« Paid By Pixels | Home | Kindle Demand - Perception and Reality »
Switching to a Mac - OS Juggling
By Dave Peterson | February 29, 2008
Tuesday morning the new MacBook Pros were made available on the Apple Store, and Tuesday evening I ordered one. The specs on the high end didn’t change that much from what they were previously (the biggest change probably being the addition of the same multi-touch trackpad as is in the MacBook Air). The machine also uses the new Penryn processor from Intel, which I understand runs noticeably cooler than its predecessor. But I’m much happier buying on the beginning of the release cycle than the end. Now I have a two-to-three week wait, with predicted delivery date around the third week of March. Time to strategize the details of my move from PC to Mac.
I’ve got a bunch of Windows software, some of which is not available for Macs, and I’ve known all along that I would be employing some technique to run apps from both operating systems. The three main choices are Apple’s own Boot Camp, Parallels, and VMware Fusion. Boot Camp is a straight-forward multiple boot option: When you start (or restart) the computer, you have an option of loading whichever operating system you wish to use. It’s probably the simplest and cheapest way around the problem, but it does require a restart, which makes it less appealing to me. Parallels and VMware are both virtual machines that allow a simulated instance of a full computer to run as an application within another computer. So essentially, the Mac would be running an application that exactly mimics a windows machine, and within that, Windows software can be run. My research indicates that both these virtual options are pretty evenly matched, but I use a version of VMware at work, so I’m already fairly comfortable with that. This adds up to my decision to go with VMware Fusion, at least initially.
The other switching issue I was a bit concerned about had to do with the file format of my recently instituted Drobo. It’s PC-formatted and although it contains a number of files from my primary laptop, like photos and my iTunes library (management of which I’ll be moving to the Mac), It also contains files from my quad-core video editing system. Until I get proficient with Final Cut Express (not going Pro just yet), I’ll be wanting Drobo-style protection for files being worked from both systems. From what I hear, the drives that comprise the Drobo should be accessible from either platform, which is good news.
Finally, for productivity software, I’m sticking with my old friend MS Office, but in the Mac-only 2008 version. I considered both OpenOffice and Apple’s own iWork suite, but for the moment I’m sticking with a small slice of the familiar, and hoping the developers haven’t changed Absolutely Everything.
So there are a few software packages I need to get, then I’ll just settle on my front porch, looking up hopefully every time the UPS truck drives by.
Topics: Switching to a Mac |
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Hello! i’m also a fan on cali / neal - that was a really nice thing you did for them (paying for doggy op).
i’ve used all OSs (linux, mac, windows) and have settled on a mac now - so i hope you enjoy it as much as i do. best compromise between unix/usability.
I’ve done a ton of research into parallels / vmware (fusion), and vmware is just slightly better. I love it & use it everyday, its really really great.
Office suites: I use open office (v.slow even on an intel mac & still a bit clunky (can’t even drag columns between other columns in calc)), am using iWork which is only ok. Like the iphone and macBook Air, it’ll be better in later releases. Haven’t tried MS 2008, but if its anything like the PC version, then the entire layout will have changed - which really is awful… but i hope it’ll work for you.
All the best,
another geek-brief viewer,
Simon
(from UK)
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Thanks for the comments, Simon. Good to know VMware was a good choice.