Last night, I hosed my laptop (laptop + juice = so not a good idea). I don’t think it’s going to recover.
So. I’m in the market for a new laptop, and I happen to have enough money saved for one, since I’d been planning to replace the one I have in a few months anyhow.
Suggestions? I’ve been considering something from Apple, but I’d need to know if I can just plug in my cable modem, camera, etc., and whether the Word available for Macs is compatible with law firm usage.
I do not know about Word 2004’s compatibility with law firms. What’s the requirements there?
Vis a vis cameras, cable modems, etc, Apple hardware is generally thought of as being more reliably compatible with peripherals than PC hardware, and I think this is an accurate assessment.
It is a leap if you’re used to PC hardware/operating systems. Apples work differently. Some folks say they were smarter. I think they work well and if I didn’t have to know and support PC/Windows I would probably join Hanne in having Apple hardware.
Yes, you can plug things in and they will just work. I don’t remember the last time I had to install “drivers” for something to work.
The “Word available for Macs” is, as far as I know, just Word, the normal part of Office, but designed to work on a Mac. There should be no compatibility issues whatsoever.
I’ve sent stuff written in Mac Word to PC users and vice versa, and edited documents back and forth with no problems, including someone who I think uses Word 2007.
I’m a lawyer at a huge law firm in NYC, which uses the usual complement of Windows XP/Office software. I’ve been using macs at home for at least 8 years with minimal to no problems (it’s only gotten easier over the years - there used to be some citrix compatability issues, but those haven’t been a problem for at least 6 years). Office for Mac is entirely co-extensive with Office for windows, and I transfer documents back and forth all of the time. I actually just upgraded my “home” system to the latest iMac and Macbook Air (why yes, I am a geek).
Even better, the latest intel-based macs have bootcamp, which allows you to partition the drive and install a full version of windows. Part of the reason I upgraded is that we were converting our work system as the result of a merger, and I was worried that I might need windows for something. Turned out not to be necessary, but it’s available if you should need it.
Ah, thanks!
I knew asking a tech question would bring the lurkers out of the woodwork to talk about Macs!
Sam, the thing about citrix is apparently the only real issue, from the people I’ve talked to here. And I don’t do a lot with the citrix-based applications at my current gig.
Well, that settles it. Looks like a Mac is in my future.
I use a Citrix-based application to access the hospital information system. I can access the network fine from the Mac side but the McKesson program itself doesn’t work, although I don’t think it work with Firefox even on the Windows side. I have WinXP running through Parallels (another emulator) and I can do everything a PC can do. Nyah, nyah.
Sorry.
Anyway, what the ur-geeks I know tell me is that if you really need to run Windows, the most stable way to do it is not with an emulator but with another program that will boot the computer up in Windows and run it as native. If you do that, you can’t toggle back and forth from the Mac to the PC side, which I like to do, because then I can use my iTunes for background while I’m working and limit the amount of internet use on Windows - I only use IE on Windows to access the hospital, thereby (I hope) limiting my exposure to viruses and idiots.
Shorter Jay: Buy the MacBook and don’t look back.
You might want to check your peripherals… they’re either compatible or they aren’t. I went through a LOT of wireless USB mice trying to get something compatible with OS X. But most peripherals will work right away.
Do be careful with Word for Mac… If your lawfirm is a cross-platform environment and you rely heavily on merges (like, you keep all of your stuff in a database and then it will auto-populate the header of a discovery or something), see if anyone else in the office has a mac and if they’ve noticed anything peculiar when they go to merge. I have seen a LOT of weirdness between Mac and Windows versions of Word in my day. Honestly, the Macs usually come out better for it, but you don’t want the partner screaming at you if there’s a failure to communicate between them. Check the version that the PCs are running: if they’re running Office 2007, then they’re saving in a new format and you might have trouble opening documents made on the PC platform.
Also, I feel your pain. I had an awesome workhorse of a printer that didn’t work so great after I sort of accidentally dumped a Dr Pepper down its paper port. Nothing we’ve gotten since has been as reliable.
Jay: The dual-boot environment is called “Boot Camp”
If you’re going to go to a Mac, do remember that you’ll have to buy a full legal copy of Windows XP as well in order for Bootcamp to work–we use Examsoft at my law school, and at first, Mac users were told their computers would be fine to take their exams on; but we weren’t so happy when we ended up having to buy almost $400 worth of software to do it.
Okay, so now the question becomes: Which version of the laptop?
I can’t address the merge issues MP mentions, but buying or upgrading to Office 2008 for Mac should take care of the document version problems (.docx versus the old .doc format).
My company has a PC-based network (while my department runs all Macs) and we have a few server issues every now and then. One that you should be aware of if you work with video at all — you can’t store iMovie projects on a PC server at all. Finished movie files are fine, but the server can’t recognize a part of the code in the files and will corrupt them.
Regarding “Which version of the laptop?”
In a completely un-Apple-like move, the MacBook uses a magnetic closure that sits just above the… wait for it… harddrive. Which, of course, makes harddrive failure more likely. Once I knew this, I couldn’t get a MacBook in good conscience. I got a MacBook Pro, which uses a latch closure, and I completely love it. *SO* much better than my old PC.
If you feel compelled to get the MacBook (it’s much cheaper), I’d put some felt or lead based paint over the magnetic closure on the side with the harddrive… the Apple store people can tell you which one it is. Also, if you back up your data regularly to an external drive, none of the above matters too much.
Hm. Maybe an iMac would be a better idea.
Too bad I don’t actually have a desk.
By the way, did you have your hard drive contents backed up elsewhere? I had a De[vi]ll Inspiron (not a typo) in my undergrad days that I spilled a Diet Coke in; it ended up costing me $600 and voiding my warranty, but with a new motherboard, I still got two more years of use out of it.
No. My computer was a piece of crap, and anything important was stored online. The only thing I’ll really lose are my photos and one or two older writing samples. But the ones I use more frequently are attachments to emails I sent via gmail, so I can find them again.
I love my macbook air, but it’s not for everyone. As I mentioned above, I have both a desktop (iMac) and a laptop, so the laptop really only functions as a satellite for when I need to travel (which has been quite often for my job in the last few years). If you’re looking to make it your primary machine, it probably doesn’t have a big enough hard drive (max=80 gigs).
If you’re only going to get a laptop, I’d say splurge and get the MacBook Pro.