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jlfspook · Jul 26, 2005, 12:51 PM

I'm going to law school this fall, and even though they support Macs, they do so very lightly. If something doesn't work, like testing/law software, they will point to your Mac and say "Haha!" I'm gonna go with a PC. Why? Well, my Powerbook (17") is way too big to lug around and if I'm going to buy a new computer, might as well get one whose OS is supported by the school.

What do you guys think of the Sony VAIO S-series? They seem very well constructed. As close to Apple as a PC can get. (http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTE...Dept=computers)

Any suggestions on a good Linux distro that isn't too techy? I've heard SuSe is good.

I know Ad-Aware and Spyboy are a must. So is Zone Alarm. Any recommendations on AV Software? I've heard AVG's is good and free.

I'll keep my Powerbook for home use

. I've used Windows at work and while XP Pro is pretty stable, it's still ugly as ****.

Any comments/suggestions/thoughts?

macroy · Jul 26, 2005, 01:53 PM

I had a vaio back in 99'. I liked it a lot - and the great thing was that the HW worked well with Red Hat and FreeBSD. Not sure how things have changed since then - but I do remember them to be a bit more expensive right (company forked it, so I didn't care)?

While I used to see a lot of Vaio's back then with small business execs, I see a lot of IBM Thinkpads these days. So you might look at those as well (have no idea about prices since again, I'm not paying for them).

As for Linux distros that are "user friendly" - Mandrake and Ubuntu are the two I find most popular with my "less techie" friends. But I guess if you're looking into Linux.. you're already more techie than most.

effgee · Jul 26, 2005, 01:56 PM

Kaspersky - no better AV app out there. As far as firewalls go, I never really like ZoneAlarm (hate the interface), prefer Kerio.

As far as Linuxes go, yep - SuSe isn't too bad.

Doofy · Jul 26, 2005, 01:57 PM

I had a Vaio a while back. It liked going on vacation to the Sony service headquarters at least once a year.

If they're still the same, avoid.

Mastrap · Jul 26, 2005, 02:26 PM

I used to work on the VAIO account a couple of years back. Nice looking but not my cup of tea. I'd get an IBM, while you still can - if you still can?

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Jul 26, 2005, 02:29 PM

Those small and light VAIO's are really impressive, physically.

jlfspook · 02:48 PM

I've thought of a Thinkpad, but I really like the 13.3" widescreen. In price, both the Sony and the Thinkpad seem to be in the same ballpark.

Thanks for the software recommendations. They look a bit pricey, but I guess you get what you pay for.

Millennium · Jul 26, 2005, 02:51 PM

The VAIO boxes are about as close as you can get to a Mac on the Wintel side of things. They've got good-quality parts and decent hardware integration without a lot of fluff, but be prepared to pay more for all of this.

If I were you, I'd just get Virtual PC. Testing software isn't exactly performance-critical, and Macs are strong enough in the legal profession that you should be able to find good law software.

besson3c · Jul 26, 2005, 02:59 PM

Another option is just to buy/obtain/build a cheapy PC and remote desktop to it. This is what I'd be tempted to do.

If you are techy enough, you can even run Windows within VMWare. Doing this puts Windows in a little sandbox so that your whole machine can't be taken down by various junk which bounces around University networks pretty rampantly.

jlfspook · Jul 26, 2005, 03:22 PM

Besson and Millenium, you both make good points. My big thing is the size of my Powerbook (17). If I'm going to plunk down some cash on a new computer, due to the fact that I need portability, I might as well get a PC. I love my Mac, but I'm not recalcitrant to working in a Windows environment when it makes the most sense.

Macroy, thanks for the Ubuntu suggestion! I'm checking out the Live CD for PowerPC.

Millennium · Jul 26, 2005, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

Another option is just to buy/obtain/build a cheapy PC and remote desktop to it. This is what I'd be tempted to do.

If you are techy enough, you can even run Windows within VMWare. Doing this puts Windows in a little sandbox so that your whole machine can't be taken down by various junk which bounces around University networks pretty rampantly.

Actually, besson has a point about this. A cheap PC which boots Linux and then Windows via VMWare should be reasonably secure. If you can stick Windows and your testing/law software on some kind of disk image, then you could even blow the whole Windows side away and reimage it when it gets too infected with junk; the process should only take a few minutes (versus several hours of manual reinstalls).

Of course, this isn't as easy as just getting VPC, and it's more expensive, but it'll run faster if you need more performance then emulation will give you.

besson3c · Jul 26, 2005, 03:42 PM

Originally Posted by jlfspook

Besson and Millenium, you both make good points. My big thing is the size of my Powerbook (17). If I'm going to plunk down some cash on a new computer, due to the fact that I need portability, I might as well get a PC. I love my Mac, but I'm not recalcitrant to working in a Windows environment when it makes the most sense.

Macroy, thanks for the Ubuntu suggestion! I'm checking out the Live CD for PowerPC.

What I was thinking was to keep your Mac for all of your portable stuff, and remote desktop into a cheap PC desktop for when you need Windows specific stuff.

It seems like a cheaper solution for you, and I can't see why it wouldn't do the trick - the Linux/Unix layer would be optional.

Just wanted to clarify myself.

Basically, you'd be out $200 or so for a PC, that's it.

jlfspook · Jul 26, 2005, 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by Millennium

Actually, besson has a point about this. A cheap PC which boots Linux and then Windows via VMWare should be reasonably secure. If you can stick Windows and your testing/law software on some kind of disk image, then you could even blow the whole Windows side away and reimage it when it gets too infected with junk; the process should only take a few minutes (versus several hours of manual reinstalls).

Of course, this isn't as easy as just getting VPC, and it's more expensive, but it'll run faster if you need more performance then emulation will give you.

That sounds like a good idea. I googled VMWare and found that it costs $329.00. Is that an enterprise version or something? Does it run on any version of Linux?

What about lower costs solutions such as Wine ($0) or Win4Lin ($29.99)?

effgee · Jul 26, 2005, 04:24 PM

The version of VMWare you're looking for is VMware Workstation 5, $189.00, 30 day evaluation period available
.

besson3c · Jul 26, 2005, 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by jlfspook

That sounds like a good idea. I googled VMWare and found that it costs $329.00. Is that an enterprise version or something? Does it run on any version of Linux?

It runs on Linux and FreeBSD (an earlier version runs on FreeBSD that is). At one point VMWare 2 and 3 were available to download for free through the FreeBSD ports system. VMWare (or whatever the company is called that makes VMWare) doesn't seem to offer any support for these older versions (nor is there a place on their site to buy or download these versions), version 3 is the latest version that (unofficially) runs on FreeBSD. The latest versions of VMWare should work under Linux.

I just googled VMware-workstation-3.2.1-2242.tar.gz and found a link to download it, put it in /usr/ports/distfiles within FreeBSD, compiled it and was good to go. There were a couple things I needed to edit, but it has been running fine. I'm not sure what the legality is here though, if you're concerned with this. http://www.freshports.org indicates that they are no longer allowed to distribute the VMWare 3 source, although the ports tree will still build this unoffical port.

The FreeBSD port has worked just fine for me. You could Google the same source code and compile it under Linux though, although I'm not sure if any modifications would be necessary.

Sorry that this information is so scattered, just sharing my experience. I might have paid for the older version of VMWare if it were available. As I said, VMWare 3.2.1 has been running Windows XP without incident.

If you decide to run it under FreeBSD, I'd be happy to help you get it to run.

Person Man · Jul 26, 2005, 07:37 PM

Originally Posted by Millennium

The VAIO boxes are about as close as you can get to a Mac on the Wintel side of things. They've got good-quality parts and decent hardware integration without a lot of fluff, but be prepared to pay more for all of this.

If I were you, I'd just get Virtual PC. Testing software isn't exactly performance-critical, and Macs are strong enough in the legal profession that you should be able to find good law software.

The only problem with Virtual PC is that they won't let him run the testing software on it. They like to use software which COMPLETELY locks the machine down tight so people can't do anything but take the test. No internet surfing, music playing, extraneous programs used to cheat, etc. allowed.

The testing software could lock down the Virtual PC environment, but not the Mac side. There's NO WAY they'd allow that...

Mithras · Jul 26, 2005, 07:54 PM

Nobody's going to vote for the use your Mac for this year, then get an Intel Powerbook when they come out option?

Superchicken · Jul 26, 2005, 08:31 PM

Well getting an Macintel is not entirely an option right now. That said I'd go with VPC for any specific law apps since they can't be that badly written enough to bog down your PB or even an iBook, and ask them if the testing software they use will work with OS X.
That said, I don't trust PC laptops. VIAOs look nice for the most part, but I've heard horror stories about expanding them, for example Sony does not like/allow you to keep your warranty and install RAM yourself (least that's what I heard from a former roomie who used to sell em). Not to mention Sony isn't known for quality these days. Pretty boxes but still...
If you need a small lappy the brand new iBooks might be more up your alley than anything else, and they're VERY portable trust me, I owned both one and a 12 inch PowerBook. The 12 inch PB is a bit more mobile, you already have a PowerBook that's pretty darned sexy I imagine so an iBook might be better for you, also they're more durable.