Toshiba r-700 or mac book air/pro

[reubenjosephdsouza]

hey there people i am in the process of updating my old windows laptop n moving onto a new laptop,now the problem is that i have 2 choices,basically am looking for a really ultra light and portable lappy..so i checked outthe following two however need advice on which one will be compatable for my use and based on the aviation software im using :

TOSHIBA PROTOGE R-700:
BASIC CONFIGURATION:

13" SCREEN/INTEL i5 processor,500 GB hard drive,ON BOARDGRAPHICS INTELCHIPSET,3 GB RAM,SUPER SLIM DVD DRIVE INBUILT,TOTAL WEIGHT:1.35KGS
WINDOWS 7 OS

V/S

APPLE MAC BRRO AIR/PRO OF 11"/13" SCREENS
AIR: INTELCORE 2 PROCESSOR
PRO: INTEL i5 PROCESSOR

HDD:320 HDD ON PRO AND 128 SSD ON AIR ,
RAM:3 GB ON PRO, NOT SURE ON THE AIR I THINK ITS 3 GB ALSO
GRAPHICS CARD IS AN NVEDIA CARD
AIR WT: LESS THAN 1KG AND PRO:2.1 KG
AIR : DOESNT NOT COME WITH AN DVD DRIVE ITS APPROX 75 USD FOR AN EXTERNAL DRIVE
PRO: INBUILT DVD DRIVE

now here is the problem:

I NEED SOMETHING LIGHT REALLY LIGHT HENCE THE AIR/TOSHIBA R-700 , now for the main issue :

im flying the airbus a330/320 and have cbts to review from time to time ,obviously those using mac already know that this isnt possible on the ac hence i ws thinking of the ptoshiba r700, however with bootcamp and parallel os compatability on the mac as claimed by mac i want to knowis it really possible and comfortable to us e a mac and should i switch to a mac based system.

also buying a seperate dvd external forthe air is it worth it,

please do adivse me on which laptop would be better. i have checked the prices and the apple is more expensive but with additional expenses where as the r-700 isnt that expensicv and might work out for me ..

i welcome ne tips on this topic asap...my old laptop is really dieing outon me and i need to upgrade asap....

looking forward for ur comments and views ..

thanks


Reuben

[mixture]

however with bootcamp and parallel os compatability on the mac as claimed by mac i want to knowis it really possible and comfortable to us e a mac and should i switch to a mac based system.

I used to use Parallels, now use VMWare Fusion, similar concept.

No problems at all. I don't have a stand-alone windows machine any more, I just have a copy of Fusion on my Apple laptops and desktops.

Seems to cope fine with whatever I've thrown at it. Although I'm not a "gamer" so if you care about lag and whatever other stuff gamers constantly moan about then maybe a non-Apple would keep you happy. Same if you know you will you will be doing lots of Windows based CPU intensive stuff (e.g. Photoshopping large files).

But overall, if you just need windows for average home/work stuff then I doubt you would have a problem using it in a virtualised environment. Just make sure you are not stingy with the RAM.

Bootcamp is not virtualised by the way, it is true native Windows. Bootcamp is only there to provide hardware drivers.

So I'd say take a good look at the Apple side, perhaps pop into an Apple Store if you've got one near you.

I'm also quite familiar with the Toshiba Portege range, and if someone asked me for a recommendation for a laptop I would probably put them at number two on my list (i.e. seriously consider Apple first).

[ohitsmonday]

Hi Reuben

I normally steer clear of this type of discussion as the windows vs apple debate can get rather heated.
However, it's Friday evening and I've had a couple of glasses of a nice red and would like to share my experience (please forgive the verbose nature of the following).
I had always fancied a mac, but due to the perceived expense (I built my last few PCs with a mixture of cannibalised parts and new) I couldn't justify the cost.
A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to be given a secondhand iMac. Within 3 months I bought a macbook pro and haven't looked back since. I use my macbook at work and although my transition from windows to longer than it should, I now only use windows for 1 application (through vm fusion).
I find OS X a much more pleasant experience than windows and with a bit of research most of windows software I used could be replaced with open source, free applications.

Anyway, in your situation I would go mac, but consider the following....

If weight is your primary, then it has to be the 'air', my macbook pro 13" weighs in at just over 2kg.
If you need to use windows, then consider whether bootcamp or virtual is the way to go. If virtual (fusion, parallels etc) then you will need to max the RAM (4Gb?) to make the system satisfactorily useable (based on experience with 2009 macbook pro).

The choice is yours

PS the imac is now 5 or 6 years old, still going strong and a useful bit of kit. The longest useful life I've ever had from a 'PC' is 3 to 4 years.

[Mike-Bracknell]

You're a pilot, so cost isn't a consideration Go for the Mac (but as Mixture says, don't skimp on the memory as you'll need enough to run both the Mac and the PC operating systems at once if using VMware Fusion)