Is a Mac Book a good idea?

timbob · 2 Apr 2010 at 15:00

I'm starting a teacher training course, based in school from September this year, and I'm after a laptop. Something to do my lesson plans, assignments etc etc on, as well as to use for general net browsing/emails at home.

As much as the practical side of me says "get a windows based laptop because it'll be easier", I really want a MacBook... I've not looked at the specs to decide which one yet, but I'm thinking somewhere in the £750 ballpark, with integrated wifi.

Am I likely to run into compatibility problems with schools IT systems - i.e. their wireless networks in classrooms etc, or do they generally work quite well in that situation??

Freakitchen · 2 Apr 2010 at 17:18

At the school I work at, teachers have specific software that they need to install on their personal computers - lesson planning software for example. You might not even be able to connect to their network with OSX if the school requires you to join a Windows domain.

You could use Bootcamp to install Windows, or use VM software, but I bought my MacBook to use OSX, wouldn't want to spend the extra on the hardware only to have to use Windows all the time.

On the positive side, if it's just a case of joining their wireless network, you shouldn't have a problem doing this on a Mac.

Ripper · 2 Apr 2010 at 17:40

As a teacher, I'll be very surprised if schools let you connect a mac to the network, especially as a trainee. Most schools have a phobia of mac's, and when things go wrong, technicians won't be interested in fixing it if its a mac

timbob · 13 Apr 2010 at 16:30

Booooooo!!!! Looks like a PC it is then

syke · 13 Apr 2010 at 16:40

Talk to the school first. But as said you could use bootcamp, but then again you'd most likely use Windows for school stuff out of work and OS X won't be used.

LordSplodge · 13 Apr 2010 at 16:42

Ripper said:
As a teacher, I'll be very surprised if schools let you connect a mac to the network, especially as a trainee. Most schools have a phobia of mac's, and when things go wrong, technicians won't be interested in fixing it if its a mac

Not true. Schools are rapidly warming up to Macs. At the school I worked for we had 6 x 15" MacBook Pros. 1 x 24" iMac, 20 x 20" iMacs and eMac and an Intel Xeon XServe.

If you ask the IT guys nicely and they aren't Windows Fanboi's you should have no problem connecting a Mac to the schools network. Sure you may need Windows in a VM for some obscure software but other than that you'll be fine.

Five_Star · 13 Apr 2010 at 16:47

It'll be software thats the problem, my wife has been forced to bootcamp her mac to get the specific projector and smartboard software to run.

We had to do this out of sight of the schools tech as they didn't have a clue and could only manage if they had a start button so expect the worst from support.

Hades · 13 Apr 2010 at 16:57

You could probably run most software from within a VM (virtual machine) such as Virtualbox in seamless mode. So you'd still be running OSX but those apps will be running under a Windows layer. With seamless mode itms just a Windows 'window' on an OSX screen.