Biz student, Conflicted- honest advice will be much appreciated

This one's easy. Sorry to say, but except for the viruses, Mac OS X is just as volitile as Windows. To truly see the benefit of the Mac, one would have to endure countless resetting of NV and P RAM and OS X qutting unexpectedlyings. The MacBook, although quite nifty in many ways, is still a little on the sloppy side. I would suggest you look into one of those IBM Think Pad X series models. They're highly portable, run Windows XP natively (you wouldn't have to buy the computer, then buy the Windows software either) and run about the same price (you can find a loaded X41 for about $1400, tax included). Yeah, a Dell wouldn't suit you, they're too cumbersome. Maybe a Acer, or if you can swing the $$$, a Toshiba Portege or the Tablet PC they've got would be better for you there bro. In your situation, I don't think now's the time to "make the switch". It's a lot more frustrating than they make it out to be.

I think that the Macbook will be just fine for what you need. With a Macbook you get the best of both worlds, the bussiness end of windows and the simplicity of Mac OS X and its apps. Also you have to remember that all the posts of problems here on the discussions are about 1% of Macbook users, so dont feel as if everyone is having troubles. So yes I suggest and think That a Macbook should be appropriate for your needs.

Good luck with you decision,

Namaste

Macbook Mac OS X (10.4.7)

I agree with Win Williams.

Get the MacBook and use OSX as your primary operating system but you will still be able to fall back to XP if you are forced to.

My MacBook has been flawless and I have never regretted the decision to buy it.

Buy one and enjoy!

No, that is simply not true Seanski. It may certainly be true in your case, but the majority of Mac users never have any of the problems that you mention. Both of my Macs have been exceptionally stable and great performers since Day One.

I do not say this to minimize your very real issues with your Mac, but to say that they reflect every Mac user is simply not true. These are support forums and people do not come here to brag about how great their Macs are.

Tharoofisonfiyah, as you know Boot Camp is still in beta and there is no guarantee that it will be around for the time that you need it to be. If you can run your apps in Parallels, then that might be an option.

If you rely on Windows-based apps for work and school, this is probably not the time for you to switch over - not because of quality, but because of the uncertainty of the "Windows on a Mac" situation.

I hate to say it, but Macs are not for everyone. If you need Windows and need to know that it will be there as an option for years to come, that is just not something we can say for certain. I would like to say that it is, but I can't see the future and can't promise anything.

"although the neverending list of complaints about quality control has also put doubts in my mind..and that I've never owned or used a mac..."

Honestly, I've had zero problems with my macbook. I know there are a lot of complaints on this forum, but if there's one thing that I've noticed it's that applecare always makes it right in the end. I wouldn't sweat over the quality issue too much.

Also, this is the first mac computer I've ever used/owned and making the switch was ten times easier than I thought it was going to be. After a day or two I had everything down and was really enjoying OS X. I bought the macbook with the intention of putting windows on it, but honestly, I doubt I'll bother doing it now.

I think as long as the macbook will work for your school's windows needs than it's definately the way to go.

If you'll be spending most of your time using Windows, I recommend looking closer at the Dell option at this time.

Windows support on the Macbook via Bootcamp is still a little too buggy for every day use. Things will hopefully change if/when Apple release a full set of Windows drivers. I use the Mac for ASP.NET Development and its proving to be a bit of a stuggle. Of course, this is a personal viewpoint.

At present, I think the Macbook falls into that category of 'form-over-function'. Looks great, has some cool features but to use on a daily basis is just not practicle. Depending on the luck-of-the-draw, you maybe like us and find new problems with your MacBook almost every week, or you could find it runs fine. Our latest problem is a rattling, squeaking screen hinge.

I think Apple know what they are doing since the buzz of bootcamp, affordable price-point, and looks alone were enough for me to switch from my ugly Dell and buy a Macbook.

school related work(mostly along the lines of
Microsoft office, working with pdf files maybe--any
known problems with adobe software on bootcamp??)

First Microsoft Office: There is a Macintosh version of Office that (when I've needed to work with a doc or spreadsheet or ppt file that someone has sent) has never failed me. There are no issues of compatibility between the Windows version of Office and the Mac version of which I am aware.

PDF Files: If you need to work with PDF files (as in editing files created by someone else), you could always get the full version of Acrobat (Mac version) and knock yourself out. No problems. If you're talking about reading PDF files or creating them yourself, that's all built into OSX - reading them via Preview and creating them, system-wide, through the Print dialogue (print as PDF). They work on all Windows machines to which I've sent them.

I am told that my workload will be
really heavy and I cant afford to spend time trying
to make my computer compatible with everyday window
applications, downloading patches and the
like..

You won't have problems making your computer compatible. I think that's like the number one myth about Macintosh, that there are "compatibility" issues. You won't have problems.

Apple does not drive its users crazy with endless patches that they must download. Admittedly, there have been more system patches (which I set apart from OS updates) in recent years for the OS but I don't think that the suggestion that I download like six (or so) security patches over say the last three years is too much or a burden.

Another thing to keep in mind is that, in my university experience, many professors and administrators feel that PDF creation and reading is really advanced technology. They also think that creating spreadsheets and powerpoints are marks of their technological prowess and something that sets them apart from the "underlings". ****, I know a professor who STILL teaches students "web design with html" using Netscape Composer! And she considers herself "cutting edge"!

Chances are that you'll look at the people who are attempting to dictate to you the machine type that you should use and wonder just what in god's name qualifies them to even sit down at a computer in the first place.

Just buy the Mac. You won't regret it.

Conflicted,

I have the 1.83 Macbook with 2 ghz of ram and I am running xp through the Parallels virtualization. I use my computer for economic/market consulting and trade docs with XP users all the time without difficulty. As an additional plus, right now you can get the Windows Office 2007 beta online for free if you don't want to pay for two sets of Office. The Parallels interface allows me to transfer docs from OS X to XP through Parallels, and it will run any of the stat programs or other windows software the b school is likely to require. Do the admin people say why you need to have a widows box? If it is for networking the mac will work there too (the software is built into OS X) and the apple knowledge base has articles on how to run on a windows network. IMHO, after using macs in business alongside pcs (which I also used)for the last 15 years, the Macbook finally makes the experience pretty much seamless because running windows at more or less native speed is possible on the same platform. Can you tell I love my Macbook? I have been showing my windows bootup to all of my friends who are techies and they are considering the switch because this platfrom will now allow you to run OS X, XP, and different flavors of Linux without even having to reboot, all on the same desktop! But you gotta have the extra memory.

Cheers and have fun in b school.

you don't need bootcamp for 3 or 4 years...once leapord comes out, that will be a feature of the new OS

 Mac Mini Intel Core Solo- 1 GB RAM- Superdrive- Production week 18 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

We honestly do not know that for sure, so it is not a good idea to rely on it for very long.

It appears that Parallels is the best option for light use. We know it will be here for a while and while we can hope that Boot Camp will be part of Leopard - and even improved upon, we cannot count on that for sure.

We may know in August if Bootcamp will be part of Leopard. Keep an eye out for Steve Job's presentation at the Developers Conference.
Rog

I can't recommend getting a Macbook until Apple has an official word on the dreaded random shutoff issue. Look for the thread "Randomly Turns Off" on this board. It is the most popular Macbook thread with nearly 17,000 views.

You can get a MacBook Pro instead. 🙂

I doubt if all MacBooks have the 'shut off' issue. Frankly, I'd recommend getting the MacBook or MacBook Pro along with BootCamp or Parallels Desktop for your Windows needs.

I was primarily a Windows user since 1996; I made the switch to the Mac as a primary work machine about two months ago now, and haven't looked back. You can use either BootCamp or Parallels to run your Windows applications when you need to, but the amazing thing you'll find is that you will very rarely need to.

Here are a few blog posts I wrote about using the Mac and Windows simultaneously; you might find some of this information interesting or useful.

• Adventures in Mac-Windows Wonkery
• Advice for New MacBook Owners

MacBook 1.83 Ghz/2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.7) Parallels Desktop (Mac OS X / WinXP) user; XP & Ubuntu Linux on other PCs