Thread

i was given an option as to what kind of machine i wanted to use at the last agency i worked for. i had always used a desktop machine in the past but was somewhat intrigued with having a more mobile solution. i ended up going with the laptop and was extremely pleased with my decision. though not a top of the line model, the 15 inch macbook pro was more than up to the challenge in terms of power and performance. with a 24 inch dell monitor as my primary and the laptop as my secondary, i never felt restricted in the slightest.

I’m looking at buying the entry level MacBook Pro with 4 gig of ram. I want to test in multiple operating systems so I thought 4 gig of ram would be good for that.

Has anybody tried running other operating systems in virtual machines on the Mac OS with 2 gig of ram? Would it be too slow in 2 gig of ram?

I was originally looking at the Mac Mini but a laptop seems more flexible.

Thanks

Apple just bumped up the Macbook Pro. Tasty!

Actually the Macbook’s did too 😊

Whatever you do, don’t buy memory from Apple. =)

I highly recommend buying from Crucial.com.  Apple trusts the ram, great pricing, and quality.  I have purchased 100’s of gigs of ram from Crucial without issue 😊

I have bought ram from Apple before, but that was before I knew better. Now I buy from Crucial when I need extra. Last time I took my powerbook in for some repair, they said my ram (from crucial) was bad and they removed it from the machine and told me I needed to replace it. It works just fine though so it may have been a tech jerking me around. I have it in several other machines though and have never had issue with it.

I guess buying from apple is easier for people that are afraid to open the case. It doesn’t get a whole lot easier than adding ram though.

I vote for Nevin’s way (a reasonable desktop Mac with a MacBook for the portability factor) or if you really like to have everything with you all of the time without needing to sync files then get the 15” Macbook Pro.  The 17” is just too heavy to carry around regularly (in my opinion).

I have a Macbook Pro and it’s currently my main machine with no complaints.  I do still miss my 12” from time to time for its sheer portability but the extra screen resolution on the 15” is really nice when doing dev work.

Jamie

Portable all the way.  I use a Macbook for everything, and I love it.  At home, I hook it up to a 24” monitor and have two screens and a full setup. But for the many times I need to bring it with me - just can’t beat it.

Second this emotion. In addition, let me highly recommend Zooom. Check the “Allow four corner (quadrant) resize (beta)” options and when plugged in to the big screen, “Bring window under mouse to front after:”, which I’m pretty sure is how NExT machines worked and makes sense when you have enough screen real estate not to be alt-tabbing.

Also, Spaces. But that’s another story.

I used to work on my powerbook for web design and development. Then I setup my 24” I mac and I can tell you its 100x better with a bigger brighter screen. The colours are much better and you don’t have to worry about batter life.

On the other hand if you doing a lot of travelling or demoing sites to clients that a macbook pro running the site locally will help alot.

Also getting a iMac this week (pending arrival of income tax check!)
Going for the 2.0GHx 20inch model with base RAM ... and thanks to this discussion, will stop by Crucial for the upgrade!
😊
Thanks for tips kids!

I just upgraded my imac with 2gb ram from Express Powermac Solutions - epowermac.com.au/ (Australian) ... best thing I could have ever done.. Service was brilliant. It arrived overnight with a chocolate inside!

My extra RAM didn’t include any chocolate. What a rip-off. 😉

I have bought G.SKILL memory from NewEgg for the past few years, as it’s the only non-Crucial brands I’ve found to have the precise timing needed to work flawlessly with Apple logic boards, and it’s incredibly cheap.

Has anybody tried running other operating systems in virtual machines on the Mac OS with 2 gig of ram? Would it be too slow in 2 gig of ram?

I run Vista on a Macbook via Fusion with only 2G ram and do not experience any slowness. I don’t leave Vista running all the time, but use it for the windows apps I need to use at times or testing a site in IE7.

Also getting a iMac this week (pending arrival of income tax check!)
Going for the 2.0GHx 20inch model with base RAM ... and thanks to this discussion, will stop by Crucial for the upgrade!
😊
Thanks for tips kids!

seriously, pay the extra and get the 24”.