Dare I say it....macintosh?

[geoff]

I'm about to change jobs and my new boss is a macintosh fan. I know nothing about macs so I have a couple of questions about this dual quad core xeon macbook at <ahref="http://www.applemac.biz/apple-quad-xeon-28ghz-processor-version-pID-57.html/applemac.biz</a>
1. does it run windows/max/vray any PC software?
2. Are there any pitfalls/problems/issues.
3. can you have a network with the 2 off them
3. are they a good deal?
I've just had a look at some prices and they seem cheap compared to a PC of the same spec. I possibly could build a PC myself for cheaper but can't be arsed!
I have searched the forum and it seems possible, ....but well its a mac

Thanks Geoff

[RErender]

Not really any such thing as a "mac" these days, the days of the power pc are over we're all running on the same platform now, only real difference is the OS. Pretty sure bootcamp will run on the latest macbooks, if so windows max and vray will run fine.

[geoff]

Excellent. 1400 quid seems very cheap. Dells were 2k for a similar PC

[thumpa]

I use a MacPro at home and I absolutely love it.

There is only one consideration to be aware of. Some people have reported losing their 3ds Max authorisation when switching between MacOS and Windows via Boot Camp. The way around this seems to be to use separate hard drives for each OS and not to use one drive that is partitioned.

There are more graphics card options available now, but you won't be able to put any card you like in there and expect to to just work. The Mac uses EFI instead of a BIOS and hardware needs to be EFI aware in order to work.

Other than that, it really is a very nice machine. It is by far the quietest box I have ever worked on. Under heavy load my CPU's rarely go above 36 degrees in Summer.

At the time I purchased mine - just over a year ago - I couldn't put the same spec machine together myself for the same price.

I can assure you that I'm no fanboy - just recommending a great piece of kit.

[geoff]

thanks for the info thumpa, wish i'd realised this 6 months ago. spent this much on a much lower spec PC. Doh

[peterguthrie]

I have a quad core 3ghz mac pro and a macbook pro, nothing but praise for them.

Wait till you have a look inside the mac pro - you'll never see a better built machine. I recently upgraded the graphics card and memory, it was a joy compared to the machines I have upgraded in the past.

Apple have recently released 64 bit bootcamp drivers for xp and vista, so now everything works. Previously I think it was just the bluetooth that I couldn't find a driver for.