Thanks for all the great information, Scott.
I have been considering switching from Mac to PC up until I discovered a
significant hardware compatibility issue: the keyboard. Our office is
mostly PC, including my primary computer. I work at home 2 or 3 days a
week and use remote desktop to connect to the office computer. Although
a Mac should have no problem connecting, I would lose all of the
keyboard shortcuts that I have learned over the past 20 years:
Shift-arrow, Shift-end, Alt-tab, and all the other little things I do to
use the mouse less and the keyboard more. And constantly switching
between the two keyboard styles would be difficult and inefficient. So,
if you will be connecting to a PC frequently or for long stretches of
time, take the keyboard and keyboard shortcuts into consideration.
Cheers,
Rob
Scott D Lapoint wrote:
Hello all again,
About a week ago I posted a message asking for input on whether I
should move from a PC to a Mac. I was particularly concerned with the
higher costs of a Mac and if one can run Windows programs such as ArcGIS
and some statistics packages. I received ~200 e-mailed responses from
Ecolog alone, not to mention the dozens that I received from my
additional efforts.
So this is what I?ve decided: Buy a MacbookPro (if you want a laptop),
put at least 2GB of in it (more memory means that ArcGIS will run more
smoothly), and install Windows XP on the Mac. Apparently, you can run
Windows on a Mac by either booting directly into Windows on your Mac via
Bootcamp, or you can run it simultaneously through Parallels or Fusion.
That means, apparently, that you can install and run any Windows-based
programs on your Mac (but only if you have an Intel processor on your
Mac, which all the new laptops seem to have).
Cost- It looks like a Mac is not that much more expensive than a
comparably equipped PC. Mac offers substantial discounts to students and
it is rumored that the prices of their Macbooks and MacbookPros will be
dropping this fall as Apple is releasing new versions of both systems.
Even though most people agree that Macs are a bit more expensive than a
PC, they all seem to agree that they are well worth the extra money;
less viruses, more stable OS, less maintenance, etc.
But, if you?re scared of Vista and you?re not sure you want to learn
how to use a Mac (many responses mentioned the learning curve when
switching to a Mac), you can still buy new PCs with Windows XP on them.
So that?s the summary. In case I did a poor job, I?ve pasted a few
tidbits of advice that some of the responders had below:
??to a PC as far as speed, stability, boot up time, lack of viruses, and
openness go. It is especially good if you are going towards open source
software such as Grass for GIS or R.?
?macs tend to last longer.?
?pages is better than word and keynote is better than powerpoint.?
?Excel is better than Mac?s equivalent, but you shouldn?t be using Excel
for stats when there are superior packages out there that will run on
Macs.?
??should also take a look at Linux -- keep the Dell just ditch Vista.?
?I bought a new Dell and paid $99 for it to come with XP rather than
Vista. They call it Genuine Windows Vista Downgrade, XP Pro Installed."
?I saw that about 1/4 to 1/3 of all laptops the ESA meeting last week
were Macs.?
??cost is actually quite similar, and macs have a higher resale value.?
?I just don't really support apple as a serious counterpart - they seem
more bent on finding the next trend than supplying reliable work
solutions, especially for scientific endeavors.?
??get the extra memory, especially for GIS if you?ll have to install XP
too.?
Here are a bunch of links sent to me in responses for those of us
thinking about making the switch:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/desktops?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/
http://www.opensourcemac.org/
http://www.freemacware.com/
http://macspecialist.org/content/articles/essential_apps/
http://grass.itc.it
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/apple-mac-leopard-windows-vista,1985.html
http://www.macworld.com/article/134373/2008/07/laptop_price.html?lsrc=mwweek
http://www.pcworld.ca/news/article/9853b173c0a800060058871f78388129/pg0.htm
http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2008/08/04/new-peeks-at-a-post-windows-future/
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
Thanks again to all that responded. I?m sure all of your responses will
help me and many others in our decisions.
Scott
Scott D. LaPoint
Graduate Student
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
243 Illick Hall
Syracuse, NY 13210
--
Robert M. Scheller, Ph.D.
Senior Ecologist
Conservation Biology Institute
136 SW Washington Ave., Suite 202
Corvallis, OR 97333
office: (541) 757-0687 (ext 3)
cell: (541) 207-6947
