Macs in the Business World

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Actually Macs are used much more than you think. Primarily in places of advertising and design. Even PC Magazine uses Macs. Apple has a website on:

http://www.apple.com/macatwork/

As for using Macs in the business world, most VPNs are Mac compatible. All word processing, spreadsheet (thanks to http://www.dataviz.com/ 's MaclinkPlus) and database document data files are Mac compatible (even Access can be made Mac compatible with FileMaker Pro Migrator). MPEG-3 iTunes has built-in support. Windows Media files with DRM are a sticky point, as no DRM decoder exists on the Mac operating system yet for Windows Media, but a MacBook can run Windows with virtualization or Boot Camp solutions. And http://www.lemkesoft.com/ 's GraphicConverter can help with graphics formats.

For more on these solutions, see my FAQ:

http://www.macmaps.com/macosxnative.html

Hi jts5032, welcome to the Discussion!

While I cannot comment on how the state of the computers are in your part of the world, in terms of in the "business working environment", but over here in my country, where it is considered "technologically highly advance", Microsoft, Windows and PCs still rule most part of the business world... especially when in large companies where all the emails etc are tied to the company servers etc, even the IT tech supports probably stuided everything that is to it - PCs and not macs.

I have only heard of very few companies here, and they are mostly small-scale like 10 to 30 employess, heard about one law firm, just because the boss is a mac user, that the whole firm uses Macs. As for the rest, you can only find Macs populating the advertising, creative and media industry, and they are only found in the creative departments.

Like me, I am in a media company and I work in the on-air creative dept, so I use a Mac, but because my IT tech support know nothing about Macs, they cannot and do not support, and also because of many incompatibilities with the server, my Mac's email, my office email, is still on a POP account, and there are many intranet sites I cannot access, and I still need a PC to access our Staff site for leave application etc.

This is what I can tell you about the "reality" in my part of the world, cheers

It is depend which software you want to run for your business purpose.

Some software is specific for windows only, but fear not, you can install xp too on your MacBook using boot camp or parallel and install that software to run natively on XP world.

And you get the best of both world.

Or you can find the Mac version or similar program on mac side that could also open your finance/business file extension created from your xp programs.

And I prefer working on my mp3s photos and internet using iLife application that is fully intergrated to each other rather than partial chunk of software for this and that file.

Good Luck.

We might be the wrong folk to ask as we are generally bias toward Macs. I would ask your professors--they're going to be more savvy about the type of hardware and software you're going to be needing. And that's the real question. I suspect (though I can't be sure) that the MacBook has all the hardware you need for the business world (all the ports, beautiful screen, etc.) the real question is...can it run the necessary software?

In the past, the answer to that question might have been "no." But now Macs can run Windows--and that ability to run Windows will be getting better and better--so if there is software that is Windows only, the Mac may be able to run those just fine. In other words, where before a Mac might have been a handicap, now you might well be able to have the best of both worlds. A Mac when you want a Mac, and a PC when the business world demands a PC.

But it would be a good idea to check with your professors on what is absolutely necessary--and then check back with us and we can tell you if the Macbook meets your requirements.

None that I can foresee. If you find you need additional tools you don't already have, just pop by here, and someone can help.