Making a Med Student to make the switch

[mistermoya]

I have a friend who I thought I was able to coerce into buying a Powerbook for her Med studies. She just graduated from college and is going into medicine. But she changed her mind. She's scared taht some software won't work.

I mean I can handle all the issues reagrding compatibilty and what makes a Mac better than a PC; in this case she wants a Sony VAIO instead of a Mac.

Now for all you doctors and Med students, my friend is scared that she can't find any suitable Mac biology or medicine related software if she buys the Mac, is this really the case? Are there biology reviewers or the like that are only PC specific? Will she actually need subject specific software in med school?

I can't really tell her anything about this since if she needs a certain software and it doesn't work with her Mac, she might be in trouble. Any thoughts?

[weremermaid]

Have her read these:
Switch stories:
Biomedical Image Analysis
http://www.apple.com/switch/stories/index3.html

Delivering Teletherapy
http://www.apple.com/switch/stories/10/

If Only They Knew
http://www.apple.com/switch/stories/08/index3.html

With 20 extra keystrokes
http://www.apple.com/switch/stories/04/


Other info:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/applications/

http://www.apple.com/switch/whyswitch/

http://www.apple.com/science/

Happy reading! If she wants quotes ask her to call us.


Cherrie Pinpin
LMK Commercial
852-5223
852-2554

[extremyks]

Worst case scenario when she can't make those win-based med CD's run.. is to use Virtual PC for OS X. My younger sister use it for her med stuffs. Other than that she uses Mac appz for her word processing, mail and even Keynote for presentations.

[mistermoya]

Thanks guys I will forward her this thread....

[mistermoya]

How would you guys compare this Sony laptop with an iBook or Powerbook?

I mean I know it's small but am not really sure if it works as well as an iBook. I mean it doesn't even have bluetooth built-in...any thoughts?

My friend is keen on getting this sony over a Mac...

[weremermaid]

A sony vio's just surface pretty but it still uses the horrid darkside OS, so what's the point? Does she like the pain and agony MS brings? Does she like to be a victim?

Perhaps your friend can read this article:

Defending Windows over Mac a sign of mental illness
"The combination of "Stockholm Syndrome" and "cognitive dissonance" produces a victim who firmly believes the relationship is not only acceptable, but also desperately needed for their survival,” writes Joseph M. Carver, PhD for Mental-Health-Matters.com.

Article here.


Cherrie

[Macmon]

Originally posted by mistermoya
How would you guys compare this Sony laptop with an iBook or Powerbook?

I mean I know it's small but am not really sure if it works as well as an iBook. I mean it doesn't even have bluetooth built-in...any thoughts?

My friend is keen on getting this sony over a Mac...

I would just suggest you let her use a mac and see if she is up to it.

Honestly, I would not force her to buy one. It may end up that you are the 'bad' person who made her buy a computer that is not for her for 'now'.

There are softwares that deal with anatomy and physiology that are only made for the PC. But I use virtual PC for that.

[Henjie]

Originally posted by mistermoya
How would you guys compare this Sony laptop with an iBook or Powerbook?

I mean I know it's small but am not really sure if it works as well as an iBook. I mean it doesn't even have bluetooth built-in...any thoughts?

My friend is keen on getting this sony over a Mac...

Dunno if this is already too late but...

From a hardware point of view, the Sony VAIO PCG-TR3AP2 is actually okay. It's really pricey though, and it's got some notable drawbacks:

• 10.6" 1280x768 LCD - prepare to squint and mess up your vision, especially when using it as the main display all day long.
• 40GB hard drive - too small, IMHO, especially for a $2,500 portable.
• Small keyboard - not good for banging out long reports.
• Integrated graphics - the graphics subsystem gets its memory allocation (64MB) from the main system memory. This means that the generous 1GB of system memory will be cut down to an actual 960MB available for the OS and the apps. But the biggest issue will be the slow graphics performance. Even the 12" AlBook's 64MB nVidia GeForce FX 5200Go will be much faster.
• Sony only equips its portables with a 4-pin unpowered FireWire port, dubbed the i.LINK. Even a Cutie portable hard drive won't work with i.LINK.
• No built-in Bluetooth.

The Sony VAIO PCG-TR3AP2 costs a minimum of $2,300 and is usually in the $2,450 range. You can get a nicely-spec'd 1.33GHz 12" AlBook with SuperDrive for much less (check out the comparison I made below). :-)


~Henjie

[directX]

Henjie,

Subtract $349 from it. It comes with Applecare already.

[Henjie]

Originally posted by directX
Henjie,

Subtract $349 from it. It comes with Applecare already.

AppleCare's not included and is only available for an extra $349 when you're buying from the Apple Store. The AlBook price in my comparo are based on Apple Store prices. :-)


~Henjie