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adegutis
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
2405 Posts
Status: offline |
 Posted - 03/12/2007 : 11:41:17 AM
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Okay, this isn't really a Mac Integration question, but at least it is about Macs...
I'm going to make the leap to my first Mac, probably as a birthday gift to myself later this month. I'm leaning toward a 24" iMac with 2 GB RAM. I'd like to go with 3 GB of RAM but that takes a much larger bite out of the wallet.
I plan on setting up Vista and WinXP in virtual machines for Windows-specific apps. I'll probably install Vista via Boot Camp, which would also make it available via Parallels if I understand it correctly. That way when I need raw processing power for astrophoto image processing, I can run Vista native.
I'm sure I'll have integration questions once I get the Mac and I start trying to connect to my Win2003 server.
More later (hopefully sooner).
Al
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jaxdave
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
2426 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 03/12/2007 : 12:36:28 PM
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| If you buy parallels you will not need boot camp. I run an xp box in parallels on my macbook as my primary workstation here at the office. Parallels allows you to change from xp to osx without rebooting,think of it as vmware workstation but on a mac. a simple alt+enter on the keyboard and the entire screen swings around like to view the other side of the cube. very hard to describe but you will know what I am trying to say when you see it yourself for the first time. :) |
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adegutis
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
2405 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 03/12/2007 : 12:48:50 PM
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David,
Thanks for the insight. Sounds like the alt+enter puts it into a full-screen mode, but isn't it really still being virtualized thus still sharing some of the resources (e.g. memory, CPU, etc)? Plus I had heard that there were some networking issues of running Vista(?) inside Parallels but it works fine in Boot Camp. Lastly, I also heard that you can install Windows using Boot Camp and that Boot Camp partition(?) will be available to load inside Parallels. If I'm understanding all of this correctly, it seems that installing it via Boot Camp provides the most flexibility, even if I rarely run it via Boot Camp.
Al |
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jaxdave
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
2426 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 03/12/2007 : 4:21:41 PM
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Interesting. I never looked into boot camp to be honest with you. I am sure parallels will work out the vista bugs. the full screen mode is what i was referring to in my previous post and yes it is still being virutalized. I for one am extremely happy with my setup now . I have been supporting macs on and off for 10 years but never owned one until now. :)
I won't say I can answer all your mac questions but I am sure I can answer most of them. |
Edited by - jaxdave on 03/12/2007 4:22:38 PM |
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adegutis
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
2405 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 03/12/2007 : 4:38:56 PM
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Thanks David. I'm sure I'll post more once the great change over starts.
Al |
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adegutis
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
2405 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 03/12/2007 : 11:09:28 PM
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I was thinking of getting the Apple wireless keyboard and mouse (tired of all the cables). Then I got to thinking... the Apple mice are single buttons but I'll need a two button mouse for my Vista/XP VMs. Guess I'll just use my Microsoft or Dell mouse. Will a Microsoft mouse work or will it explode from being connected to a Mac.  Will the Mac reject it like an incompatible organ?
Al |
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RichNRockville
Here To Stay
USA
265 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 03/13/2007 : 06:41:58 AM
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I used a standard ms optical multibutton mouse on my mac mini.
absolutely no problems..
Rich |
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jaxdave
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
2426 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 03/13/2007 : 06:47:22 AM
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| Think of the Mac as Southern Hospitality and the PC as being North of Quantico. |
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adegutis
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
2405 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 03/13/2007 : 2:08:16 PM
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Are the iMac's limited to 3 GB? They have two slots and you can get a 1 GB + 2GB configuration, but not a 2 GB + 2 GB. I was thinking of getting the 1 GB + 1 GB option and swapping them both out with a pair of 2 GB DIMMs but the Apple store (online) only sells a pair of 1 GB DIMMs (as listed under the iMacs). 2 GB is fine for now, but I really want to have some expandability.
Al |
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adegutis
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
2405 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 03/14/2007 : 08:45:19 AM
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Did a little research and it appears that iMacs max out at 3 GB because of the "NAPA chipset". Hmmm... so I configured a Mac Pro with 2 GB RAM ($2,500) and 4 GB RAM ($3,300). I'd like to go with 2 GB and expand to 4 GB later, but I don't like that the 2 GB configuration is four 512 MB DIMMs. Now I have to think about more RAM vs lower cost. I want to buy a computer with as many years of usefulness ahead, but can't shake the thought that I can get a similarly configured Dell (2 or 4 GB of RAM) for hundreds less. 
Al |
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Mark Minasi
Chief cook and bottle washer
USA
10658 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 03/17/2007 : 6:01:37 PM
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| Al, the day you can shake a *truthful and relevant* thought, then you'll be on your way to running for office.<g> |
Mark
tweetin' at mminasi |
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adegutis
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
2405 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 03/17/2007 : 7:46:16 PM
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Okay, so I pulled the trigger the other day and ordered a 24" iMac with the 2.16 Ghz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM and the Nvidia GT7600 (256 MB) graphics. I just got a shipping notice and it should be here in 3 days. Now I'm wondering, what kind of OS CD does it come with? OS X "normal" CD or some sort of restore CD like some PC makers provide. One of the first things I want to do (after pushing everything off my desk to the floor to make room) is install Boot Camp so I can have Windows available for my Windows-only apps. Being new to the Mac, I'm concerned I'll whack something and have to start from scratch. That's why I plan on messing with Boot Camp from the get-go rather than after I start getting settled (e.g. Mac apps installed).
Al |
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jaxdave
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
2426 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 03/19/2007 : 08:56:07 AM
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| You will receive the Mac OSX install discs 1 & 2. |
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Mark Minasi
Chief cook and bottle washer
USA
10658 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 03/19/2007 : 12:26:21 PM
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| Apple isn't yet a big enough monopoly to be able to get away with "selling" you an OS without discs. Unlike a certain Redmond firm. |
Mark
tweetin' at mminasi |
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adegutis
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
2405 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 03/19/2007 : 12:36:31 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by MarkMinasi
Apple isn't yet a big enough monopoly to be able to get away with "selling" you an OS without discs. Unlike a certain Redmond firm.
I figured I'd get disks, I just wasn't sure if it would be the OS install disk or some "system restore" disk that some PC maker are providing so that all the bundled junk gets reinstalled.
Although, nowadays they don't even give you disks, just a reinstall partition.
Al |
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adegutis
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
2405 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 03/21/2007 : 12:15:11 PM
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The iMac arrived yesterday. I'm glad I decided to go with the 24" instead of the 20". Here's a pic of my desktop (won't be clean for long) with the iMac and my 19" widescreen display:
Now the fun of learning the nuances of the GUI and OS begins.
Al |
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mitachu
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
United Kingdom
1946 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 11/07/2007 : 08:33:43 AM
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How are you getting on?
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Tim |
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adegutis
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
2405 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 11/07/2007 : 08:58:16 AM
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Hi Tim,
I am enjoying the Mac life at home, although I think I have a bad hard drive. Twice now since I got it, I've had the system get less stable to the point where it would lock up daily. I've narrowed it down to the hard drive because 1) when it starts acting up, I run disk repair and usually end up having too boot into single user command mode to fsck it, and 2) at one point I was copying a few gigabytes of data and believe I heard the drive clicking ever so slightly as it was locked up. I reformatted once with Tiger, hoping to flag the bad spot and the problems came back. I reformatted again a week ago to do a clean install of Leopard. If the problems come back, I'm going to have the drive swapped out.
I really enjoy Quickview in Leopard. I still have to reinstall some apps (MAMP) but things are going well.
When I picked up my copy of Leopard, I saw the new keyboards in person and had to get one. The justification was that the shift key on my Apple keyboard didn't function properly (it didn't which is extremely annoying). I find that if I stop and think about the ultra-thin keyboard I start having typing problems, but if I ignore it, the keyboard works great.
My biggest challenge is RDC. I'm using the Microsoft RDC for Mac beta 2.0 which is good but I can't use the function keys (e.g. F2 to rename). Not sure if this is an issue with Leopard or the new keyboard. I don't remember this problem under Tiger and the old keyboard. I tried Cord for RDC because I like the single UI for multiple sessions but its not as reliable as Microsoft's RDC.
-Al |
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mitachu
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
United Kingdom
1946 Posts
Status: offline |
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adegutis
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
USA
2405 Posts
Status: offline |
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mitachu
Honorable But Hopeless Addict
United Kingdom
1946 Posts
Status: offline |
Posted - 11/07/2007 : 10:11:12 AM
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Sexy!
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Tim |
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Topic |
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Getting my first Mac
