Should I Buy a MacBook yet KEEP my PC Desktop?

"it's fine to be using BOTH a PC and a MBP on daily basis? In your opinion, is this practice common?"

Yes. And I'm not how common it is to run both. I have a fairly "powerful" PC tower myself, but haven't pressed the power button since buying my dual G5 tower (two or so years ago) and my MBP.

It will have be turned on soon, though <sigh>. My wife insists on doing our taxes within Windows (all she's familiar with).

With the new Intel Mac you do have the option of running both Mac OS X and Windows on the one system. So, by doing this you can have all of your thing together under the one roof and you can continue to use your 24" display. How practical this is will ultimately depend on what you would do under both Mac OS X and Windows.

For most business software users the current MBP has sufficient power to run your office software under Windows within Parallels (rather than using Boot Camp which gives the whole computer to Windows) giving you access to both Mac OS X and Windows concurrently. The only thing to consider with a Parallels solution on an MBP would be RAM. Even if you max out with 3GB RAM it's still isn't a huge amount to be able to run two concurrent OSs so in this regard Boot Camp might be a wiser choice.

MBP and Parallels, other than gaming will do a satisfying job without the annoying Boot Camp rebooting and really gets rid of the need for a PC at all (or keep it for Windows games maybe). You can do boot camp and also run the boot camp partition in Parallels but Parallels is the way to go.

Until RAM is fairly priced 2 GB is lots. That 2 GB extra SODIMM is just way overpriced right now.

Also the 2.16 Ghz MBP is a far better deal than the 2.33 model - just add 1GB of RAM ( from Crucial and not Apple) and other than not having a 256 MB video card you have essentially the same thing for a few hundred less.

Performance between 2.16 and 2.33 is meaninglessly different other than to spec wonks.

I operate both my MacBook and PC at the same time. It's a great set up and have had virtually no problems with file swapping. After giving Parallels a try it became quite clear I don't need my PC at all. I am a graphic designer, so my files are most often design files. In your case I would consider the programs you need to run and the types of files will you have to move around. Chances are the Mac will meet and exceed your current needs seamlessly.

Just my 2 cents.

MacBook Pro Core2 Duo Mac OS X (10.4.9) 2.33 2gig

I use my MBP with Parallels Desktop to use AutoCAD on the PC and Archicad on the Mac simultaneously.

The cool factor is that Parallels has a mode that leaves the Mac Menu bar at the top of the screen and the Windows Task bar at the bottom. This really makes it 2 operating systems on 1 computer.

Dual 1.42 G4 (for sale) & MBP 17" & Pismo & Bondi iMac & Clamshell & 2nd gen iPod Mac OS X (10.4.9) 1.5 GB ram 400GB hard drives, 23" Cinema, 17" LCD

J. ConRRad, you will be fine using both machines. It is rather smart imho.

You may find that something might not work in one system then you have another system to try it on.

I use a cheapo Dell desktop a lot and when needed transfer video or office docs all the time. Just make sure that you set up your external hard drive for the PC as your PC may not be able to see the drive if you set it up under certain Mac systems. (I am pretty sure that this is true but can someone back me up on this???).

The only difficulty I have found is remembering the different keyboard short cuts for the Mac as I am soooo use to the PC shortcuts.

Have fun,
frank

P.S. I agree about going with a 2G, 2.16 GHz MBP. It runs very fast for everything I do.

> does it make sense to own and operate a PC Desktop and a MacBook Pro at the same time?

It all depends on your specific needs really ...

I've a collection of Mac's and PC's here (desktops and laptops) and they all get used at some point during the week, with software development and beta testing having the 'real' platform available can be a big bonus and you're not risking production data by having all your eggs in one basket.

If you're only looking to run the odd PC application/game now and then Parallels or BootCamp would most likely deliver what you want.

I personally have both a MBP and a fast PC, and i love being able to use both. Now even though the MBP is a very fast laptop, there are jsut so many things taht are not practical to do on a laptop. Any time i try to do anything that is very processor extensive, the MBP heats up like a hot plate, and it is always running on battery. So having the powerhouse PC to do the grunt work, and the MBP to do all the good stuff, it is what i think the perfect world. Now that perspective might change when i can afford a mac pro, but for now, i think it is the best way to go.

the macbooks are fine. there's not a lot technically different between those models and the pros. principally you are getting a larger display (but also a larger machine which can be a downside to some people), a real graphics card as opposed to integrated graphics, more i/o options including a PCexpress port (which most people don't ever use) and firewire 800 I think on either all or most MBPs, bigger hard drive and RAM options, and that's really about it. so, most of the differences between the two are just in terms of add-ons.. fundamentally they use the same processor, the same bus speed, so the performance is not an enormous leap from one to the other, although the MBP can have an edge in that the clock speed is available up to 2.33Ghz vs I think 2Ghz max on the MBs.

really it comes down to what kind of machine you want, what form factor and display size is the best balance for you, and what kind of money you want to throw at it.

just ask yourself what programs you will be running.

For me it is high end architectural 3d modeling software and Final Cut Pro. The better video card was a plus in the MBP. And the file sizes are enormous in 3d cad and FCP, so I knew I would be using an external hard drive setup. Therefore the firewire 800 and PCexpress port that supports eSATA was the deciding factor for setting up the fastest read/writes on the MBP.

I was originally thinking about the mid price MB, but after working on the MB and MBP in an Apple store ----- I went for the 2.16 Ghz MBP.

I like the larger monitor, separate video card, the ability to run 3GB of memory vs. 2GB on the MB (when needed), speakers are nicer sounding. The difference in the two is $700.00 - I felt the advantages for the MBP were well worth it.

Bob

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Joe

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