One Step Closer to Conversion

I so badly want to scrap my windows laptop for the new Intel-based MacBook Pro, but I am held back by the need to run certain windows apps, mainly Outlook.  The Gotham Gal has solved this problem by using Entourage, but that just doesn't cut it for me.

Today Apple announced a beta release of Boot Camp which allows you to boot the MacBook Pro (and all other Intel based Macs) in either OSX or XP.

That's not completely ideal (what I really want is to be running both OS's at the same time and be able to toggle back and forth between apps on both), but its a step closer.

Boot Camp is going to be part of the next release of OSX, called Leopard.

Comments

[Tom W.]

Made the switch last year for home machine - it's a great little laptop but (at least with last year's model) underpowered compared to my ThinkPad - and the wireless sucks - though I hear Apple's been working on it...Also, the Apple photo suite is strangely not nearly as good as ADobe's light stuff - Photoshop and Album. Was shocked to find Apple so far behind in managing and editing pics...

[Berislav Lopac]

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/virtualpc/virtualpc.aspx

[Ted W.]

Fred,

I use Mac for most things at home and PCs at work. I agree that the ideal would be simultaneous usage, however for me this made a future purcahse that much easier.

Tom W. mentions underpowered performance next to his Thinkpad, which is true for the PowerPC chips. However the new Intel-based Macs are essentially the same as the ThinkPads, thus there should not be any significant power trade-offs.

Berislav cits Virtual PC, but at this point MS has not agreed to support Intel-based Macs (...perhaps they understood that the dual-boot option was coming). VirtualPC is workable if you have plenty of time on your hands. It is far to slow to use pratically.

I use Outlook at the office, but still prefer Entourage. There are some issues that it does not synchronize everything with Exchange however.

Jobs has certainly been thinking of this move for a long time and I suspect that there are other surprises ahead.

[Andrew Parker]

Fred,

Just VNC your worries away. Take your existing PC computer and boot it up in the corner of your office. Allow remote desktop access (this is built into XP Pro, but if you don't have XP Pro then just grab some VNC software). Turn off the monitor and make sure the hard drive won't turn off if the computer is idle too long.

On your shiny new MacBook Pro you can switch between four different desktops, one of which you can set to be your remote PC desktop. Now you have access to outlook and XP through the form factor of a PC. Since high speed connections are available everywhere, you'll experience virtually no lag.

I saw a SysAdmin at AOL doing this, so although I'm a little shaky on the details of implementation I've seen it work in practice.

~Andrew

[Mark Thomson]

I second Andrew's comments about remote desktop. I've got my old PC humming away in the corner, and I can connect with RD from my Mac in a click. Copy and Paste works perfectly, so it's pretty much like having both OS's running right there on your machine (except without the slowdowns you'd expect).

You don't even need to have a monitor running on your PC - Hook your monitor up to your new Mac laptop and go dual screen...

Lastly - If you need Windows access on the go, you can set up port forwarding on your router and bingo! you have access to windows via Remote Desktop anywhere there's internet.

[Mathew Ingram]

Sounds like true virtualization may be coming soon, Fred -- that means running both OSes simultaneously, and much faster than emulation software like VirtualPC.

[Joe Block]

True virtualization isn't coming soon, Mark, it's here - Parallels just released a beta of their parallelization software at http://www.parallels.com/en/products/workstation/mac/.