John Meier wrote: > Hi all- > > Considering getting a new laptop. I have a very small business with a > handful of clients - windows some Mac end users and linux/windows > servers. My old dell is getting to be a PIA - it weighs a ton, it's > slow, it's loud, slight pressure on the palm rest causes mouse/touch > pad to go nuts sometimes. > > As I'd like to be able to switch to any OS depending on client, I am > leaning toward a Mac book pro - 17 inch (and will probably get the max > amount of memory right off the bat). I would use bootcamp or > Parallels Desktop for Mac for OS selection - Parallels Desktop really > caught my eye.... > I use VMWare on Windows to run Linux and on Linux to run Windows. I think you'll find Parallels more interesting than Bootcamp. > Now the pricing on these Mac books really is holding me back - I can > swing the price now but on the flip side, I can get a PC laptop and a > couple of years later get another all for less than the 1 Mac - > sigh... > Apple has been running a lot of the MacBook Pro stuff through their refurbished outlet which drops the price a bit. It looks like they're knocking $500 - $800 off the 17" right now. Same warranty as new, eligible for the service plan, etc. You might also consider the 15". I'm using an old G4 iBook as my main laptop (same deal on ditching the Dell) and I have monitor spanning enabled. It links the 14" screen seamlessly with an external 19" panel. I can live with the 14" screen when I'm away from home and the 19" becomes the main work area when I'm home. I think the iBook can go up to 1600x1200 or better so it could drive a 24" wide screen. I would expect that the MB and MB Pro are at least as good on the low and and much better for the Pro level. > Wondering if anyone else uses a Mac for businessy type stuff and what > they like and don't like. > When I ditched the Inspiron (using Ubuntu) and switched to the iBook I wasn't sure it was up to being my main machine. After a couple of months I find I rarely use the Dell Desktop (also running Ubuntu) except as a backup server. My plan was to switch to a new Intel MB Pro at the end of the summer when Apple runs their "back to school" special and Leopard has been release. Lately I've been leaning more towards going cheaper and grabbing a straight Macbook and an iMac. The other thing that's nice about the Macs is that the battery life is actually useful. Even when it was new the Dell would rarely make it to 2 hours. The iBook routinely gets 4 hours, even with the wireless running. > Thanks > Let us know what you decide. --rick