[jamil5454]

Sigh, the switch to Intel totally took me off guard. I just bought a DP2.0 PowerMac today at the Houston Apple Store, and have been playing with it for about an hour. Then I discovered that Apple was switching to Apple. To keep a long question short, was my purchase a mistake? Will I see any advantage to waiting for an Intel PowerMac? About how long would the wait be?

Sigh, I bought this PowerMac to last me 4 years through college, and now there's a possibility that won't happen. I'm trying to convince myself not to worry and just enjoy the new machine, but $2000 isn't exactly chump's change - I would like it well spent.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by jamil5454

Sigh, the switch to Intel totally took me off guard. I just bought a DP2.0 PowerMac today at the Houston Apple Store, and have been playing with it for about an hour. Then I discovered that Apple was switching to Apple. To keep a long question short, was my purchase a mistake? Will I see any advantage to waiting for an Intel PowerMac? About how long would the wait be?

Sigh, I bought this PowerMac to last me 4 years through college, and now there's a possibility that won't happen. I'm trying to convince myself not to worry and just enjoy the new machine, but $2000 isn't exactly chump's change - I would like it well spent.

It was well spent. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.

You did not make a mistake.

[Commodus]

You'll be fine. Remember, they're not going to drop PowerPC support the second Intel-based Macs go on sale. Apps will probably be running fat binaries (x86/PowerPC in one) for awhile to come.

[ideasculptor]

Power macs are scheduled to move to Intel 2 YEARS from now, and that is assuming that they are able to make the transition on schedule. The PPC powermacs will be supported by apple for at least another 2 years beyond that (probably more), although given the rate of change in the industry, it is likely that the hardware will just be obsolete, regardless. The biggest concern should be that speculation about DRM being the driver behind the platform switch means that whatever cool new technology apple is going to build which utilizes the DRM will not run on PPC. Your office productivity apps will function, but an iFlix Movie Store will almost certainly not function on a PPC powermac. So it is reasonable to think that you'll be lusting after a new powermac in 2 years, even if you don't actually REQUIRE one.

--sam

[theBlend]

Good purchase. Like 'ideasculptor' said, PM will be updated to Intel CPU in 2 years, and it will continue to be supported for much longer than that. Sit back and enjoy your new machine.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Its fine. You probably won't see a Intel Mac for 2 years and even then your machine will be supported for another 2 after that.

[:dragonflypro:]

Despite all the fear of low sales, I expect those wanting macs will actually float the bottom line for 05/06 in an effort to avoid the 'transition' of hardware.

Most consumers are not into being the Guinea Pig.

Mac sales will remain decent.

Your purchase is perfectly fine.

T

[jamil5454]

Thanks guys. I don't think I could wait 2 years to get a PowerMac with an Intel processor, so I guess I didn't have a choice. Boy this machine is fast!

[Hanul]

I got my Dual 2GHz 2 weeks ago. I don't regret it. It is a fast machine and I need it now. Intel-based PowerMacs are due in 2 years. That's a long time. Software will be supported even longer. The transition to PPC from 68k started in 1994 and in 1997 MacOS 8.1 was the last OS to support 68k. So I assume the last MacOS X incarnation to support PPC will come out around 2010. That's 5 years from now. My PowerMac will be obsolete then, anyway. Maybe ebay prices won't be what they are today.

I plan to replace my gen. A 12" PowerBook with an Intel-based iBook next year to get a "feeling" for it ;-)

[aristotles]

The big name developers on OS X are committed to supporting the universal binary format and Apple's Leopard (due in 2007) will support PPC definitely.

This change will not change the speed or usefulness of your mac. There will always be faster stuff around the corner no matter what. Everyone has to make a choice to buy at some point.

That speed comes from both the hardware and the OS architecture.

[jamil5454]

Well, it's 2AM here in Houston and I just finished watching the Keynote presentation. It eases my worrying a little bit. Besides, if the new Intel PowerMacs are the best thing since sliced bread I can sell my current PowerMac and get one of those. The only problem is that I used all of my $2000 graduation money to get this computer, so for now I'm stuck with 512mb RAM and a 17" CRT. Time to move to Austin and get a job...

I wish I would have been a little more patient and ordered online, where I could have opted for the radeon 9650 instead of the 9600 and also get bluetooth+airport. Oh well, still a great machine. Now the only problem is finding something I can do to put it to use. I know some people may hate me after this statement, but I really didn't NEED a PowerMac - I could've easily gotten by with a Mac Mini. I just like to have the power and expandability just in case. My current usage of email and web browsing isn't really stretching its legs (although I would like to dabble in Logic Pro/Express once I feel it's worth it).

[Hanul]

Well, you can always play HD videos. That will excuse the PowerMac, because a Dual 2GHz is the MINIMUM requirement to play videos at 1920x1080.

[AssassyN]

I wouldn't return it due to Intel (you'll be starting college, thus you NEED a computer regardless), BUT, for heaven's sake RETURN IT NOW!

Why? Because just like clockwork, every year Apple will (about July) start a "Back to School" promotion that will allow you to get any Mac + an iPod w/ a $200 rebate attached to it. It will most certainly happen again this year. Return it & wait until this promotion starts and get yourself a dirt cheap iPod, if for nothing else to resell and make a little back.

[Chito]

You'll never be wrong buying a powermac. Just rest assured that whenever you do, something new will come out in 6 months if that. I've bought a new G5 and a powerbook in the last 6 months and although the news about the switch has me wondering about the direction apple is going I don't regret my purchases one bit. My macs are and will be great machines for a long time.
One question though....how in the world did the news catch you "off guard"? It's been rumored for at least a couple of weeks and just this past weekend cnet was saying it would happen for sure on monday.
Oh...I almost forgot....Congratulations on that new DP2.0
Now go buy some ram!!!

[jamil5454]

Originally Posted by AssassyN

I wouldn't return it due to Intel (you'll be starting college, thus you NEED a computer regardless), BUT, for heaven's sake RETURN IT NOW!

Why? Because just like clockwork, every year Apple will (about July) start a "Back to School" promotion that will allow you to get any Mac + an iPod w/ a $200 rebate attached to it. It will most certainly happen again this year. Return it & wait until this promotion starts and get yourself a dirt cheap iPod, if for nothing else to resell and make a little back.

Yeah... I kind of forgot about this. But - it wouldn't make sense for me to return it now since there will be a 10% restocking fee which will cost about $200. Besides, I already have an iPod mini that's serving its job well.

And right now I'm enjoying my new machine. It's MUCH more quite than my PC, and it's sitting about 18 inches from my head. The only noise I hear is a slight buzzing noise, which seems to increase when I do anything graphics-intensive (like running the Blender3d Benchmark). I remember my iBook had the same problem, but to a much lesser extent. I believe it is normal since I really had to strain to hear it in a silent room on my iBook.

Since my iBook has Panther on it, I've never used Tiger until yesterday. IMO, Tiger seals the deal on this machine. It's just plain awesome. I've already used and gotten accustomed to Spotlight and Dashboard, and I look forward to the first time I'll need to use Automater.

Maybe one day I'll overcome my laziness and post some pics of my (!ugly!) setup in the PowerMac picture thread.

But yeah, I'm not worried anymore about my machine becoming obsolete. Chances are I won't be making money off my PowerMac in the foreseeable future, so I doubt I would NEED an app that's only available on Intel in the next four years (if that ever happens).


Sorry for such a long post, I tend to do that when I've just made a computer purchase.


Broccoli with cheese.

[jamil5454]

Hell yes. I just remembered I have 2 512mb sticks of PC3200 in my Athlon64 box. Corsair Value Select is what they are. Just put them in and WOW! From the time it took to push the power button to the time when everything appeared on the desktop took no more than 30 seconds. I'm happy now.

[Link]

"how could you not know"? The most ridiculous rumors of all time, that's how. They've been going on since 10.0's early days, because given the evidence you would have been crazy to believe it.

I still think it was the most ridiculous decision of all time for apple, but that's their problem not mine As far as your puters go, I wouldn't worry about it too much. At least ya didn't buy a dual 2.7

[legacyb4]

My PBG3 survived the jump all the way from OS 9 (1999) up through 10.3 (current day) with nary a hiccup.

Your Mac will handle the next four years plenty fine... granted, it won't be the fastest machine on the block at the end of four years, but neither will you...

Originally Posted by jamil5454

Sigh, the switch to Intel totally took me off guard. I just bought a DP2.0 PowerMac today at the Houston Apple Store, and have been playing with it for about an hour. Then I discovered that Apple was switching to Apple. To keep a long question short, was my purchase a mistake? Will I see any advantage to waiting for an Intel PowerMac? About how long would the wait be?

Sigh, I bought this PowerMac to last me 4 years through college, and now there's a possibility that won't happen. I'm trying to convince myself not to worry and just enjoy the new machine, but $2000 isn't exactly chump's change - I would like it well spent.

[David Thompson]

Originally Posted by Person Man

It was well spent. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.

I agree. In fact, after being PM-less for a week or so, I just ordered the same machine BTO. I figure it'll last easily until the new Mactel machines come out and are stable. I could, perhaps, survive with a mini--but I REALLY don't like them, especially needing a putty knife to open them. PUH-LEASE!!

[deaglecat]

Originally Posted by legacyb4

My PBG3 survived the jump all the way from OS 9 (1999) up through 10.3 (current day) with nary a hiccup.

Your Mac will handle the next four years plenty fine... granted, it won't be the fastest machine on the block at the end of four years, but neither will you...

Sure your powermac will be ok for the next few years...but you are buying at the last stage of the current architecture. All the R&D will now be channelled into the Intel based hardware. The new cool h/w features will be reserved to wow the punters into making the switch.

Personally I would return it. Price is all about supply and demand. G5 demand will collapse.

[CaptainHaddock]

Originally Posted by deaglecat

Sure your powermac will be ok for the next few years...but you are buying at the last stage of the current architecture.

No he's not. IBM still has a roadmap for PowerPCs, which will continue to be used in many more applications than Mac computers. Dual-core dual-processor PowerMacs are reportedly just around the corner, and those speeds will keep increasing for the life of the PPC-based Mac lineups (which will be a few years yet).

Personally I would return it. Price is all about supply and demand. G5 demand will collapse.

Care to back your assertion that G5 demand will collapse? It could even increase if people consider PPC architecture to be superior to Intel's.

I really don't get the hysteria. "OMG Macs will switch to Intel my new Mac is useless!" Unless you buy Macs as a status symbol and Steve Jobs' announcement makes you feel inadequate with your current Mac.

Personally, I think my G4 iMac is an excellent machine, and it's going to keep getting the job done for several years yet. And if I can afford it in a year or so, I'll add a shiny G5 to my office. They're damn good machines no matter what's coming out in the future.

[jhogarty]

My new Dual 2.5 G5 and 23" ACD shipped this week. FedEx is showing them to be delivered some time this week. Unless it is broken, there is no way I'm sending it back. I bought my kids a 20" iMac G5 last month and this one is for my birthday/father's day. I'm only beginning to replace all my PC's with Macs.

Granted, I will probably wait for a new Mac Laptop till next year.

I am curious about all the people who are running scared or want to bring back/cancel their orders. Have you actually listened to the Keynote? I just did and if nothing else, it gave me a strong comfort level that Apple is here to stay and GROW!

I was traveling when the keynote was going on, and getting "updates" from one of the XM stations. Perhaps CNBC I can't remember. But the impression I got from the broadcast was like the "doom and gloom" some people have posted. But then they played a snipet from the show AND interviewed Steve afterwards. What a difference. What was annoying was after the snipet and interview, they kept playing clips that made it sound like we should worry about Apple.

Now my only issue is that I wish I were a developer and could get my hands on that Intel 3.6Ghz Development PM. :-)

John...

[chadseld]

To be honest, now is probably the BEST time to buy a power mac because...

1. It's unlikely that the G5 will get much faster over the next 1-2 years before it is phased out.
2. The first intel macs will be hampered by:
a) the normal 1.0 bugs in hardware
b) normal 1.0 bugs in software (OS)
c) many applications still not yet intel native, running slowly in rosetta or not at all

I would wager the best time to jump into a new intel mac is 3-4 years from now, which lines up with your current plans.

[maczep]

Originally Posted by chadseld

To be honest, now is probably the BEST time to buy a power mac because...

1. It's unlikely that the G5 will get much faster over the next 1-2 years before it is phased out.

I agreed and looking forward to MacTel. The question is are we going to see some discount from either Apple.com or other major retailer? Anytime soon? Before the fall?

Oh on a side note. It is probably too early to tell, but do we think the new MacTel would have the Intel chip on a ZIF socket so it can be easily replaced? I recalled earlier PM has it, but later removed.

M

[wadesworld]

Just remember that when you do purchase your Intel-based Mac in 3 years or so, all the people that bought the original Intel-based Mac will be whining because yours is several generations ahead of theirs and a *lot* faster.

Wade

[Nebrie]

I bought a powermac today, the day after the announcement. No regrets. January 2008 is a long time to wait for a Pentium Powermac (do you really want a rev A apple product?). Not to mention Universal Binaries means it will continue to be supported till at least 2010 at which point, I will have long gotten rid of it.

[milhous]

i'm definitely getting a ppc desktop machine before the switch. for 1, i can't wait that long as i need desktop power and storage scalability and 2, it'll be a great piece of apple history to own. it'll be considered an old-school mac but still have plenty of kick and power.

[jamil5454]

Originally Posted by chadseld

To be honest, now is probably the BEST time to buy a power mac because...

1. It's unlikely that the G5 will get much faster over the next 1-2 years before it is phased out.
2. The first intel macs will be hampered by:
a) the normal 1.0 bugs in hardware
b) normal 1.0 bugs in software (OS)
c) many applications still not yet intel native, running slowly in rosetta or not at all

I would wager the best time to jump into a new intel mac is 3-4 years from now, which lines up with your current plans.

I hope you're right. I need to stop worrying and enjoy my machine. I'm using a 17" CRT at 1280x1024 right now, and I'm wondering if I should jump to something bigger. I've heard the Dell 20" 2001fp is good, but I don't know if I can find one priced low enough to compete with the $530 20" Sceptre I'm looking at on Newegg. I also need to find a way to hook up my analog 5.1 speakers to my PowerMac. I can buy new (digital) speakers, buy a new soundcard, or get a dolby digital decoder.

[jtice]

Originally Posted by chadseld

To be honest, now is probably the BEST time to buy a power mac because... I would wager the best time to jump into a new intel mac is 3-4 years from now, which lines up with your current plans.

This is my thinking as well. It's time for my three-year upgrade and that will give me three years on a new G5 before the switch. And then I'll be watching and waiting to see if I want to switch sooner or later. The downside is that the PPC G5 is not likely to have great resale value at that time. But if deals are forthcoming now because of the announcement, that's ok too. If anybody wants to unload a new G5 dual, I'm your guy.

[CincyGamer]

There is no 3 year switch if you buy a G5 now.. its less than a year before the new intel based models come out. Source: Steve Jobs

[deaglecat]

Originally Posted by CincyGamer

There is no 3 year switch if you buy a G5 now.. its less than a year before the new intel based models come out. Source: Steve Jobs

My sincere advise to the OP.

Take it back if you are able to do so. I predict that Apple will lose sales, cut G5 prices - depending on inventory levels. If you follow this advice. what is the worst that can happen? You decide to go ahead and buy a G5 at todays price in a couple of months time - if my predicted price drops do not materialise.

If you stick with the machine, the world won't end. But you could end up with a perfectly adequate but dated machine. After all, Apple is doing this for a reason - significantly faster (dual core?) processors perhaps.

[Commodus]

Originally Posted by CincyGamer

There is no 3 year switch if you buy a G5 now.. its less than a year before the new intel based models come out. Source: Steve Jobs

Listen to what he said more clearly. All he said was that the transition would start on or before June 2006. He didn't say that PowerMacs were going to be the first (or even amongst the first) to run on Intel chips. In fact, if you go by news.com's articles (which have been substantiated), you'll likely have to wait until 2007 for an Intel-based PowerMac.

So the earlier advice stands: either buy now, or sit tight.

[jamil5454]

Well, normally I would have taken it back, but they will charge me a 10% restocking fee on opened products, which would be about $200.

[deaglecat]

Originally Posted by jamil5454

Well, normally I would have taken it back, but they will charge me a 10% restocking fee on opened products, which would be about $200.

Ah, well my advice changes then. In your case, you have a potential $200 loss to get back to where you are if I am wrong about price drops. Or to put it another way - the drop needs to be more than $200 for you to be in er... profit.

Stick with it and enjoy.

[jamil5454]

Off to the PM picture thread to post some pics of my baby then

[b11051973]

Being that I don't have a need for a new PowerMac, I wouldn't make the purchase. You do have a need and I see nothing wrong with buying one now. I think the PM will be the last to go to Intel and that may be 2 years off. If you want to use the computer for 4 years, you'll get plenty of use during that time.

[Superchicken]

You're fine, I will probably get a Dual 2 later this year. It'll be a great machine, and I can't see Apple not supporting it for a while. Keep in mind after 2 years when the transition is complete in let's say two years. There will still be brand new PPC machines likely PowerMacs. Apple is NOT going to piss off those people by not supporting their Macs for the next I'd say MINIMUM 5 years. My iMac just NOW lost support for the newest OS, it's almost 7 years old... now. So let's say Apple gives up after 5 years, that puts you at 7 years total. That would put you at having the equivalent of a 350Mhz or 400Mhz G3 if you had bought it when I bought my iMac initially... and THOSE are still supported even now. But anyway, nobody with a 400Mhz G3 PowerMac REALLY expects Apple to make sure OS X can keep running on their machines, or that the latest version of GarageBand is going to work.

Ultimately, you're in good standing. That said... I just realized... I'm going to be spending almost four grand CND by the time I've bought my system... and it's gona be done in a few years... sigh... this Machine was supposed to last forever... sniffle...

[Bartman]

Congratulations on ur new G5, u'll love it, i sure love mine,, u shouldn't regret getting this machine at all.. as everyone saying, u will be able to run universal binaries.. in my opinion, people who buy the first intel mac need to worry a little bit till developers start cranking universal binaries..

good luck

[CincyGamer]

Steve said in the keynote that they want to by WWDC 2006 (beginning of June) have Intel-based models in the stores. It depends what you are doing with your Mac.. If you are playing games and already have purchased newer Mac games then keep and enjoy what you have. Rosetta does not run as fast as native and does not support altivec or the advanced features of the G4/G5.

I do believe purchasing a Mac just for its games is very stupid. Its a $3000 game machine especially since the single G5 has been discontinued. You must buy/upgrade the ram and video card.
I have most of the new games for Mac and still prefer playing my $250 Sony PSP. But Halo 2, Doom3 etc on Xbox just plays better.

If you are writing code, you could use a Mac mini unless you are a game developer. If you are using your Mac as a student , web research, writing papers, chatting, itunes at the same time etc. then intel vs PPC does not matter.. If you are crunching , you need to stay with the G5. It is still faster than the P4. My personal benchmarks show about a 1:1 ratio so things that run on my 1 GHZ Powerbook run about 1/3 of the speed of a 3GHZ P4. But the 1GHZ PB is really closer to a 2.2 P4 if there is alot of crunching.

For stuff like Java, XML pure CPU speed is king. But stuff like folding@home or SETI , the G5 is better. Ive run them on both platforms.

[jamil5454]

Well, I'll be using my Mac for the typical college stuff - typing papers, research, internet, email, etc. But I'll also be using it to do some music work for Mother since she's trying to cut together a CD of her stuff. And then I'll be using it for Computer Science, probably Java/C++. Hopefully we won't be doing any .NET stuff cause then I'd have to buy some RAM for my Athlon64 to get it working.

But overall I'm happy with my purchase. Since my computer will be in my room, silence is important. Now that I think about it, there really wasn't a cheap way to make my Athlon64 silent. Also, I needed something that would last 4 years, but also have the expandability. And then the most important reason is the look and style of Apple. Now that I spent $2000 on a computer, I'm gonna base all the furniture in my apartment on the gray/black/white style of the PowerMac. So I'm pretty excited about it.

And I'm moving on Saturday. Once I get my new monitor and desk and get situated in my new place I'll take some pics (hopefully I'll have a digital camera by then!!) and post them in the PowerMac thread.

Yay. Anyone here going to UT Austin?

[BrunoBruin]

Originally Posted by AssassyN

Why? Because just like clockwork, every year Apple will (about July) start a "Back to School" promotion that will allow you to get any Mac + an iPod w/ a $200 rebate attached to it. It will most certainly happen again this year.

The iPod promotions for the past two years have applied only to PowerBooks and iBooks, not to desktops. However, jamil5454, did the salesman tell you about the $100 rebate offer for education purchases? You should be eligible since you took delivery by June 25.

And not to cast aspersions on your buying expertise, but you DID get the educational price at the store, right?

[Todd Madson]

My last Mac lasted me six years (G4/400). I plan on using my new dual 2.5 for
quite a few years to come. It kicks butt, don't let anyone tell you that you did the
wrong thing because CURRENTLY any Intel Mac isn't working quite as well as the
G5 versions. They're not even OUT yet and more PPC Macs are forthcoming as
Jobs has stated.

Plus, YEARS later the CASE ALONE will be a kick butt thing - a thing of beauty.

We're getting to the point in clock speed where unless you're doing high end
video and audio stuff anything in the Ghz range should be decent enough.

So enjoy!

[jamil5454]

Originally Posted by BrunoBruin

The iPod promotions for the past two years have applied only to PowerBooks and iBooks, not to desktops. However, jamil5454, did the salesman tell you about the $100 rebate offer for education purchases? You should be eligible since you took delivery by June 25.

And not to cast aspersions on your buying expertise, but you DID get the educational price at the store, right?

Yes, of course I got the educational discount. The salesman was really cool actually - he was going to Univ. of Houston and said the educational discount really helps. Since I'll be a freshman in college, I didn't have any kind of student ID. He actually let me receive the discount by using an iMac to log into UofH and show that I was accepted. I saved $200 on the computer.

Good story.

[CincyGamer]

I come from the same CS background and work in IT doing Java and C#. At work I use a 2.8 ghz P4 to do development.. Right now, I have the following apps open:

Visual Studio.Net 2003, 2 DOS windows, 2 IEs, SQL Server enterprise tools, task manager, 4 window explorers, 1 volume dialog box, Query Analzyer, Eclipse ....

The problem is I had to shut down a bunch of stuff because Access was running out of memory. The uptime on my machine is 654 hours (27.5 days) using XP.

There are a couple points I want to throw out there...

1. In CS, try to focus on the course material and not the platform or tools. When I was in college Visual Studio 6 C++ or Sun Sparc was the norm.. Stuff like implementing a hashtable by using pointers is why you are studying CS. The theory stuff is the actual knowledge you gain. C# and Java are not the silver bullet that everyone is happy with. There will be other languages and tools. Xcode is growing for example and has put new life back into gcc for instance.

2. Being a CS major, you could use the engineering lab. If your CS dept does not have such a lab, you should seriously change schools. Even the library at univ.. (univ Cincinnati) has machines with .Net on it.

3. You really do not use as much as .Net as you would think. In the programs you are writing they are never more than a couple thousand lines unless you are in grad school.
I would suggest focusing on the core algorithm and write it on your awesome virus free, productivity enhanced G5.. then when its working port the code to C#. C# is about 90% the same syntax as Java. It wont take very long at all. If you do web services however in your classes, you will need to use the machine in the lab. You will be using AXIS+eclipse+Tomcat on the Java side and that will be too hard to setup on the school computers. In your CS classes, you will use mostly the core language, plus some System.Net or System.io libraries and System.xml stuff in .Net .. You probably wont use ASP.Net or ADO.Net.. so the code should port to Java or C++ pretty easily.


4. Eclipse is awesome on OS X. It runs and looks far better on my 1 GHZ powerbook than on my 3x cpu cycles work PC.

5. Part of being a CS major is exploring different architectures and languages. My recent college grad co-worker worte assembly code using a MIPS simulator at Wright State. My classes used MASM for x86 architecture. I was able to use the machines Sun ultrasparc workstations, VAX for COBOL, Solaris, SGI oxygen workstations. You learn alot when you are not justa one trick pony.. My manager is a self taught VB programmer who has never used anything else besides Visual Studio.. he just doesnt think the same and his code sucks badly.. got a meeting got to go..

[Link]

CincyGamer: That's a darn good post. While I'm going to be an EE major I might take that handy if I do CS stuff alongside Kinda figured it though, knowing how to use different platforms (to your advantage, even) is fun.

[CincyGamer]

I just was called into my manager's office to help him write a ftn.. it was a simple recursive ftn. He didnt know and tried google etc. Thats what I am talking about about what stuff to learn.. Generally, I dont like recursion, but he was traversing XML (going up parent nodes). so it is a great fit. Recursion is a core CS topic for instance..

The point I didnt finish was when you work professionally as a programmer, the company will dictate what you can use. At Lexis it was to use Websphere, at Cincinnati Bell it was Linux + Perl, now it is VS.Net. In corporate IT world, where I am they are very picky as they dont want to get audited, have viruses etc.. We ar enot even allowed to bring our laptops in anymore.

So, I wouldnt focus on the tools so much, so your platform of choice is also not as important. CS projects have gotten to the point where all the languages do the same things. In the compilier class I took last year, we could choose to write our scanners/parsers in Java or C++.. You should be able to use Virtual PC to run windows software well enough so you dont have to go to the lab also.

Also, investigate where you want to work and try to see what tools they use. The last interview I had the company purpoely did not want to use Microsoft stuff so they used where a big Java shop. My current job is a Microsoft shop. If you live in a place like I do (Cincinnati) there are tons of IT jobs (banks (5/3 headquarters here, insurance, P&G, Krogers etc.. but not much pure software
companies.

Remember.. computers are to computer science as microscopes are to biologists and telescopes are to astronomers... (Edgar Dykestra - CS legend) Sorry if I am preachy..

[jamil5454]

Thanks for the advice

[UnixMac]

you may have gotten one of the last real Macs so don't worry, be happy!