ARRGH... if we didn't have choice, we'd be better at decision-making... except you'd think you have lost your free-will.
for the past months i've been saving up for what i thought i'd be getting, a mac-book-pro... with all the latest frills maximazing the RAM, HDD, DLDVD, etc. but it seems quite a huge leap to switch between operating systems... don't get me wrong... i do like the Unix system... i just grew up with Windows and there're many things you just get used to because of the many different softwares you use in research... to be honest... I HATE COMPUTERS. they are great when they work. else, they are horrible monsters and vexing frustrations.
i have to get a new laptop soon... my current archaic, ancient, temperamental dell might just give up on me any day, it's motherboard is flaky -- that's the new replaced motherboard mind you (sob... the poor monster has had a couple of serious technical surgeries... thank goodness for extended warranty; don't leave home without it!). i've had it with dell. it's not as good as it used to be. i don't recommend it. period.
so it's between the X60-ultraportable Lenovo and the MacBook pro, with similar specifications.
they are both just as pricey... both with pros and cons...
at the end of the day i just need something portable, reliable, that works, and i can get my thesis done, and use it for future number crunching... brrrrrrrr.
gosh i hate decisions...
BTW, has anyone used BOOTCAMP? apart from the partition at installation of the OS, do you need to include in the partition, hard disk space for mac and windows applications/programmes separately and do the 2 operating systems share the same folders across platforms?! are partitioned macs stable?!
UPDATE!!!
lucky is she who gets a new lab-sponsored laptop... it's an ibm-lenovo with all the specs i want... maybe i might get to buy it off the lab if i end up loving it! that means... i get to wait a bit more wrt macs... what can i say... i am ALL SMILES =C)
except for "parallels" there is also
http://www.codeweavers.com/products/
hmm the monster died and woke up again... freaking out!
i think "parallels" emulates a 'virtual' machine?! "CrossOver" which you mentioned hasn't quite sorted / tested for MANY things e.g. SPSS... perhaps R will work fine on mac OS.
dual booting still seems the safest but annoying.
the other thing is apple has already advanced to using EFI to manage the hardware-software and higher level applications, while most other intel-based PCs are sill using BIOS... which will soon be replaced by the UEFI standards. =CS
Posted by: overacuppa on Monday, 15 January, 2007 at 04:36 hrsLucky you....maybe someone read your blog :)
Posted by: Gor on Friday, 19 January, 2007 at 09:54 hrsi hope not... i think it's just because it was a useful valid request?! =C)
Posted by: overacuppa on Friday, 19 January, 2007 at 14:25 hrs*Note: in case you were thinking of leaving a comment and the option isn't here anymore... it is because the comment section of each entry is closed after sometime to prevent malicious comments... if you are looking for the actual entry, type in the keyword(s) in the little box on the main page http://overacuppa.com where it says "fossicking pebbles & seashells" and press *search*... thank you for popping by and happy browsing!