[cosmos]

Hello,
I have been waiting since Apple added the new Intel Chip to switch from Windows to Mac and am going to purchase a new 15" MacBook Pro soon and I have a few questions that I hope some of you can give me your thoughts and advice on.
1. Is the performance gain in the new 2.6 GHz worth the upgrade over the 2.4 GHz version?
2. Do you recommend VMFusion over Parallels?
3. What about the new BootCamp in Leopard? will it do what VMFusion/Parallels will do? Or is the Virtual option better?
4. Will I be okay with 2mb of ram if I am using both operating systems? I use Dreamweaver/Fireworks/Adobe Acrobat/ etc...and do moderate graphics and web editing. Or should I upgrade to 4mb?
5. Do you recommend purchasing the Apple Care Plan?
6. Harddrives? the MacBook Pro comes standard with a 5400rpm hard drive and I question why it isn't the 7400 rpm as the standard. Any preference in harddrive speed? Will the 5400rpm be okay or do you recommend the 7400rpm? and why?
7. If I have the 5400 rpm and then use a 7400 rpm backup do you seen any concerns?
8. Any other recommendations or suggestions as I proceed in getting the New 15" MacBook Pro with Leopard?
Sorry for all the questions but I am just excited to be finally switching over to the Mac from Windows. We are going to be also purchasing an 24" iMac for the house and second computer so we are going totally Mac! But we have a lot of windows software with our business that we just can't replace or leave behind. So we are looking for the least brain damage in switching over so would love to hear your thoughts and experiences on switching over. Thanks in advance!
CJ

[moose_n_squirrel]

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3. What about the new BootCamp in Leopard? will it do what VMFusion/Parallels will do? Or is the Virtual option better?

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They're two different things. BootCamp reboots the Mac into Windows only, so you can't use any Mac apps during that session. It turns the entire Mac into a PC. It is more compatible and a little faster, though, so sometimes it's better. At least Windows gets all the RAM this way. BootCamp is also included, while the virtualization apps are extra cost.
The virtualization option lets you run Windows like another Mac app, so you can use Mac and Windows apps at the same time. But it cuts your machine in half, so neither OS X nor Windows can use all the RAM and apps can get squeezed. I hear that Windows Vista likes 2GB on a PC, so that could be a squeeze.

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4. Will I be okay with 2mb of ram if I am using both operating systems? I use Dreamweaver/Fireworks/Adobe Acrobat/ etc...and do moderate graphics and web editing. Or should I upgrade to 4mb?

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Doesn't sound like your apps will need 4GB on their own, but Parallels needs enough RAM to run Windows well. 2GB OK if you are using Boot Camp. 4GB recommended if you will use virtualization on a regular basis. Do not buy RAM from Apple since it is easy to install and cheaper everywhere else.

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5. Do you recommend purchasing the Apple Care Plan?

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Maybe no if you can extend your warranty with your credit card. No if you think you are more likely to have an accident/theft; cover it with your home/business policy instead. (AppleCare covers breakdowns but not accidents/thefts). No if you are going to sell the machine in a year. Yes if you use it for business or take it around town all the time. Buy it somewhere cheaper than Apple.

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6. Harddrives? the MacBook Pro comes standard with a 5400rpm hard drive and I question why it isn't the 7400 rpm as the standard. Any preference in harddrive speed? Will the 5400rpm be okay or do you recommend the 7400rpm? and why?

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RPM doesn't matter as much as the actual throughput data rate.

[mcbane666]

1. How long do you see having this MBP if for too years then no. But Uf you are going to get 5-7 years (welcome to the mac word) then yes.
2. I think they both do there jobs very well.
3. Boot camb is either or, where as parallels and VMfusion let you run both at the same time.
4. I would go with the 4GB, but this is easy to upgrade later so you could try the 2gb's first
5. Highly recommend apple care It covers everything for 3 years, so if you have two or three things go wrong over the three years they will cover it, and it can be passed on if you sell the computer.
6 5400rpm save's battery life, 7400 can find information faster, Do most people really notice? gamers might.
7. Not at all
8. If you plan to use Time machine, buy the Biggest external drive you can buy, it must be bigger than the internal anyway. The larger it is the farther back you can go, If you are going to be using the laptop like a laptop and not a desktop, but a mobile external drive, they only need the power of your usb port and will fit in a laptop bag nicly. you can find them upto 250gb no problem,.
9. why has it taken you so long?

[extreme343GS]

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1. Is the performance gain in the new 2.6 GHz worth the upgrade over the 2.4 GHz version?
2. Do you recommend VMFusion over Parallels?
6. Harddrives? the MacBook Pro comes standard with a 5400rpm hard drive and I question why it isn't the 7400 rpm as the standard. Any preference in harddrive speed? Will the 5400rpm be okay or do you recommend the 7400rpm? and why?
7. If I have the 5400 rpm and then use a 7400 rpm backup do you seen any concerns?

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well here a few answers:
1. you will not realise the speed bump in daily work ; but only in really processor intensive task like compressing,converting,GLrendering etc.
that too it will be a very small difference. my advice is that if you really do some proceoor intensive task then you wight need some extra teeths.
2. VMware is famous in their server virtaullization. however they still need to work on their small weigh versions. i think you better look for other ppls
advice. ot really good at this. i personally prefer parallels for windows. VM for unix/linux.
6. take the slower one. 7200rpm Vs 5400 rpm rarely gives you any difference. it only consumer more battery life & does not give any great performance notch. if you have 2+GB of RAM there will be really less reads & writes for the HD so don't worry about performace. BTW if cost 25% more & consonsums 50% more battery all that giing you no more than 5% performance increase in data thru-put :tht to ehich you will really need.
7. no change or difference.

[cosmos]

Thanks so much everyone for your help and advice.
What took me so long? Well to tell you the truth I live in Colorado and when I was getting my first computer around 1995 I got wind that Apple was shutting down the Colorado facility so I thought that was the death of Apple....but little did I know. Then as time went on I acquired tons of Windows apps and it was just hard to throw them out the window... /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif so when Apple made the change to the Intel chip and this year has seen the virtualization software and bootcamp etc mature that was the signal to make the move. Not counting the numerous crashes and reboots and blue screen of death that I have endured and barely lived through..... /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
But better late than never.
Hey another question about files on your computer when you use Bootcamp or VMFusion etc....if you save jpeg photos in your mac OS to a folder can you access them when you are in your Windows OS? Just not sure how this will work...and hoping someone can explain it to me.
Apple Care? How likely are you to need this Apple Care Protection with a Laptop? iMac?
Thanks!
CJ

[petekazanjy]

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2. VMware is famous in their server virtaullization. however they still need to work on their small weigh versions. i think you better look for other ppls
advice. ot really good at this. i personally prefer parallels for windows. VM for unix/linux.

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Have to jump in to offer clarification here. VMware's first product, VMware workstation, which launched in 1998, was conceived of, and still is developed for, the end client PC, not servers. VMware Workstation is in its sixth generation (Workstation 6 launched in March '07), and VMware Fusion shares this virtualiazation code base w/ Workstation.
In fact, pretty much all features that end up in VMware's server products (either VMware Server or VMware ESX Server) have started out in the Workstation product as a test bed.
VMware Fusion is actually the first porting to Mac OS X of an x86 virtualization platform that's been built up and refined for nearly 10 years. This is why you see things in VMware Fusion that you don't see in Parallels: like the ability to assign up two CPUs to a virtual machine (called "Virtual SMP") in case you want to run computation-heavy applications in a virtual machine, assign up to 8GB of RAM to a virtual machine, or utilize up to 16GB of RAM in the host machine.
This is also why you see VMware Fusion using fewer resources than Parallels (CPU usage at rest) and better stability, and why VMware Fusion can support more than 60 OSs in virtual machines: the code base is sixth generation.
Where VMware Fusion is newer is in the UI department, where the development has been all new for the Mac, and been completely redone using Cocoa. However, the core virtualization engine is the result of nearly ten years of development and research.
Hope that clarifies!

[cosmos]

Everyone,
Hey I just wanted to let you know that we are now proud owners of new Mac Computers. Barb got her 2.4 GHz iMac with the 24" screen and me I picked the MacBook Pro 2.4 GHz model, both with the new Leopard. We also both have the new wireless keyboards and mouse and they are really nice and fun to use. I am jealous of that 24" monitor....http://www.macworld.com/forums/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif
So I guess I will just have to find me a nice large monitor to attach to my lap top.
I am still getting used to the differences in the OS but I can honestly say that "I Love Our New Macs!!!"
I wish there was a way to not load any Windows programs onto my new Mac at all....but I will need to in some cases. All that I can switch over I will.
Pete, thanks for that info on Fusion. I did purchase Fusion and am just waiting on XP to come so that I can install it.
I do have a question about Fusion, XP and Leopard and in particular Time Machine.....will Time Machine backup the XP Programs in Fusion?
Gosh these computers were so easy to set up and use features like View Remote Desktop and Video Chat. I can't wait to explore the many other features.
Thanks again for all your help. We will be coming to you from a Mac now.....
CJ