Potential MacBook Pro buyer

[thatg]

hey so im looking to get a laptop and i have my eye on the macbook pro. heres 2 questions

1)i want to be able to run as many applications as id like no problems are either versions good enough for that or is the lower end no good(even some older versions, might buy one used)?

2)and my second question is how does the dual boot work because i have things from my pc that wont run with a mac. is it just emulation or will i actually have windows on it, and is that something i have to buy or how does that work?

thanks for your help.

 

[pughchrism]

you might want to search these forums b/c all of this has been answered before.

if you use bootcamp then you will have both a mac and a windows machine as if both are native. you'll make two partitions on your hard drive. one will be used for windows and the other partition for os x. on startup you can chose whether you want to boot to windows or let it boot to os x. there other other options such as parallels that will let you run both at the same time but windows will not be running natively. bootcamp is free.

 

[CalBoy]

1)i want to be able to run as many applications as id like no problems are either versions good enough for that or is the lower end no good(even some older versions, might buy one used)?

I'm sorry, but this question is vague and hard to understand. Please rephrase it.

2)and my second question is how does the dual boot work because i have things from my pc that wont run with a mac. is it just emulation or will i actually have windows on it, and is that something i have to buy or how does that work?

If you use Bootcamp, you will literally have a portion of your harddrive set aside just for Windows. In order to use it, you'd have to shut down OS X and reboot into Windows by pressing the (or Command) key. You can use emulation software, but be aware that performance will suffer. My suggestion is to go with Bootcamp. I also suggest you wait until after Leopard is out, as Bootcamp will be an official part of OS X, as opposed to a Beta software that is subject to Apple's whims (legal whims that is).

 

[scaredpoet]

My suggestion is to go with Bootcamp. I also suggest you wait until after Leopard is out, as Bootcamp will be an official part of OS X, as opposed to a Beta software that is subject to Apple's whims (legal whims that is).

Legal whims how? I have my doubts that Apple would intend to sue people for using Bootcamp.

 

[CalBoy]

Legal whims how? I have my doubts that Apple would intend to sue people for using Bootcamp.

Well, Apple basically says it can revoke the use of Bootcamp at anytime. Granted Apple won't do this, but once Leopard is out, you can be sure Bootcamp will no longer be available for free

 

[thatg]

so the bootcamp will have me running windows no problem, how does it work if i want to load vista or xp or whatever it might be. and i meant about running several programs that my pc can sometimes slowdown or lag on me when i have too many programs running too many operations. some computers just works better than others. i have a peice of garbage emachine so obviously ive got tons of problems.. no im just badmouthing it its not that bad but would be nice if it were always smooth which is what i am hoping for from the macbook

 

[CalBoy]

so the bootcamp will have me running windows no problem, how does it work if i want to load vista or xp or whatever it might be. and i meant about running several programs that my pc can sometimes slowdown or lag on me when i have too many programs running too many operations. some computers just works better than others. i have a peice of garbage emachine so obviously ive got tons of problems.. no im just badmouthing it its not that bad but would be nice if it were always smooth which is what i am hoping for from the macbook

There is an installation guide, and if you need help, view the forum that's devoted to this, because I have yet to bother with Bootcamp myself (OS X is great, and I don't have any Windows-only programs).

However, I'd expect Windows to run as well as it would on a machine with similar specs. Since you're looking at a mbp, I'd say you have little to worry about. The most difficult question for you is whether you want Vista or XP. With XP, you get stability and fewer compatability issues. With Vista, you get comfort in knowing that within two years, Vista will have finally "landed."