<p>First off I think i have made up my mind to go for a Macbook pro despite the price. I was thinking the 13" simply because it is better to carry around and it is cheaper. Now the question is.. Is the 2.53Ghz worth an extra $175 over the lower end 13" that has a 2.26Ghz. If i went with the lower end one i would upgrade the ram and hard drive equal to the upper end one, so i believe the only difference would be the processor, would this be worth an extra 175?</p>
<p>Second question is, if i run windows on my Mac am i exposed to viruses just like i was on a PC? I like the OS X system but i would probably run windows every once in a while for convenience since i am going into business, and most businesses use PC. But if i do this i do not want to be exposed to viruses, one of the reasons i am going with a Mac is to get out of the head aches of viruses and spyware. I am guessing if i surf the web on windows it is the same as using a PC? What if i stay off the web on Windows?</p>
<p>Any help with these few questions is appreciated.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Unless you absolutely need the processing power (judging by you asking us, I’d think you don’t), then it isn’t worth it. I personally did the same as your plan, bought the 2.26 and upgraded the RAM and HDD.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes. When you’re running Windows on your MacBook Pro, it’s just like any computer running Windows. The key to computer security isn’t just the operating system. Most of it lies in the user, what you do, and how you do it. What are your needs that require you to dual-boot, exactly? Or is it just for familiarity? If that’s the case, once you start using OS X, I think you’ll be pretty happy with it.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>no its not worth the extra $175. this is one of those things where if you have to ask its probably not for you, just because both of them will get the job done, and done well. </p>
<p>yes you’re just as likely to get a virus running windows on a mac as you are running it on a pc. if you get a virus in windows however, it wont affect your mac installation.</p>
<p>I probably do not need the processing power, i just use it for normal stuff like surfing the web, music, papers, and every once in a while a game or movie. I just didn’t really know if the difference between the two was a big difference or not. If it is considerably faster, i wouldn’t mind spending an extra $175, but for what i do, if it doesn’t make a big difference i would rather save my money.</p>
<p>As for windows, i figured it would be a good thing to have. The college im going to supports both platforms but the business school suggests that we go with windows, this is what they said…</p>
<p>“We recommend purchasing a PC for ease of compatibility with other students and faculty. Students are responsible and encouraged to do their own research on possible problems they may face by using a mac within a Business environment. We would also like to make them aware of any possible software incompatibilities that may arise should they choose to purchase any software that is required for class projects. (e.g. SPSS, or SAS…). However, some applications are made available through open PC labs within the Leeds School of Business.”</p>
<p>So i thought that having Windows would be a little nicer at time. For all personal use i would still use the OS X system, as that is a big reason i am buying a Mac. I suppose if i use Windows for strictly Business related stuff, the chances of getting a virus are very limited?</p>
<p>aforautumn - Thanks, so your saying if i happen to catch a virus on Windows, but then i switch back over to the OS X, the virus has no affect on it. My machine will still run just as fast with no problems because it is simply on the windows side of things?</p>
<p>I’m also a (soon-to-be) business student, but my school has been pushing hard for Macs. At the business orientation, they outlined that while there are some incompatibilities, there are work-arounds on them all. (I’m assuming their “work-arounds” are either Boot Camp, or a VM of sorts)</p>
<p>I’ll only be using my Windows partition when absolutely necessary, so I doubt I’ll even set up the Windows side to use the internet.</p>
<p>I can’t comment for sure on the virus question in post #5, but unless it’s something that tampers with the hardware, I don’t believe so. (Again, don’t take my word as fact, as I don’t know much about how many virus’ work)</p>
<p>viruses, i suppose, can in very extreme cases do some very low level damage, but i have never in my life heard of this first hand, and have never heard of it happen through reading, etc. there is next to no reason for the creator of a virus to do this anyways, which in its self is enough to make me disregard it as a threat.</p>
<p>if you got a ton of malware (which i hate to sound abrasive by saying shouldn’t really be an issue anyways) that cant be fixed by simply running a utility, then reinstalling windows should be a very simple and clean way of fixing this problem. since it isn’t your primary os, backing up shouldn’t be an issue.</p>
<p>For the record, I got a virus that in two weeks made my computer completely nonfunctional (I couldn’t even boot). I had to pay 100 dollars to get the data pulled from it, and I spent another day working on rebooting the entire system (which I eventually did, but I lost MS office, fireworks, flash, and a few other programs, not too mention all the stored files, which luckily I payed to get copied). This is all from one .exe file; I’m not a major downloader of risky files, and I run anti-spyware/malaware programs. And before that, I had three instances where popups became so frequent that I had to do an obscure clean in safe mode. Minor inconveniences? Not really. Is my computer back to normal? Yes, but for how long? This is why I’m getting a mac and running leopard or OSX or whatever in college, even though I like the windows interface. Even if your files are backed up in mac’s OS, I doubt that prorgrams would be (right?). And even then, just dealing with viruses are a major hassle. </p>
<p>Correct me if I’m wrong on any of this. I’m not too knowledgeable about computers.</p>
…and that’s probably why you had issues. The problem with antivirus software is that it provides a false sense of security by busily scanning things. A proper permissions system and a bit of caution would do far more good.</p>
<p>You just have to always be aware of your surroundings on the web and you should be fine. also, for your needs, i would recommend 2.26ghz because any mac(or computer at that) should be able to handle any of your basic web surfing and email needs. It may be a good idea though to upgrade if you think you may need it for video editing or anything that would put alot of strain on a normal computer</p>
<p>Alright thanks guys, i got one more question…</p>
<p>Since i may want to run Windows on my Mac, where should i get it. Would Windows 7 be the best thing to get? It is only $50 at best buy at the moment. I do not currently have any loadable Windows OS, other wise is there a way to get a or very cheap version of Windows XP (i want to stay away from Vista)?</p>
<p>windows 7.
its just a pre-order at best buy and doesn’t ship until october. if you buy vista right now, you get a free upgrade to windows 7. i dunno if best buy gives you vista to carry you over until october or not.</p>
<p>at this point, there’s really no point in staying away from vista. just sayin’</p>
<p>The only reason i would stay away from Vista is because it is currently $100+</p>
<p>I figured $50 is a decent price for a better OS that i won’t even use a lot anyway. I am also fine with XP, but i don’t really know where to get it. I can wait till October if i have to, I haven’t even ordered my computer yet and October is only a month or 2 into the school year. </p>
<p>Only reason i said i wanted to stay away from Vista is the price for a OS that hasn’t had a good reputation that i wouldn’t be using much.</p>
<p>quite a dilemma. i would recommend waiting for w7 (pre-ordering now), but if you find out you need it asap when school starts, you’ll be forced to get xp and end up paying $140 for 2 OS’s.</p>
<p>conversely, w7 is much better than xp, and if you pass up the preorder and get xp, you’re going to be stuck on an increasingly semi-obsolete OS for a number of years.</p>
<p>I’ll be a much better decision . Of course a faster processor and upgraded RAM/hard drive would be ideal, but if you’re choosing between the two definitely get the latter upgrades. I have the 13" Macbook 2.4 Ghz, and I recently upgraded the RAM to 4 GB DDR3 and the hard drive to a Seagate Momentus 7200.4 (500 GB 7200 RPM). It cost me less than $150 for both upgrades, so if you look for deals you can save a bunch.</p>
<p>^ I’d recommend buying straight from Apple. MacMall is usually good, but occasionally I’ve seen some problems, and they’re not the best in terms of customer service. Not sure about MacConnection.</p>
<p>Buying from Apple, though, you’ve got the education discount, iPod, and printer. Between my discount, and selling my iPod, my computer was quite cheap!</p>
<p>If you’re going to upgrade, you might as well get the higher end 13" model. I’m not exactly sure of the prices now, but $175 seems to be about the range I paid to upgrade to 4 gigs of memory and a bigger HD. </p>
<p>Unless you upgrade on your own, that is. Much cheaper.</p>