Commerce & Macbook Qs.

Red Alert

Reason I advise against Boot Camp is the reason I avoid dual booting on PC hardware also - it's generally a bad idea, and can sometimes break things like instant suspend/resume. Unless you're a computer whiz, you should not be playing with your boot sector. Parallels is fine for commerce-type apps, hell I even run compiles on it to test Windows builds.

Actually while we're on the topic, the number of commerce-related mac questions does seem to be growing. It might be good for reference if ILTG said they'd allow (not necessairly support) someone using Boot Camp (should be no contest) or a virtualization package like Parallels or VMWare Fusion.

Stabshauptmann

conor2007 wrote: »

printing-ucd give ya a mem stick so i would go to dadelus or anywhere with a printer and print that way

Glad to know you were just talking through your ass.

remus808

Kaptain Redeye wrote: »

Glad to know you were just talking through your ass.

FYI I print this way too.. Does it offend your sensibilites somehow?

Stabshauptmann

I dont see how its relevant.

If connor2007 had said, true you may have some printing difficulties in the Quinn school but these can be overcome by doing X,y, or Z* or you could print somewhere else in UCD, well that would be a helpful and informative post

*because to the best of my knowledge there is a way, Im just not familiar with the details of the problem let alone the solution.

But if he wants to offer an unfounded opinion and present it as fact, then backtrack, ofcourse Im gonna call him on talking through his ass. Why? Because when I ask questions, and I do ask a lot of questions, Id like people to give me honest, knowledgeable answers. Nobody should really have to be pulled up twice in the same (short) thread on presenting speculation as fact.

Telling someone you will have no problems printing in the Quinn school is not the same as telling them alternative places they can print.

woop

have a look at the dell xps 13.3 ones
theyre fairly nice compare well with the macbooks lighter too

thinking bout getting myself one

armada104

conor2007, I don't at all agree with the Quinn School's policy re Macs, but for you to continue to advise the OP to buy one is just irresponsible and very strange.

c7 WILL experience problems with a Mac in the Quinn School. At worst they'll simply tell him to go away and get a new laptop, at best he'll have to use Boot Camp (and btw c7 I'd definitely get in touch with them about that, because I'm not too sure they'd be OK with it).

It baffles me that you can still try to mislead someone into making what could be a costly mistake after being told categorically that you are wrong.

Ernie Ball

Hang on a second. Current macs are PCs. You can make Windows your primary OS or even your only OS. They are similarly spec-ed to Dells and others.

If Quinn insists on PCs running Windows, there's no way they can object to a Mac running windows.

Red Alert

I can't see how they would either - if all else fails stick an 'IBM' sticker over the Mac logo while it's boot camped temporairly. (Technically I don't think they should be objecting to virtualised instances of XP/Vista either).

How would they feel about a vista machine running XP in VMWare for example? Do they block your ability to progress in your course or does it just mean you've no support?

Stabshauptmann

It just means youve no support.

Ive seen some guys from erasmus here with macs, but Ive known others to get rid of it and buy a dell.

If you feel you can manage, go for it. To be honest, you dont need the laptop in class *that* much, some classes will ban it. But when you do need it, if anything goes wrong, you have no fall back.

conor2007

i advised him/her - didnt tell them to buy it

quinn ask for windows - not dell or whatever

macs are easier for ''beginners'' or whatever word you used to the equivelant

why use wireless printing/wired printing

ucd give you mem sticks - in my opinion its easier to use them

boot camp isnt the best option - it does run windows natively and stable but still -but since you get it for ''free'' im just suggesting it

conor2007

''no fall back''

quinn it can fix some things - what if your hard drive is wiped or something happens with a virus

your screwed then cos dell support ''sucks balls''

Raphael

A) When you get a Quinn laptop, they ghost the hard drive. Their fixall is to take your laptop, format the hardrive, apply ghost, give it back to you as it was when tehy got it. This is a great system.

I've had a dell laptop for almost a year, during which time I have had a number of problems, 2 of which were major (PSU going ****ways, keyboard key getting lost). In the first case, dell sent out an engineer within a week, who replaced my motherboard. In the second case, they couriered me a new keyboard within a few days. That keyboard has currently stopped working, I emailed them yesterday and FULLY expect equally excellent treatement. Care to share the experiences on which you're basing your accusation that dell support "sucks balls"? It's not in anyway relevant to the matter at hand, just curious why you have a negative opinion to what, in my experience, is an excellent service and a very good reason to buy from dell.

graduate

Dell support might not be great, but if you buy a Quinn machine you have support other than dealing with Dell as an individual customer. It is this support with the ability to ghost disks etc that makes life so much easier for someone with a standard machine. A Mac with Windows might work, but it won't have the ease of use advantage and try getting support from anyone for this setup. A dual boot machine will not be easier for beginners.

conor2007

dell are known for making the laptops not for their customer care

if you buy from a shop - at least you can go back in and visit them

you can ghost the windows half (im sure) - more often than quinn would

Breezer

Bottom line is, if something goes wrong with your MacBook and you're going to be without it for even a day or two while it gets serviced, you have no excuse - you were told not to buy one. Your problem if you need it for tests in that period.

If something goes wrong with one of Quinn's supported laptops, you have a leg to stand on and have a better chance to force the staff to accommodate you.

OP - buy one of Quinn's supported laptops. The staff are incredibly anti-Mac, and regardless of how stupid that stance is, you're not going to change it. You'll regret buying a Mac if you do. Buy an Apple laptop in 3 years when you qualify if you like.

(Written on my MacBook, which I love and would never consider exchanging for a Dell or similar if I had the choice.)

ucdperson

if you buy from a shop - at least you can go back in and visit them

and if you get a standard Quinn laptop you can drop it in there, stick your hard disk into a spare machine, head back to class, while your laptop is sent off to Dell for repair.

you can ghost the windows half (im sure) - more often than quinn would

You can do this anyway. But who bothers?

The staff are incredibly anti-Mac, and regardless of how stupid that stance is,

Why is this unreasonable, business almost universally uses PCs, so why is a PC platform not a reasonable choice for a business school? It is easy to say that you can have Macs with Parallels and so on, but would you want to support this on 2000 machines operated by Commerce students, most of whom had no interest in computing whatsoever.

Raphael

conor2007 wrote: »

dell are known for making the laptops not for their customer care

if you buy from a shop - at least you can go back in and visit them

you can ghost the windows half (im sure) - more often than quinn would

They are "Known" are they?

I am telling you, from personal experience, that dell tech support is incredible, and since you don't seem to have evidence of any kind to the contrary, then please stop propogating rumours.

Breezer

ucdperson wrote: »

Why is this unreasonable, business almost universally uses PCs, so why is a PC platform not a reasonable choice for a business school? It is easy to say that you can have Macs with Parallels and so on, but would you want to support this on 2000 machines operated by Commerce students, most of whom had no interest in computing whatsoever.

Sorry, I should clarify my statement: "regardless of how stupid you perceive this to be". I accept that most businesses use Windows, and I accept the reasons why. I also accept that Quinn supporting Macs would require a lot of time and expense.

To those suggesting Quinn should support Macs running Windows in some manner, it's not that simple - Macs use a completely different booting architecture to PCs, for example. To the end-user, a Mac running Windows under Boot Camp is a PC. To support staff, it's something different

Again, before I get flamed - I am a huge Apple fan, am using a MacBook to write this, and would never use a PC if given the choice. However, having previously shouted ad complained about Quinn's policy, I have now (grudgingly) accepted that institutions have the right to set their own IT policies.

Stabshauptmann

conor2007 wrote: »

i advised him/her - didnt tell them to buy it

You present your opinions as fact, and despite being shown more than once your assumptions about Quinn to be incorrect continue to act like an expert on the matter.

quinn ask for windows - not dell or whatever

Their requirements are a little more specific than just windows, it must be Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (English), other versions of windows or even other versions of XP will not be accepted.

macs are easier for ''beginners'' or whatever word you used to the equivelant

Another example of your opinion, not any fact.

And the above segment is a prime example of the terrible grammar which makes your posts hard to read. Note, Im not so anal as to complain of the odd typo, nobody really expects perfect grammar, but Ive had to read most of your posts twice to figure out what you're trying to say. There is a general lack of grammar and coherency in your posts

why use wireless printing/wired printing

There is no wireless printing in the Quinn school. Network-Printing can only be done over the wired network.
If you cant access the wired network your problems go far beyond printing, you cannot participate in e-learning assessments. This is a serious problem.

ucd give you mem sticks - in my opinion its easier to use them

It is easier to always carry your memory stick, save your file to it, walk to another building, que for a machine, print, and come back to Quinn than to simply press the print button in word and get your printing from the Machine right beside you?
/edit: Thats a rather insensible, idiotic opinion!

What are the possible advantages to what you are suggesting?

conor2007

okay

imo , you will have less problems with the macbook

but im not in quinn school.

conor2007

''you're an idiot''

and i present my opinions as facts?
pot - kettle - black ?

Stepherunie

Please tell me that this is exam stress which has caused this amount of grumpiness to be going on in this thread.

OP do as many have suggested and contact Quinn.

Also my own two cents; with the number of specifics that are needed for Quinn I'd suggest that you may have an easier time with a Dell rather than a mac, not to mention purchasing a mac and then office 2007 and xp professional would be rather more expensive than buying a dell, selling it once you've completed your degree and buying a mac then.

conor2007

yes , true and by then a new os would be out , so that would be good ^

Stabshauptmann

conor2007 wrote: »

okay

imo , you will have less problems with the macbook

but im not in quinn school.

At last the world is safe from manbearpig...

pot - kettle - black ?

Not in this thread at least:p

Though I thought about it and having the odd idiotic opinion isnt enough to categorically call someone an idiot.