Recently I decided to get a new notebook. My current notebook is a Toshiba S1 with 1GB RAM and a ATI Mobile 9000 card. I needed to upgrade for several reasons. Firstly I need more RAM. I do distributed .NET development and presentations on the notebook and I want to run multiple Virtual PCs at once. One running a web server, another for the app server and one for the database server. With 1GB of RAM I can run one virtual machine but the others are really pushing it. Secondly I want to play around with Vista, I need a DirectX 9.0 graphics card. With this in mind I started looking for a notebook to meet my needs.
Needs:
- Presentations and office document creation (PowerPoint, Word, Excel)
- .NET development (3-Tier demonstrations... with 3 tiers)
- DirectX 9 capable (for Vista)
I have been reading about Apple's MacBook Pro and this started to look like a viable alternative. Apple offers a nice package, well thought out design, good hardware spec, with the capability of running both MacOS and Windows. Other notebooks offer similar features, but not the entire package.
I spent some time finding out the capabilities of the MacBook in relation to my requirements. A quick watch of the Fast OS Switching and related videos appear to demonstrate the ability for the MacBook to meet my most important requirement, multiple virtual machines. The main issue with these videos is that they are usually running only a web browser in each virtual machine. I need to do more. Based on the machine spec I believe that it will be capable of meeting my requirements.
So the Plan became:
* Get a MacBook Pro 2.16GHz with 2GB RAM (and faster disk).
* Get Office 2004
* Migrate Outlook to Entourage (Office 2004's equivalent to outlook)
* Install Parallels
* - Setup multiple virtual machines to enable distributed .NET development
* Install Boot Camp
* Install Vista in VM Ware within XP
This plan has recently been put into action. I have now received my MacBook Pro and have started the migration process. A few issues have arisen since I received the notebook. I need the following:
1: a keyboard that supports both Mac and Windows.
2: to be able to sync my PocketPC with Entourage
3: to be able to sync music with my Zen Neeon
The keyboard issue was one that I had not thought of before. At home I used a Logitech Cordless MX Duo that has drivers for both Mac and Windows, so problem solved. I will cover the other details as I go.
In the next part I will look at migrating my contacts and mail from Outlook to Entourage.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Migrating to Mac: Part 1
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3 comments:
In order to use activesync with OSX you will need third party software. A quick google should sort this out.
As for the keyboard, I use Mac keyboards exclusively now that I don't worry too much with windows. The easiest way would be get a Windows keyboard and then map the windows key to be the apple key which should be easy enough as a work around.
For the Zen micro, again no advice from experience, though it should simply appear as a USB drive.
Why not use Mail.app and iCal? I can't really comment on Mail.app, but iCal, IMO, is a superior calendar to Outlook .
Also, CrossOver Office for the Mac is in the works and reached Alpha a while ago.
Keyboard driver? The USB HID keyboard driver should talk to any USB keyboard in the world.
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