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D

darylrodney

New Member
Hi I'm quite new to macs (but not to computers).And I'm now buying a new laptop. I'm choosing between Sony VAIO FE VGN-FE28GP - SonyStyle.com.hk and http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APP...e.woa/wo/0.RSLID?mco=925997E8&nclm=MacBookPro . Apparently Sony's aren't very stable- but what about apples? Which would you advise - or are there other ones on the market of around the same level?

Has anyone used parrallel- if so, how is windows? Is speed and funtionality compromised?

Also, what are the advantages of getting the Mac (or of macs)?

Please help

Thanks

D
 
Macs are very good for graphic design...but lack the personilization in hardware, there isn't a large market for Mac parts....I myself havent ever had a problem with the family's Vaio, so its a choice.
 
Macs are great, and they use Intel now, so it's like getting a very well designed PC laptop, with Mac OS. Mac OS X is great and stable, especially for schoolwork, I'd reccomend doing that, then getting your own new copy of Windows, and installing it in either parallels or Bootcamp for the few things you many need Windows to do. Keep in mind, Parallels does not support video acceleration, but via Boot camp, you (obviously) can get it.
Parallels-Virtualization
Boot Camp-Dual Boot BIOS emulation, full native operation.
 
SC7 said:
Macs are great, and they use Intel now, so it's like getting a very well designed PC laptop, with Mac OS. Mac OS X is great and stable, especially for schoolwork, I'd reccomend doing that, then getting your own new copy of Windows, and installing it in either parallels or Bootcamp for the few things you many need Windows to do. Keep in mind, Parallels does not support video acceleration, but via Boot camp, you (obviously) can get it.
Parallels-Virtualization
Boot Camp-Dual Boot BIOS emulation, full native operation.
Click to expand...
Ya, get the mac and use boot camp, I just bought a macbook and its a great laptop, haven't tried bootcamp yet but I will be shortly when I get around to buying my windows.
 
Parrallels and Bootcamp

Whoa- thank you guys for your info - its relli helping me.

but for parallels and bootcamp. I understand that bootcamp allows me to completely run windows. however, for parrallels, I'm told it is merely virtualization and does not support video acceleration. Does this mean I would not be able to watch movies and that a lot of the windows functions will be limited? Will I be able to install windows softwares?

Also can I install both programmes into the same laptop? And I'm choosing between a 100 GC with 5400 and 100 Gb with 7200 RPM. It is $90 and do you think the difference is noticable (+ worth the $$$?)

Once again, thank you so much
D
 
darylrodney said:
Whoa- thank you guys for your info - its relli helping me.

but for parallels and bootcamp. I understand that bootcamp allows me to completely run windows. however, for parrallels, I'm told it is merely virtualization and does not support video acceleration. Does this mean I would not be able to watch movies and that a lot of the windows functions will be limited? Will I be able to install windows softwares?

Also can I install both programmes into the same laptop? And I'm choosing between a 100 GC with 5400 and 100 Gb with 7200 RPM. It is $90 and do you think the difference is noticable (+ worth the $$$?)

Once again, thank you so much
D
Click to expand...
Bootcamp allows you to run both programs on the same laptop. It allows you to select when you boot your computer whether to start mac os x or windows xp. As for the hard drive performance you will probably notice a difference, but the only time you would notice a huge gain is if you were opening up large files, its really up to you.
 
one button

you know how the touch pad only has one button? How do yu get to the new folder, arrange icons... menu? Is it complicated or is it easier?

Also if i use boot camp to load windows and I plug in a USB mouse, would the right Click work?


Thank
D
 
darylrodney said:
you know how the touch pad only has one button? How do yu get to the new folder, arrange icons... menu? Is it complicated or is it easier?

Also if i use boot camp to load windows and I plug in a USB mouse, would the right Click work?


Thank
D
Click to expand...
Ok well at least in mac os x there is an option for you scroll pad, if you tap the pad with 2 fingers its a right click, also if you scroll with 2 fingers it scrolls like up and down and side to side on a page like a wheel. In windows I don't know if you have that option but if you got any mouse for os x or xp the right click will work.
 
Control click also simulates a second mouse button. As for disk performance, if you get a 7200RPM, you will really thank yourself, the speed is definitely worth either the small price upgrade from 100GB 5400, or the small size loss from the 120 5400. Parallels should be able to watch movies, but why do that, when you can do that in mac, you just can't game or render video/3Dsmax in parallels. Again, you have Mac OS to do that. It may also be more convienient, but remember, Boot camp is free, Parallels is not. There's also crossover office, and another effort to convert windows native executables to .apps, the first will cost money when released, the second, well, has a lot of work to go. So far, the only thing I've seen it done was some guy at the OSX86project converted a Windows dialog, and it came out as a Mac dialog.
 
I don't know the performance difference from 5400 to 7200 rpm isn't always as big as people think. It really depends on how effective the 2 drives are. I have read different articles about people swapping out the macbook hdd from a 5400rpm to 7200rpm and they actually had a decrease in performance. I don't know the specifics of the mac 7200rpm hdd, but unless you are loading up things like games and stuff it doesn't matter a ton. It would probably be a good upgrade just not a necessary one.
 
A decrease is likely to be a freak thing based on some difference in configuration. I've seen places where it benefits, and sometimes is the same, but never worse.
 
SC7 said:
A decrease is likely to be a freak thing based on some difference in configuration. I've seen places where it benefits, and sometimes is the same, but never worse.
Click to expand...
Well, if you compare a newer 5400rpm to an older 7200rpm most likely the 5400rpm will be faster, depending on what it is doing. All that I am saying is that most stuff that will be performed on a laptop the 7200rpm isn't always a necessary thing, because in many things it will not make a noticable difference.
 
Oh yea, I agree, it's could be done without, but IMO, if you're getting a Macbook pro, and paying at least the base $2000, you'd want all the performance you can get. As far as older drives, perhaps those with less cache, or IDE vs SATA.
 
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