I'm either going to love it or want to smash it against a wall

[fishpatrol]

I once told myself that I would never succumb to the lure of Apple products. But alas, I just threw away a chunk of my savings on a Macbook and an iPod Touch. I was very, very close to buying a Lenovo ThinkPad, but Apple's customer service won out. If something breaks, I'd at least be able to get it assessed in person and not have it shipped off to God knows where. I plan to buy a large monitor so that I won't have to squint at the 13" screen at home. Apparently, you can run Windows on one screen and Mac OS on the other -- that sounds pretty awesome.

Mac experts on my flist: is it very taxing on the processor to run both Windows XP and Mac OS simultaneously? Also, what do you guys use to burn data CDs and DVDs? I'm currently using Nero SmartStart (with a registration code I found illicitly XD) -- I don't believe it's available for Mac? And what anti-virus and anti-spyware programs do you guys use? Or are Macs completely immune from viruses and spyware?

I can't wait to get my iPod Touch because my Meizu Mini busted itself again (I was trying to fix a problem by updating the firmware and then it just died). Thankfully my mother has agreed to loan me her teeny tiny Creative Zen player until my iPod arrives. Maybe I should keep a stock of those cheap little $10-$20 mp3 players as back-ups...

I had "DON'T PANIC" engraved on the back of my iPod, because yay, geeky sci-fi references. And also, I do have need of that constant reminder since I've been on the edge of a panic attack for months.

Comments

[trixie-chick.livejournal.com]

i don't run windows on any mac of mine, but yeah, i've heard that's a bit taxing. you use your mac to burn cd/dvds. ^_^;;; you don't need secondary programming to do data. at all. just. make your folder of files, and click burn. couldn't be simpler. ^_^ i don't use any anti-viral atm, just trusting mac's closed OS and firefox because the last time i had norton, it was just a pain in the ass. (bad, i know...) macs aren't completely immune.... but they are a LOT better off. spyware won't be much of an issue, and like i said, the OS is a closed system, as opposed to windows being an open system, so it's a lot harder, plus fewer people have macs, so it's not worth the effort for the hackers.

♥ don't panic, awesome.

[fishpatrol]

but yeah, i've heard that's a bit taxing

Hmm, I should probably think twice before running Bootcamp then. I've only got a 2.13 GHz processor and 2 GB RAM. :x

I'm afraid that as Macs get more popular, more hackers will become willing to write viral codes targeted at Macs, lol. I'm using AVG right now, but again, it's one of those Windows-only programs.

Thanks for all the info! <3 The ease of burning discs sounds awesome.

[trixie-chick.livejournal.com]

it depends on what you need windows for, of course. might be good to get an idea from someone who has had actual experience with it... search around the mac help forum. usually a good place for answers.

well, it's true that more popularity means more users ie more targets, but the OS is a bit more safeguarded, anyway. windows is built like a lego castle, where things can just add in easily. mac is a bit more closed, so... it's a bit harder. not impossible, but. try searching around for a mac security program. i'm sure there are good alternatives that aren't that costly. ^_~

yeah, it kinda boggles me that pcs can't do that. ^_^;;;;;

[fishpatrol]

I haven't had any virus or spyware problems on my PC, but that's because I'm super paranoid and have multiple programs running in the background. It's good to know that I can be a bit less cautious about these things now! :) I'll need an anti-virus program to access my uni's wireless and they offer a really ucky version of Norton, so I'll have to dig around for an alternative.

There are programs to burn discs on the PC, but they seem to be for music CDs and video DVDs whereas I just want to burn data files. So, yeah, Mac wins on that one. ;)