Biz student, Conflicted- honest advice will be much appreciated

Hey guys, so heres the deal, Im a business student requiring a laptop to do my honours in biz admin, the school requires me to get a laptop that is "windows based " which im assuming means can run windows xp and applications in windows. Im really hesitant to get a macbook (the white/black 2 ghz is the one im interested in)because I need to be sure that bootcamp beta would be reliable enough for me in the long run( at least 3-4 years). I really like the system otherwise, 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...and yes I did a search on similar questions but I just wanted some more input on this. I was origionally considering a mbp but the sticker shock and the widespread problems with the 15"( the more portable the better since i have to carry it around 5 days a week to all my classes) kinda ended that idea..and the realization that i didnt really need the fancy photo/video editing capabilities anyway. I know most of you will be terribly opposed to the idea of buying a dell but your direct and honest opinion is what I'm looking for..(dells are heavy, clunky and plain ugly haha which is why i really want a macbook, but a dell is the safest way for me to go)

thanks, lookin forward to some responses

Dell Xps Windows XP Pro

Dell Xps Windows XP Pro

Dell Xps, Windows XP Pro

Posted on Jul 21, 2006 9:46 PM

16 replies

Jul 24, 2006 12:25 PM in response to Tharoofisonfiyah

Tharoofisonfiyah,

Many schools insist that a PC running XP is required, but they do so erroneously. In fact, my wife is currently teaching as an adjunct at a school that insists on XP, yet several of her students are using Macs without any problems whatsoever.

If all of your school work will be in MS Office, Adobe applications, and the production of/use of .PDF files, a Mac would suffice. In fact, there is a good argument for the fact that it would be preferable, based on OS X's built-in support for and use of the PDF format.

The only circumstance that would require the use of Windows would be if the school you attend requires the use of a specific application that will only run in Windows. It is unlikely that this is the case. Even if it is true for your school, Bootcamp is available (currently).

It is true that Bootcamp is "Beta" right now, and undoubtedly prone to minor problems. It is also true that we cannot say what will happen with/to it in the future. I think it is safe to assume, however, that the development resources that have been spent on it to this point will not be wasted by simply abandoning it entirely. It is much more likely that it will either be incorporated into the OS, or at least released in official format as a stand-alone component/application.

Scott

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Biz student, Conflicted- honest advice will be much appreciated