Macs and Windows

[mr]

And with that contentious title... but while avoiding the whole mine is bigger than yours thing...

I was wondering whether those mac users out there have much experience of windows emulation. I am thinking about buying a mac (due to sudden hardware implosion and a need to replace it)- Im looking at all the option available, one of which is mac. The problem is that I can't leave windows behind completely - I have at least three applications that I MUST be able to run without any loss in functionality. Is that something a mac can offer with emulation? One of the applications is Macromedia Director (which I know has an apple native version but I'm not about to go rebuying it and I need to author for the pc platform. Another app is one which relies on Microsoft Dotnet tech to work. Does anybody have any idea about that sort of thing? If the mac can't handle these things, and there's no reason why it should -Linux can't, then it really would discount that platform for me.

Cheers Mike

 

[RogerS]

Hi Mike

You have two options - one runs natively AFAIK using BootCamp from Apple. You partition your drive and use a seperate partition for Windows. I run XP in my partition and haven't found anything yet that it can;'t handle because it is running Windows.

The other option is to use Paralells which is an emulator, I believe, but I have no experience of this product.

I do have a spare Macbook recently loaded with Leopard (the latest Apple OS) and has XP loaded. I am not using it and so, in extremis, you could borrow it.

Alternatively you could try http://www.experts-exchange.com/ for Dotnet stuff (doubt you'd get an unbiased answer from Microsoft) and also the macromedia website perhaps.

Apple run excellent discussion forums and so why not post or search there. Don't be put off by the niggles that people post seeking answers to questions - it's what the forums for after all!

Roger

EDIT: Tomorrow Apple are having the UK equivalent of the US Black Friday sale

 

[Slim]

Did you used to be a woman Roger? Or are you thinking about the change? Only that website seems to be a double entendre.

 

[mr]

Did you used to be a woman Roger? Or are you thinking about the change? Only that website seems to be a double entendre.

Yes its one of those unfortunately named sites like http://www.penisland.net and http://www.therapistfinder.com not to mention http://www.molestationnursery.com/

Cheers Mike

 

[exigetastic]

We have tried Parallels here, and it seemed to do exactly what it said on the tin! 8) (Ran .NET apps, IE6/IE7 etc etc.)

The whole virtualisation (emulation) thing seems to be catching on a bit more now. We use Virtual PC/ VMWare (on Windows PCs/ Servers) and found the performance was so good we now have 3 developers that use it full time for cutting code!

We found memory makes the biggest impact, and if you are doing lots in the guest operating system dual core CPUs helps a lot. Certain MoBo's now also enable hardware virtualisation enhancements. Though I'm not sure on the Mac's

HTH

Si

 

[mr]

Thanks Si
That windows coding is exactly the problem I face. Not only do I need ot be able to do it but I need it to be useable fast as well.

Cheers Mike

 

[exigetastic]

Thanks Si
That windows coding is exactly the problem I face. Not only do I need ot be able to do it but I need it to be useable fast as well.

Cheers Mike

No probs..

BTW I noticed VMWare now offer an OSX version... this might be better than Parallels, as you'll be able to move your virtual images between OSX and XP/Vista host os'es

Not tried it though so just an observation.


Si

 

[MrJay]

Mono provides .net development framework for Linux, OSX and elsewhere.

 

[exigetastic]

Mono provides .net development framework for Linux, OSX and elsewhere.

Yes but mono doesn't fully support .NET 2.0, let alone 3.5

Si

Yipee a topic I know a bit about more about than woodwork :lol:

 

[ByronBlack]

parallels or boot camp will do anything a PC does with no loss of performance (if you have decent memory for parallels). If you require hardware acceleration in terms of 3D you'll need to run windows natively through boot-camp, otherwise Parallels will do all you need. Macs are PC's just with a differen't OS.

 

[mr]

Macs are PC's just with a differen't OS.

Thanks BB that's what I was thinking. Im currently looking at a shopping basket of approaching £2.5K and wondering whether I can talk apple into discounting if I buy more

Im looking at the Macbook Pro 2 gb ram - thinking that that should have sufficient oomph .

Its all the peripherals Ive added to the shopping basket that are hurting the bottom line. Like the big monitor, airport unit, wireless keyboards (to turn a laptop into a desktop etc), external HD (though Ive just seen a terabyte unit as well - eek )


Cheers Mike

 

[ByronBlack]

I;m sure you'll be pleased Mike. Apple's screens are really nice. I have an airport wireless network at home and it's never dropped in 2 years, very good software and hardware integration - that for me is Apple's most important feature. The MB Pro is a wonderful machine and should be easily powerful enough for your needs (coding and developing?). With Leopard, bootcamp is included as standard so it's a very easy and foolproof way of creating a dual-boot windows setup (You can use Vista now too).

An external drive is a great addition with their new 'time machine' backup system inside Leopard, it's incredibly easy to go back at any point in a timeline and restore a version of file, although I'm assuming you use document versioning so not sure if that'll be as big a deal for you as it is for me.

 

[RogerS]

Im currently looking at a shopping basket of approaching £2.5K and wondering whether I can talk apple into discounting if I buy more

Dream on Margins on Mac hardware are notoriously tight.

Im looking at the Macbook Pro 2 gb ram - thinking that that should have sufficient oomph .

Its all the peripherals Ive added to the shopping basket that are hurting the bottom line. Like the big monitor, airport unit, wireless keyboards (to turn a laptop into a desktop etc), external HD (though Ive just seen a terabyte unit as well - eek )

Do you really need a laptop? The iMac has all of your extras and performance wise is on a par with the MacBook Pro. I'll try and remember to look up the speedtests that compares them.

 

[mr]

I am getting more convinced the more I Look - I do like the look of the time machine thing but as you say I do use CVS for development - not for general office or personal use though which is where the time machine idea would be a boon.

Im wondering whether Mbook pro and peripherals is really just me wanting shiny toys though.

I could feel guilty, Im not sure yet.

Roger The Imac and Macbook pro are the same performance are they? I'll have to look more closely into that. I've been offered some (small) discount but have yet to get my shopping list to them for a price - we shall see.

cheers Mike

 

[ByronBlack]

Roger does make a good point. The new Imacs are superb. My dad recently bought their 20" screen version and is a great system. I have the previous Imac although it has the same processor and is easily powerful for what I use it for, which isn't a million miles away from you do really, it would certainly be a way of saving some cash, although you lose the ability to take the machine on your travels (or to the workshop)

The performance between Imac and Macbook is virtually identical, the only main difference being HD speed and graphics in the macbook, but to be totally honest benchmarks are all a little pointless as no matter how good the hardware is, it's the software and ram that makes the difference. I've used almost every Mac since the first PowerPC mac's, and the best performance I've ever had was a Duel G5 tower despite having less 'mhz' than the new intel processor Macs, in a nutshell, either machine is fantastic, the iMac route is cheaper - you could put the rest of the money towards a nice holiday, or a collection of LN chisels/planes

 

[RogerS]

... and the best performance I've ever had was a Duel G5 tower despite having less 'mhz' than the new intel processor Macs,......

Yeah...wish I'd known before some bloke flogged me his secondhand MacBook. :wink:

My dual G4 runs rings round it!!!

 

[ByronBlack]

... and the best performance I've ever had was a Duel G5 tower despite having less 'mhz' than the new intel processor Macs,......

Yeah...wish I'd known before some bloke flogged me his secondhand MacBook. :wink:

My dual G4 runs rings round it!!!

I'm sure you love the macbook as much as I did, but the Duel G5 Tower had two seperate processors as opposed to 'cores' so for very intensive stuff that required a lot of crunching it was excellent, this is not to say that the macbook isn't better any other area's, for example the OS is faster to use, apps are more snappy etc..
I hope i've not upset you roger.

 

[RogerS]

I hope i've not upset you roger.

'course not. It does everything I expected.

 

[mr]

, the iMac route is cheaper - you could put the rest of the money towards a nice holiday, or a collection of LN chisels/planes

I take your point but being a business machine the company is buying it which makes it tax deductible on the plus side and on the other hand the company wont buy me the LN chisels or a holiday. I've begged the boss but then I told myself where to go.

Cheers Mike

 

[RogerS]

, the iMac route is cheaper - you could put the rest of the money towards a nice holiday, or a collection of LN chisels/planes

I take your point but being a business machine the company is buying it which makes it tax deductible on the plus side and on the other hand the company wont buy me the LN chisels or a holiday. I've begged the boss but then I told myself where to go.

Cheers Mike

Ah...but if you built those nice wooden computer cases as an 'extra' to your business then you could, couldn't you