it so ebay is your friend)
 
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About the Windows thing...

While your CC may not supply something like Parallels, a vast majority of public institutions have a campus agreement with Microsoft. Like Waterpolo said, ebay would probably be a good bet for you for XP since they don't sell it anymore, but, if you purchased a license from your school, it would probably be under $100.
 
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Why are they requiring windows, are there specific programs you have to run that only work in windows? If so, and they are pretty intense, I would run bootcamp. Although, I would probably run bootcamp just because it's free.

You might also see if there are mac equivalents to the stuff they need you to use, you might not have to mess with windows at all.


To repeat what they said above:

Bootcamp actually partitions your hard drive and you install a native copy of windows onto the machine. So if you want to use it you will have to restart and actually boot into windows and not use OSX at all.

Parallels runs windows along side OSX so you can quickly switch between the two. Instead of partitioning the hard drive, it makes a virtual drive to store all of the files.
 
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Or the best of both worlds, use bootcamp to create your Windows partition, install Windows, and then install Parallels. That way, you can still reboot to use the "intensive processing-related programs" but be able to use Parallels to log into Windows from your OS X side quickly to perform most anything else.
 
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Or the best of both worlds, use bootcamp to create your Windows partition, install Windows, and then install Parallels. That way, you can still reboot to use the "intensive processing-related programs" but be able to use Parallels to log into Windows from your OS X side quickly to perform most anything else.

That's a great idea, I forgot parallels has that ability now.
 
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I haven't used it since last spring, but from what I understand Parallels supports DirectX and other graphic processing protocols so maybe it's now able to handle more intensive applications anyway. I would definitely be rebooting to play a game, but I think that it would be safe to render a wireframe in AutoCAD within the virtual PC.

Lindzo, what kind of "computer classes" will you be taking anyway? If you are referring to general programing courses, your chances of being able to use the OS X side of your Mac are high, write code is generally universal.

I know of some Cisco training software that only works in Windows though :( If only they would just teach the xServe :p
 

eric


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i'm going to buck the trend here.

i say grab a cheap windows laptop.

it's always nice to have a spare pc laying around, you can always leave it booted up at home as networked storage, and you have the added benefit of leaving the precious mbp at home and not hauling it around your college and exposing it to various dangers (theft, careless post-teens, over-zealous coding in your classes, etc), also if you do damage it in any way, its a few hunderd bucks down the drain, not a couple grand.
 
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Eric has a point, keeping the mbp safe is a nice idea.

It's probably just up to personal preference. I would have loved to have brought a cheap laptop running ubuntu or XP to Iraq instead of my beautiful Macbook (now dirty, dusty, and in need of several replacement parts). The only thing is, if I had left it at home, I wouldn't be able to enjoy the whole purpose of buying it; to use it (and OS X) as a mobile computer :)
 
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Eric has a point, keeping the mbp safe is a nice idea.

It's probably just up to personal preference. I would have loved to have brought a cheap laptop running ubuntu or XP to Iraq instead of my beautiful Macbook (now dirty, dusty, and in need of several replacement parts). The only thing is, if I had left it at home, I wouldn't be able to enjoy the whole purpose of buying it; to use it (and OS X) as a mobile computer :)
Sounds like you could've bought a used iBook or PowerBook for cheap and brought it with you. Just a thought.

Yes, a cheap Windows laptop is nice to have. I keep a PC around because no matter how hard I try, I can't completely get rid of Windows. Buying a cheap PC would greatly decrease the chances of your Mac getting damaged, and it just might be helpful to you after school ends, who knows?
 
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I keep a PC at home for games (what can I say, it's a lot cheaper to build one than to buy a Mac Pro), but that is really all that it is used for. My macbook follows me everywhere and I am considering getting another mac (like a little mini or something) just to be a file server of some kind.
 
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eric said:
(theft, careless post-teens, over-zealous coding in your classes, etc)


LOL!

Quoted for truth.

Sometimes I get carried away with typing or ridiculous amounts of iMovie/FC :D
 

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