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sorcerer · Aug 1, 2003, 06:33 PM

hi i need some help with the switching part....

i witness ma firends power book and ....
my reaction was
WOW......
its awsome loved it and i sooo want it .. and u guys knw y !!!!!!

well the thing i have collected money and have the choice of buying a good laptop for college and iam wondering if i should buy the power book ... but scared that i wont be able to run some prgrams ...my major is computer science and technology.
so iam worried that i wont be able to run some programs .. that the college ofers me on ma MAC..

i dunno what to do .. i soo want the power book ..
please give me suggestion

thanx in advance

AssassyN · Aug 1, 2003, 06:45 PM

First off, WELCOME to the MacNN forums!!

Now, considering your major, it *is* possible that some software you'll be required to use will be Windows-only, however, the only way we can help you is if you tell us exactly what software you'll hafta use. Many programs have Mac & Windows versions, however some don't...so just let us know what programs you need & we'll let you know if they make a Mac version.

LfGrdMike · Aug 1, 2003, 07:51 PM

Well dont forget you can use X11 to run some of these programs too. In no way are you limited sense macs are UNIX systems. Well except for the crappy windows apps but..

dumkwestchun · Aug 1, 2003, 08:16 PM

Let's not forget -- if you really need to run some windows programs such as Brio natively, you can install Virtual PC -- it comes with the Windows OS of your choice, and you can purchase other windows OS as needed.

As long as you have all your network connections and printer connections working in OSX, you should be OK.

I haven't tried installing Linux on top of VPC on top of Mac OSX, but will probably give it a try in the next year, just for the heck of it.

Productivity apps can be a little slow and occasionally produce slightly unexpected results (despite protestations to the contrary) for Word or Excel or Powerpoint office professionals in search of ultimate speed.

Usually it's postscript fonts (the other party does not have an equivalent of on their machine) which are responsible -- someone else's PC may not adquately translate them, and docs may format incorrectly. The era of cross-platform fonts is approaching.

But you're hardly doing computer science to become an admin assistant. and even that can be circumvented by running windows versions of Office apps on VPC if you absolutely need to. (I've managed to avoid it though with OSX versions so far.)

badnewsblair · Aug 1, 2003, 08:45 PM

Make the switch. It will be one of the best decisions you ever made... (coming from a recent switcher, so I know).

... And like my boys have all said, you are pretty much covered no matter what the programs are!

LfGrdMike · Aug 1, 2003, 08:46 PM

SoftWindows is coming back to attack VPC where it has sucked most all these years. SPEED. Hopefully it will come true!

sorcerer · Aug 1, 2003, 09:08 PM

thanx .. now that i have ma focus on the power book i dont think i can go back .. only have to find ways of solving ma problems

well see i dont knw what programs tht i have to run YET... but i have to buy the book before i start college ..
but i think i have to run visual basic, pearl, java, c and unix

well i thought of buying VPC... but any one knw the disadvantages?? will i be able to run windows programs normally .. maybe not fast .. but can i run them .. like a normal windows box???

just hope there is away of running thease programs ..

sheesh this forums is good very responsive and i really did appreciate the suggestions
thnx guys

LfGrdMike · Aug 1, 2003, 09:21 PM

I am waiting for softwindows but VPC is really nice and will run your apps. Make sure you use win 2000 with it becuase for some odd reason it runs faster on VPC. If you can wait for softwindows ill look it up to c when it is going to be released and get back to this forum.

gator · Aug 1, 2003, 09:28 PM

Apple link... Higher Ed Computer Science:

http://www.apple.com/education/hed/s...puter_science/

C is no problem, Perl no problem, OS X is based on BSD so UNIX no problem.

If you need to program in VB, then you should be able to use VPC to emulate Windows, then run Visual Studio.NET on it.... it'll be slow but usable.

Note that Apple's edu prices (which are discounted from normal retail prices) have dropped a little recently, so PB's are more affordable than ever.

http://www.apple.com/education/store/

Also, they're running a promo for college students, buy a notebook and an iPod, save $200 via mail in rebate... great offer.

http://www.apple.com/education/promos/bts/

Hope this helps with your decision, and good luck!

iWrite · Aug 1, 2003, 09:41 PM

Want some good solid advice?

Call up the college or university and ask to see the dean of the computer science department, or his assistant, or a teaching assistant or guidance counselor for the computer science department and ASK THEM FIRST.

A friend of ours has a son who went to school at U of FL 3 years ago. Computer engineering. Loves Macs. Had a Mac. I think he'd bought a brand new Pismo.

Well, to make a long story short, they were required to run certain programs that will NOT run on a Mac. They were learning code and certain assignments required certain programs that he couldn't do on a Mac. He was spending all of his time borrowing a friend's PC notebook or at the computer lab and it was bad. He finally gave up and bought a PC notebook.

Using a Mac might be preferable but if it's not compatible with your college curriculum then you'll be hurting your education.

Like I said give them a call and either set up an appointment to go in and speak to them or a teleconference.

Good luck!

gator · Aug 1, 2003, 10:57 PM

Hm.... guess I wouldn't know about engineering requirements since I'm a CS major.... I go to UF, haven't seen a need to do anything specifically on Windows yet, though I do have a Windows desktop for games and such so it's not a big deal should the need arise. Although UF does have very very few macs around campus, heh.

Anyways, yes do heed iWrite's advice... it's possible that the situation could happen, see what you need on Windows, then ask on the forums if VPC will handle it reasonably.

Mastrap · Aug 1, 2003, 11:40 PM

iWrite is right. If you need a lot of Windows apps then you will get frustrated running them in VPC. Despite recent advances it is still slow as molasses on most systems.

On the other hand there are tons of people on here using a Mac and studying computer science with no problem.

sorcerer · Aug 3, 2003, 06:53 PM

Originally posted by iWrite:
Want some good solid advice?

Call up the college or university and ask to see the dean of the computer science department, or his assistant, or a teaching assistant or guidance counselor for the computer science department and ASK THEM FIRST.

A friend of ours has a son who went to school at U of FL 3 years ago. Computer engineering. Loves Macs. Had a Mac. I think he'd bought a brand new Pismo.

Well, to make a long story short, they were required to run certain programs that will NOT run on a Mac. They were learning code and certain assignments required certain programs that he couldn't do on a Mac. He was spending all of his time borrowing a friend's PC notebook or at the computer lab and it was bad. He finally gave up and bought a PC notebook.

Using a Mac might be preferable but if it's not compatible with your college curriculum then you'll be hurting your education.

Like I said give them a call and either set up an appointment to go in and speak to them or a teleconference.

Good luck!

well see the problem is that iam an international student and i will be leaving to the states this saterday. what about vpc can it handle the stuff i mean like visual studio and stuff like tht
is there any disadbantages like that in vpc ... other than it been slow .. (it being slow ill sacrifice that as long as it works fine )

thanx in advamce

Angus_D · Aug 3, 2003, 07:11 PM

There have been a lot of people asking if a mac will fit them just fine for a CS course in the Developer forum here.

As far as SoftWindows/RealPC goes, see here.

kstor · Aug 3, 2003, 10:38 PM

I'm a CS major at Dartmouth, and getting my 12pb actually made my life easier (I ahd a Dell Latitude before that). I don't spend any time in the labs anymore, I just ssh in to the UNIX boxes with X11 and run everything from my dorm. It is absolutely sweet...

Frankly, you will use your computer for browsing, mail and music much more than anything else, and OS X is a lot better at that (Safari, Mail, iTunes) For coding purposes, OS X comes with project builder (C,C++,Java... lot's more), it has gcc for compiling, and you can easily get PHP, Perl, MySQL or any other server language running locally. If you occasionally need to use windows software, your school probably has a computer lab which you can use.

So unless the administration says something different, I'd go for the 12pb.

KStor, cs major and switcher.

sorcerer · Aug 4, 2003, 01:07 AM

Originally posted by kstor:
I'm a CS major at Dartmouth, and getting my 12pb actually made my life easier (I ahd a Dell Latitude before that). I don't spend any time in the labs anymore, I just ssh in to the UNIX boxes with X11 and run everything from my dorm. It is absolutely sweet...

Frankly, you will use your computer for browsing, mail and music much more than anything else, and OS X is a lot better at that (Safari, Mail, iTunes) For coding purposes, OS X comes with project builder (C,C++,Java... lot's more), it has gcc for compiling, and you can easily get PHP, Perl, MySQL or any other server language running locally. If you occasionally need to use windows software, your school probably has a computer lab which you can use.

So unless the administration says something different, I'd go for the 12pb.

KStor, cs major and switcher.

okay so u in cs major is there a phase where you wont be able to use your powerbook(like was there any programs that u couldnt use and what did you do about it ? and project builder whats that i went to the site and couldnt find anything like that ... please explain coz iam new to all this and iam scared about switching ... its an awsome machine ... just cant make up ma mind,....

thnx in advance

kstor · Aug 4, 2003, 08:25 AM

For info on project builder, go here. Basically, it's a sweet IDE for various languages. You may have heard of Codewarrior for windows, this is the mac's equivalent, and it's free (as usual)

I don't think there is any time when I can't use my powerbook. Even when working on a team project with UNIX, I could technically run it from the laptop (I say technically because I haven't done it, not because it would be hard)

Ask your school/department if it would be a terrible mistake, and if not, make the switch. It will make your life so much easier...

KStor

MusicalTone · Aug 4, 2003, 08:53 AM

Probably best you get a PC laptop to be on the safe side.