Mac Users On Thai Visa

[JimmyTheMook]

Thinking about trying out a MAC , always have used a PC.

Any big difference ?

[Grover]

better security, protection from viruses spyware etc.

plus, you can use windows in a virtual machine with a mac.

those are the main reasons why ill be getting a mac mini when OSX10.5 comes out.

[Crossy]

Everything he said ^^^

PLUS

More expensive, less software to run on the native machine (without CPU hungry emulators).

Locked into apple upgrades, blah blah blah.

NONE of the software I use on a regular basis runs on a Mac otherwise I'd have one.

[Mahout Angrit]

NONE of the software I use on a regular basis runs on a Mac otherwise I'd have one.

What, dont you use Microsoft office on a regular basis?

As Macs now use intel processors you can run OSX side by side with XP or Vista if you ever had a need to (no emulators any more). Two systems for the price of one

If you ARE thinking of buying then wait a few weeks as OX 10.5 will be released.

[spot]

Macs and the operating systems to me are more solid. Macs are so user friendly.

My old G4 ibook only crashed twice in two years - and that was because I was using high end music software, which strained the system. I even dropped it from about 5 feet onto a concrete floor and it only got a scratch, worked fine.

My new Macbook Pro hasn't stalled or crashes once since I got it.

and... like has has been said - no spyware/virus problems etc

Try and buy from the shop on Sukhumvit 55, sub soi 13 - they seem to know what they are doing, and have good after service.

You can get plenty of software form all the usual outlets

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

Everything he said ^^^

PLUS

More expensive, less software to run on the native machine (without CPU hungry emulators).

Locked into apple upgrades, blah blah blah.

NONE of the software I use on a regular basis runs on a Mac otherwise I'd have one.

No its not an emulator at all. It runs the guest OS right off a special section of the Intel chip for Virtualization. It does reduce performance enough that a gamer who is maxing the machine would notice but for most applications its really hard to detect. I used to boot into Native XP to compare but its hardly worth the trouble. Just run the windows app(s) in a window with Parallels.

You can go to Intels website and read about it... Some people run Mac OS on a Windows box etc. Definitely a lot of Linux folks use virtualization also. Quite a growing trend.

Apple is not for everyone though. Its just 5% or so of the market and Unix under the hood. I like my MacBook Pro. On average I seem to reboot it every 2 weeks or so for software upgrades. Otherwise I have had it going for 45 days without having to reboot. I just close the lid and it suspends. I love mine.

[MarkBKK]

NONE of the software I use on a regular basis runs on a Mac otherwise I'd have one.

What, dont you use Microsoft office on a regular basis?

As Macs now use intel processors you can run OSX side by side with XP or Vista if you ever had a need to (no emulators any more). Two systems for the price of one

If you ARE thinking of buying then wait a few weeks as OX 10.5 will be released.

Isn't Word the best-selling WP for Macs? (OK, I haven't checked, but I have this -- possibly erroneous -- ''factoid'' in the back of my mind. Er ... ditto Office).

[cdnvic]

Basicly you have two choices;

Run Windows and Mac as a dual boot setup using Bootcamp. This will give you system performance that is the same as if Windows was running on a Windows machine.

or

Run Windows within OSX using Parallels. In Virtual machine setups like this you run Windows within a window in the host system, but you need to have enough memory to run two operating systems at once. 2gb at least for half decent performance.

[Crossy]

Ok, Ok, I admit that I use MS Office

Unfortunately all the other stuff (particularly related to revenue collection systems) requires Windoze or worse DOS and much of it talks directly to the PC port hardware

I've not tried a recent Mac with windows, last time was 4 or 5 years ago, 'twas carp then

[nikster]

I've not tried a recent Mac with windows, last time was 4 or 5 years ago, 'twas carp then

Oh, well - much has changed since then; ever since the Intel processors, Windows runs with near-native speed inside Parallels. Or boot camp of course which transforms you Mac into a very speedy Windows machine.

I would get as much RAM as possible, ideally 3GB - 2GB for OS X and 1GB for Win XP inside Parallels. Seems to be hard to get a hold of high capacity RAM in Thailand so you'd probably have to get the 2GB stick from back home.