Macbook on a windows-type network - Exchange?

Raider

Raider

Raider

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I'm looking to get a new laptop for work, and i'm lusting after a MacBook atm.

I don't know that much about networking, but I want to know whether it'll be able to get on the network. My network uses are:

1) Email - currently via Outlook.
2) Access to shared network drive
3) SSH access to Linux machines.

I know I can do (3) easily on a MAC, but what about (1) and (2). Can a MAC access a Microsoft Exhange Server? And can I access a shared windows drive?

Many thanks!
 
1) You can get normal OS X mail to connect to exchange, but it's pretty naff and just uses LDAP. A better option if you need to use it day in day out is to use Entourage, which is the Mac Office equivalent of Outlook. I actually have both setup so I can quickly check messages with Apple Mail, but jump into Entourage when I'm in the office.
2) Yes you can, you can either browse the network in Finder or hit "Apple key+K" and type in smb://computername/sharename to connect directly.
3) Yep, OS X comes with an SSH client and server.
 
Well I guess I need a copy of Office for the Mac anyway. I'll need Excel / Word / Powerpoint etc..

EDIT: I've just realised that all my friends at Imperial College use Macs to access the IC Exchange server, so I guess I should just ask them as it's very similar to our setup :)
 
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As long as you know your server name, user name and password that's all you need to know :)

What spec are you getting? Entourage really really REALLY pains the machine with anything less than a gig of ram, preferably 2 gig.
 
Beepcake said:
As long as you know your server name, user name and password that's all you need to know :)

What spec are you getting? Entourage really really REALLY pains the machine with anything less than a gig of ram, preferably 2 gig.
Click to expand...

Well I was going for a 15" Macbook Pro (1Gb). If 2Gb is necessary, and if they'll pay for it, I'll go for it.

Hopefully tomorrow i'll know how much I can spend, and whether I can get a Mac, or whether i'm stuck with another PC laptop :(

Would a 2Gb Macbook be better than a 1Gb Macbook Pro?
 
It depends on what you are doing with it. If you want to use 3d stuff, play games, or need a bit more screen resolution/real estate then go for the pro. For general use though the MacBook is great.
 
Just be careful with exchange and entourage. I've had a nightmare trying to get the two working together properly!
 
It is. It's just so slow to update. Nothing like as fast as outlook 2003. Can take often 10-15 mins for the user to receive an email! Sometimes he doesn't even get them!


(Sadly I don't have the pleasure of using the 24" beast of an iMac :( I have to stick with a PC. Bloomin' graphics designers :P )
 
JonB said:
It is. It's just so slow to update. Nothing like as fast as outlook 2003. Can take often 10-15 mins for the user to receive an email! Sometimes he doesn't even get them!


(Sadly I don't have the pleasure of using the 24" beast of an iMac :( I have to stick with a PC. Bloomin' graphics designers :P )
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Can't say I've ever had that problem, we have 9 Macs connected to our exchange server, both remote and on the LAN, and none of them have mail delays.

Entourage can get a bit flaky if the connection is up and down though, it doesn't like inconsistent links.
 
Well my boss has just told me that we need to spend as much money as possible :p

So it looks like i'll be going for the 15.4-inch / 2.33GHz / 2Gb model :D
 
Beepcake said:
Can't say I've ever had that problem, we have 9 Macs connected to our exchange server, both remote and on the LAN, and none of them have mail delays.

Entourage can get a bit flaky if the connection is up and down though, it doesn't like inconsistent links.
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Any chance of you listing your entourage / exchange settings for me to have a peek at? Cannot for the life of my to get it to update properly!

I've tried point it to both the server hostname (exchange01.corp.####.com) and to the webmail (http://webmail.####.com)
 
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Beepcake said:
It depends on what you are doing with it. If you want to use 3d stuff, play games, or need a bit more screen resolution/real estate then go for the pro. For general use though the MacBook is great.
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So if I stick 2GB of RAM in it then I'd be ok with the MacBook? (I'm lusting after one at the moment...)

For a laptop, I don't want to play games. I do] want OSX to look shiny and lovely. Small is good, as is black, so I'm looking at the only black MacBook. The CPU and screen size look OK, as does hard drive space. My main worry is the integrated graphics.

Is there much of a performance hit by having no separate graphics card? Does it noticeably affect the operation of OSX?
 
I have a Macbook with 1gb ram and there is an iMac 2.16 C2D with 7300GT and 2gb ram at work. I haven't noticed anything overly different between the general usage of the two between the two. Black Macbook though? NO! Apple products should be white! :p
 
JonB said:
Any chance of you listing your entourage / exchange settings for me to have a peek at? Cannot for the life of my to get it to update properly!

I've tried point it to both the server hostname (exchange01.corp.####.com) and to the webmail (http://webmail.####.com)
Click to expand...

It sounds more like you might have an issue with the Exchange box or general connectivity. To setup Entourage all I needed to do was whack the FQDN in and tick the SSL box (and add my username and password obviously). As I said above, the only time i've had a problem was when connectivity went a bit odd, it didn't always reconnect properly.
 
Mr.Clark said:
So if I stick 2GB of RAM in it then I'd be ok with the MacBook? (I'm lusting after one at the moment...)

For a laptop, I don't want to play games. I do] want OSX to look shiny and lovely. Small is good, as is black, so I'm looking at the only black MacBook. The CPU and screen size look OK, as does hard drive space. My main worry is the integrated graphics.

Is there much of a performance hit by having no separate graphics card? Does it noticeably affect the operation of OSX?
Click to expand...

In general use the Pro is no faster than the Macbook (I have both.. greedy :)), so if you don't need the higher resolution i'd plump for the latter.

1 gig is enough for general OSX use and the odd Rosetta app (such as Office), but 2 gig will be smoother if you want to load a few office apps or use Parallels too.
 
Well I just spoke to IT support and their general opinion was "They're not supported, we don't like them, but they are allowed on the network".

So it's looks like we have a green-light. But they did say something odd: "Some people put them on the network and if they start causing problems we will just block them."

They said that they can do weird things like act like a router and start knackering things up on the network. This sounds pretty unlikely, but can anyone think what this might refer to? And how I can avoid it? I can't be banned :(
 
Beepcake said:
It sounds more like you might have an issue with the Exchange box or general connectivity. To setup Entourage all I needed to do was whack the FQDN in and tick the SSL box (and add my username and password obviously). As I said above, the only time i've had a problem was when connectivity went a bit odd, it didn't always reconnect properly.
Click to expand...

FQDN :confused:


(Sorry, didn't initially set up entourage on our mac and now been lumped with fixing it!)
 
JonB said:
FQDN :confused:


(Sorry, didn't initially set up entourage on our mac and now been lumped with fixing it!)
Click to expand...

Sorry, fully qualified domain name.. I've been in meetings all day so I'm just talking crap :D Basically mymailserver.mydomain.com
 
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