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I have a MacBook and I am hoping to use it in the fall at BC. However, after getting a letter from Technology Services that says that Mac's are supported but need to have Microsoft Windows installed for exams I'm wondering if it might just be easier to get a moderately priced pc for exams. I am hoping to get some insight from current students about how easy/difficult it is to get by with a Mac at BC. I'd really appreciate any help on the subject....

Thx

Wondering about this as well.

I'm not a BC student, but I think this is the case with a number of schools using exam software that is run on Windows only.

It would seem easy enough to install bootcamp, or whatever it is, and install Windows on a separate partition to use for tests.

I have experience with bootcamp. I use the virtual PC program Vmware. You can have both open at the same time. It's totally legit. Check it out at Apple.com or Vmware.com. I personally would not buy a PC just for this. It is easy enough to figure the dual system out. Once it's set up you should have no problems.

A ton of students at my school use macbooks. I would say that it is about 60/40 in favor of windows. They have no trouble using the macs. You do need to pay for and install windows. Other than that, there is not much to worry about.

I will use windows to the day I die!!!

For the sake of reliability, I'd recommend a Thinkpad.

Imagine your 3 year old laptop failing on you the night before or the morning of finals. Could happen to anybody, but perhaps you should look into how rugged Macbooks are.

I'm getting a Mac more for reliability than anything else- I've had enough of "The-Blue-Screen-Of-Death". When I sat in on a 3L lecture at BC I noticed that almost everyone was using a Mac.

Katerina wrote:I'm getting a Mac more for reliability than anything else- I've had enough of "The-Blue-Screen-Of-Death". When I sat in on a 3L lecture at BC I noticed that almost everyone was using a Mac.

Same. I'm bringing my Macbook pro and install windows on it so I can use onenote.

I'm a BC student. About half of my section, if not more, used Macs. As long as it's an Intel-based Mac, you're fine. We take exams on Examsoft (or handwritten in bluebooks), which is a godawful program that's only available for Windows. You cannot run Examsoft through Parallels or Vmware. About halfway through the semester, IT Services will offer a bootcamp seminar where they provide Windows XP and walk you through setting it all up for free (or, alternatively, you can drop your Mac off for two hours and they'll do it for you, also free).

The biggest problem with having a Mac is remembering to update Windows XP prior to exams as opposed to say, right as it's rebooting in the middle of the exam (the last person you want to be is the one that's holding up the rest of the class as your computer decides it wants to take 5 minutes to reboot and stressed out law students are giving you dagger eyes). There were only two technical issues during the exams that I took last year - one involving an older Intel Mac and the other involving an Netbook, so I'd say your odds aren't any higher that your Mac will crap out in the middle of exam just because it's running Bootcamp. And the good news is that in both scenarios, the exam progress was saved and the individuals just had to finish their exams in bluebooks.

Also, for the person interested in using OneNote, have you checked out the Notebook layout in Word2008 for Mac? It allows you to scribble notes, draw diagrams, and record audio write into the Word file. It's provided for free at BC through the IT website.

tempurabanana wrote:I'm a BC student. About half of my section, if not more, used Macs. As long as it's an Intel-based Mac, you're fine. We take exams on Examsoft (or handwritten in bluebooks), which is a godawful program that's only available for Windows. You cannot run Examsoft through Parallels or Vmware. About halfway through the semester, IT Services will offer a bootcamp seminar where they provide Windows XP and walk you through setting it all up for free (or, alternatively, you can drop your Mac off for two hours and they'll do it for you, also free).

The biggest problem with having a Mac is remembering to update Windows XP prior to exams as opposed to say, right as it's rebooting in the middle of the exam (the last person you want to be is the one that's holding up the rest of the class as your computer decides it wants to take 5 minutes to reboot and stressed out law students are giving you dagger eyes). There were only two technical issues during the exams that I took last year - one involving an older Intel Mac and the other involving an Netbook, so I'd say your odds aren't any higher that your Mac will crap out in the middle of exam just because it's running Bootcamp. And the good news is that in both scenarios, the exam progress was saved and the individuals just had to finish their exams in bluebooks.

Also, for the person interested in using OneNote, have you checked out the Notebook layout in Word2008 for Mac? It allows you to scribble notes, draw diagrams, and record audio write into the Word file. It's provided for free at BC through the IT website.

Thanks so much for the helpful information! Do you prefer Word2008 to onenote? What are the key differences? Also, should I hold off partitioning my harddrive for windows for the free windows XP? Thank!

tram988 wrote:Thanks so much for the helpful information! Do you prefer Word2008 to onenote? What are the key differences? Also, should I hold off partitioning my harddrive for windows for the free windows XP? Thank!

I really don't know what the differences are between OneNote and Word2008 for Mac, except that I had a friend who had this elaborate plan to run Parallels and use OneNote on her Mac and when I told her about the NoteBook layout in Word (especially the audio recording), she breathed a huge sigh of relief and just used that instead. If you have your BC login already, you can go to the IT website and download the program here:

http://www.bc.edu/software/applications/office.html

And I'd definitely wait until school starts for the free copy of Windows and the walkthrough on Bootcamp. Unless you're dying to play a video game or something, in which case - install now and play to your heart's content, because there isn't time for that in law school

tempurabanana wrote:

tram988 wrote:Thanks so much for the helpful information! Do you prefer Word2008 to onenote? What are the key differences? Also, should I hold off partitioning my harddrive for windows for the free windows XP? Thank!

I really don't know what the differences are between OneNote and Word2008 for Mac, except that I had a friend who had this elaborate plan to run Parallels and use OneNote on her Mac and when I told her about the NoteBook layout in Word (especially the audio recording), she breathed a huge sigh of relief and just used that instead. If you have your BC login already, you can go to the IT website and download the program here:

http://www.bc.edu/software/applications/office.html

And I'd definitely wait until school starts for the free copy of Windows and the walkthrough on Bootcamp. Unless you're dying to play a video game or something, in which case - install now and play to your heart's content, because there isn't time for that in law school

You are a savior I'm lovin BC already.

Katerina wrote:I'm getting a Mac more for reliability than anything else- I've had enough of "The-Blue-Screen-Of-Death". When I sat in on a 3L lecture at BC I noticed that almost everyone was using a Mac.

If this were any other forum, I'd be calling this flame and fanboyism.

The blue screen of death is a meme arising from Windows 95, after 95 the blue screen you usually see comes from hardware failure. If a mac gets a hardware failure, it'll bring up a faded mac logo with an arbitrary message. Besides, if your school's software is only for Windows... you'll need to install Windows on your Mac. Congrats, you just paid the Apple tax for a PC.

Anyways, all things aside - the unibody Macs are pretty reliable but it's really all about where on the fence you want to land. Apple makes Macbooks with the assumption that they'll upgrade every other upgrade(2-3 years) to have the newest and coolest, where a company like IBM/Lenovo sells their Thinkpads on the basis that companies/public institutions are going to buy Thinkpads for "mission critical" applications, a condition of the contracts made with these institutions.

I award you no points for your ignorance.

ResolutePear wrote:

Katerina wrote:I'm getting a Mac more for reliability than anything else- I've had enough of "The-Blue-Screen-Of-Death". When I sat in on a 3L lecture at BC I noticed that almost everyone was using a Mac.

If this were any other forum, I'd be calling this flame and fanboyism.

The blue screen of death is a meme arising from Windows 95, after 95 the blue screen you usually see comes from hardware failure. If a mac gets a hardware failure, it'll bring up a faded mac logo with an arbitrary message. Besides, if your school's software is only for Windows... you'll need to install Windows on your Mac. Congrats, you just paid the Apple tax for a PC.

Anyways, all things aside - the unibody Macs are pretty reliable but it's really all about where on the fence you want to land. Apple makes Macbooks with the assumption that they'll upgrade every other upgrade(2-3 years) to have the newest and coolest, where a company like IBM/Lenovo sells their Thinkpads on the basis that companies/public institutions are going to buy Thinkpads for "mission critical" applications, a condition of the contracts made with these institutions.

I award you no points for your ignorance.

I've never had a Mac before so definitely not one of those "Jobs is my God" kids- but I'll give them a shot. Plus, I'll take bringing a faulty laptop to an Apple store and speaking to a real person any day over spending 14 hours on the phone with 6 different people (who just end up telling you "oh, you'll need to mail that in to us... we can get it back to you in a few weeks" which turns into 2+ months).

Katerina wrote:

ResolutePear wrote:

Katerina wrote:I'm getting a Mac more for reliability than anything else- I've had enough of "The-Blue-Screen-Of-Death". When I sat in on a 3L lecture at BC I noticed that almost everyone was using a Mac.

If this were any other forum, I'd be calling this flame and fanboyism.

The blue screen of death is a meme arising from Windows 95, after 95 the blue screen you usually see comes from hardware failure. If a mac gets a hardware failure, it'll bring up a faded mac logo with an arbitrary message. Besides, if your school's software is only for Windows... you'll need to install Windows on your Mac. Congrats, you just paid the Apple tax for a PC.

Anyways, all things aside - the unibody Macs are pretty reliable but it's really all about where on the fence you want to land. Apple makes Macbooks with the assumption that they'll upgrade every other upgrade(2-3 years) to have the newest and coolest, where a company like IBM/Lenovo sells their Thinkpads on the basis that companies/public institutions are going to buy Thinkpads for "mission critical" applications, a condition of the contracts made with these institutions.

I award you no points for your ignorance.

I've never had a Mac before so definitely not one of those "Jobs is my God" kids- but I'll give them a shot. Plus, I'll take bringing a faulty laptop to an Apple store and speaking to a real person any day over spending 14 hours on the phone with 6 different people (who just end up telling you "oh, you'll need to mail that in to us... we can get it back to you in a few weeks" which turns into 2+ months).

That's usually how consumer laptops work. Business laptops like Thinkpads usually come with on-site warranty which sends a tech to you within a day or two to your school, job, or house.. depending on the situation. How good is an apple warranty when the nearest store is 300 miles away, anyways?

no, no one has a macbook.

ResolutePear wrote:For the sake of reliability, I'd recommend a Thinkpad.

Imagine your 3 year old laptop failing on you the night before or the morning of finals. Could happen to anybody, but perhaps you should look into how rugged Macbooks are.

are there any thinkpads that are reasonably light, though? what is the best one you can get for law school?

<<<knows nothing about computers

I haven't really read through this thread, but as a BC student I can assure you that almost half the soon-to-be 2L's use macs, IT department warnings be damned. ExamSoft is the worst, whether you're using a Mac or a PC, however. Very stressful to worry about crashes on top of everything else.

somewhatwayward wrote:no, no one has a macbook.

ResolutePear wrote:For the sake of reliability, I'd recommend a Thinkpad.

Imagine your 3 year old laptop failing on you the night before or the morning of finals. Could happen to anybody, but perhaps you should look into how rugged Macbooks are.

are there any thinkpads that are reasonably light, though? what is the best one you can get for law school?

<<<knows nothing about computers

I suggest you go to a bestbuy-ish store and look at their selection. The X-series is the lightest while the T-series is usually the most durable(government grade) on their line I think.

The T-series is a bit heavier, but just a reminder: It's built for frequent traveling and the hazards that come with it. Also, they understand you like to drink coffee while typing on your laptop while on a bumpy train/plane/bed and as such have a draining system... take *THAT* you mac lovers.

bizen boat wrote:I haven't really read through this thread, but as a BC student I can assure you that almost half the soon-to-be 2L's use macs, IT department warnings be damned. ExamSoft is the worst, whether you're using a Mac or a PC, however. Very stressful to worry about crashes on top of everything else.

Both systems have their share of crashes on their latest iteration of systems: Windows 7 and OSX Snow Leopard. With that being said, either one is pretty reliable... but what's *not* as reliable is running a virtual machine with the other OS on it. This is usually the case with OSX having to run Windows on it through a virtual machine - you take a performance hit as you have to share system resources.

bizen boat wrote:I haven't really read through this thread, but as a BC student I can assure you that almost half the soon-to-be 2L's use macs, IT department warnings be damned. ExamSoft is the worst, whether you're using a Mac or a PC, however. Very stressful to worry about crashes on top of everything else.

yeah my computer is pretty solid (new MBP) but i'm not looking forward to using crappy software during exams

I want onenote. I have a MBP and think booting windows is my only option!

ResolutePear wrote:

somewhatwayward wrote:no, no one has a macbook.

ResolutePear wrote:For the sake of reliability, I'd recommend a Thinkpad.

Imagine your 3 year old laptop failing on you the night before or the morning of finals. Could happen to anybody, but perhaps you should look into how rugged Macbooks are.

are there any thinkpads that are reasonably light, though? what is the best one you can get for law school?

<<<knows nothing about computers

I suggest you go to a bestbuy-ish store and look at their selection. The X-series is the lightest while the T-series is usually the most durable(government grade) on their line I think.

The T-series is a bit heavier, but just a reminder: It's built for frequent traveling and the hazards that come with it. Also, they understand you like to drink coffee while typing on your laptop while on a bumpy train/plane/bed and as such have a draining system... take *THAT* you mac lovers.

bizen boat wrote:I haven't really read through this thread, but as a BC student I can assure you that almost half the soon-to-be 2L's use macs, IT department warnings be damned. ExamSoft is the worst, whether you're using a Mac or a PC, however. Very stressful to worry about crashes on top of everything else.

Both systems have their share of crashes on their latest iteration of systems: Windows 7 and OSX Snow Leopard. With that being said, either one is pretty reliable... but what's *not* as reliable is running a virtual machine with the other OS on it. This is usually the case with OSX having to run Windows on it through a virtual machine - you take a performance hit as you have to share system resources.

The T series really does have a drainage system.

O
M
G

For some reason that just gave me a nerdgasm (I just picked one up for a pretty good price).

Great Satchmo wrote:

ResolutePear wrote:

somewhatwayward wrote:no, no one has a macbook.

ResolutePear wrote:For the sake of reliability, I'd recommend a Thinkpad.

Imagine your 3 year old laptop failing on you the night before or the morning of finals. Could happen to anybody, but perhaps you should look into how rugged Macbooks are.

are there any thinkpads that are reasonably light, though? what is the best one you can get for law school?

<<<knows nothing about computers

I suggest you go to a bestbuy-ish store and look at their selection. The X-series is the lightest while the T-series is usually the most durable(government grade) on their line I think.

The T-series is a bit heavier, but just a reminder: It's built for frequent traveling and the hazards that come with it. Also, they understand you like to drink coffee while typing on your laptop while on a bumpy train/plane/bed and as such have a draining system... take *THAT* you mac lovers.

bizen boat wrote:I haven't really read through this thread, but as a BC student I can assure you that almost half the soon-to-be 2L's use macs, IT department warnings be damned. ExamSoft is the worst, whether you're using a Mac or a PC, however. Very stressful to worry about crashes on top of everything else.

Both systems have their share of crashes on their latest iteration of systems: Windows 7 and OSX Snow Leopard. With that being said, either one is pretty reliable... but what's *not* as reliable is running a virtual machine with the other OS on it. This is usually the case with OSX having to run Windows on it through a virtual machine - you take a performance hit as you have to share system resources.

The T series really does have a drainage system.

O
M
G

For some reason that just gave me a nerdgasm (I just picked one up for a pretty good price).

Haha, congrats on your purchase. I wouldn't recommend pouring drinks to test it though

For what it is worth Examsoft is available for Mac natively.

http://www.maclawstudents.com/blog/admi ... -examsoft/

haus wrote:For what it is worth Examsoft is available for Mac natively.

http://www.maclawstudents.com/blog/admi ... -examsoft/

Pear,

You are the one who just linked to the thread as a reference.