to Mac, or not to Mac

- that is the question. whether it be right to pay forth more for such a system or more wise to save with another. Okay, I have researched this to death. And I am still undecided. Mac, Vista, or XP What shall my new laptop be? MacBook would be a dream come true. But face it any laptop with more than my current .75gig of Ram and 40, yes that's 40, gig of hard drive would be a dream. I have to choose wisely because I want to be happy with my decision for the next 3,4 or 5 years. With a Dell 1520 I can get XP, Vista can be on a Toshiba (my current brand which I have been pleased with) or a Gateway (current sale makes this tempting) or shall I spring for the ultimate OS, a Mac. My requirements are 2 gig of ram (I use photoshop and other graphic intensive programs) and I am looking at 250 gig drives (I am currently maxed out with 40gig onboard and 160 gig external drive). Photos and digital scrapbooking supplies take up a lot of space. Yes, it would be cheaper to use a desktop but I love, love, love the portability. To me, that is important. That is why I have been using my 15" laptop instead of the desktop with dual monitors. Those monitors don't fit in my carry on bag too well.

The Mac costs more and would require me to use my windows software within a virtual windows environment, such as Parallels or VMware Fusion. And since I can't afford to upgrade my photoshop software, that is one of the programs in that virtual environment. FotoFusion is not available in a Mac version so it would have to stay virtual as well. And I have just started using ACDSee which is also not available in Mac. BUT Mozy, my online backup, is now offering a beta for a Mac version! Since I still have 9 months on my subscription for Mozy, that was good to hear. The MacBook is small, 13" size, which is awesome for portability but not so great for my aging eyes and graphics work. BUT DD is not using a nice LCD monitor since she has left her desktop at home and only took her laptop to college. She is allowing me to 'borrow' it for the time being. So the plus of small size portability and a nice 19" monitor sounds like an awesome setup to me. DS will be around this weekend and said he will install windows pscs on his Mac so that I can see if it is too slow in the VMware Fusion setting. I hope he can bring an adapter so I can try out the monitor thing too.

Now that Gateway laptop deal needs to be considered too. It would mean using Vista, which I have dreaded. But it would be half the price of the MacBook. 3gig ram, 250 gig drive and a pretty red laptop. I can't dismiss it. Yes, I know it is like comparing a chevy to a mercedes but this chevy had decent stuff. And I could buy a new chevy way sooner than getting a new mercedes. Hehehe, DH has dreamed of owning a mercedes. We even have a penny jar towards it. But we keep getting those Fords and Chevys.

DS1 and DS2 are both Mac guys, so too is DIL. DS3 is linux but recommends the Mac for me. DD is hoping to get a Mac come Aug after her summer of work. Whether 'tis nobler to join the fam or stand alone................... to be continued in a future post. (soon, I hope)