Hello!

I have decided to buy a macintosh laptop. Having group up on non-Mac
PCs, my only prior usage of Macs happens to be at my college library.
I am looking for answers to the following questions:

1. Would I be able to connect the Mac laptop to our LAN network, at
work. All other computers at work are Non-Macs and we use Microsoft's
products (operating systems to run all computers and the server).

2. Would I be able to run products that were made for a Microsoft
environment? For instance, one of our products is being developed in
VB with MS-Access as the backend. I wish to install this on the Mac
laptop and do some testing.

3. Any other suggestions to this MAC numbskull (myself) such as the
preferred laptop configuration, operating system to choose
(considering #2, above) and any other externals products that would be
necessary to make optimum utilization of this MAC laptop would be
appreciated.

Thanks,
Pat79

Hi pat79,
Some things to consider:
If you're buying a Mac Laptop with the 
latest version (preferrably) of Mac OS X...

1.)  You should be able to connect your Mac laptop to the LAN network
2.)  You can run products made for a Windows environment using Virtual PC
(also by Microsoft)
Please note that a Macintosh Version of Microsoft Office exists.
However the Macintosh version of Office does not include MS-Access.

3.)  Load up on Memory for your iBook/Powerbook especially if you still
require Windows environment software.
Something like 512MB RAM should be enough for now.
Mac OS X Version: 10.3+


I hope that helps you in your purchasing decision.

Please let me know if you have anymore questions.

-googleexpert

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Request for Answer Clarification by pat79-ga on 04 Oct 2004 14:26 PDT

Thanks for the answer. Just wanted to find out the difference between
an iBook and a PowerBook? Do you think a G3 with 512MB RAM be good
enough for running applications designed for Microsoft... as I
mentioned earlier? as I do not want to spend close to $2000 for a G4
Powerbook with 512 MB RAM.

Thanks, in advance.

---

Clarification of Answer by googleexpert-ga on 04 Oct 2004 19:04 PDT

Hi again,
Just wanted to let you know that all New iBook modles have the G4
processor and are priced
above $1099
http://www.apple.com/ibook/

As it stands right now, iBooks and Powerbooks don't have much of a
difference except for screen size and prices.
Prices of iBooks usually range from $1099 and up
Whereas Powerbooks usually range from $1500 and up.

I think a G3 with 512MB RAM would be suitable for a Windows Environment.
As a matter of fact, I had 256MB RAM when I was using Visual C++

Since you do not want to spend over $2000 for a Powerbook, I recommend
you get the latest
iBook model preferrably with a G4 processor.

Hope that helps.

Sincerely,

-googleexpert

Great Job!

Thank you very much for the 5-Star rating!

Really appreciate it.

-googleexpert