Byte by Bite

'MacHeads' can soon use Intel chip, too

by Marv Dealy

I’d fall in the later group. I’ve used both Macs and PCs since they were invented and while I’ve observed and understood the hoopla haven’t taken to having an apple shaved in the back of my head.

On my desk where I write this fodder for the Friday fish wrap I have both a PC and a Mac laptop, sharing a common flat screen monitor and wireless keyboard and mouse. I can switch back and forth between the PC and the Mac with a KVM switch, effectively switching the common screen and mouse/keyboard back and forth between the two computers.

The new Intel-provisioned Mac makes running programs native to the PC operating system possible without requiring the use of a software emulator. Many years ago I used Virtual PC on a Mac G3 (it was so much faster than its predecessor that it immediately was dubbed A Stinking Fast Mac (or “ASFM” on the network). The program allowed me to run some Windows programs on the Mac, although for the most part not as quickly as they did on an Intel machine. It did save desk space, having just one “box.”

I know folks who are recent converts to Macs; they made the switch in their office because they were tired of fighting viruses and the like that are always a problem with Intel machines.

Now, that gets me to thinking. If you’ve purchased one of the new Macs and want to run Windows programs on the computer, are you going to be susceptible to viruses and other bad guy attacks? Of course. So before you get on down and allow your kids to start playing the newest online Windows-based programs, you’d best get up to speed on how to protect your newly-vulnerable Mac.

Well, that’s not entirely accurate. The Mac and the Windows software are partitioned, theoretically preventing the Mac software being exposed to Windows malware. Let’s see how long that lasts. Laurie Sullivan, techWeb News, quotes a Gartner Inc. analyst as insisting that Apple’s move to Intel chips isn’t dangerous, at least not now. “I would have to write an attack on the Windows subsystem to affect the machine, and even so, it would target relatively few users,” said Gartner research vice-president Michael Silver. (http://www.cmpnetasia.com/oct3_nw_viewart.cfm?Artid=28589&Catid=5&subcat=50&section=News)

On another note, how do the Macs presently available with the Intel chips do at running Windows? According to the editors at CNET, quite nicely. In a report on tests with Apple’s newly-released beta software called Boot Camp, Matthew Elliott, Section editor, reports: “Apple’s Intel-based iMac Core Duo boasts an enviable combination of a first-rate design, an impeccable software bundle, and the newfound ability to run Windows in addition to Mac OS X. You simply won’t find a more feature-packed, versatile mainstream computer.”

Of the Apple Mac Mini Core Duo, CNET says: “Apple packs more media-specific features into the Mac Mini to make an inexpensive and useful entertainment-room computer. It's tremendously easy to use, although it surprised us with poor image processing.”

The third Mac to run Boot Camp is the Apple MacBook Pro, about which CNET reports: “The MacBook Pro delivers unparalleled style, a solid set of features and software, and a few transitional performance issues that keep it from rivaling the most powerful PC laptops.” More from CNET at http://cnet.search.com/search?chkpt=astg.cnet.fd.search.cnet&q=boot+camp&tag=srch

Boot Camp requires you to reboot the computer when you want to switch between the operating systems, which will take a few minutes each time you want to switch back and forth. I’d think that starting and stopping a computer could get kind of boring. And I wonder about how easy it is to transfer stuff between the two platforms, unlike if they are two separate computers connected together with a network.

An alternate is already available to Boot Camp ¬¬– Parallels Software International Inc.'s Parallels Workstation, which doesn’t require you to reboot the computer to switch between operating systems (www.parallels.com). However problems also exit with this approach: Robert Weston, AP, reports at HeraldNet.com: “The program doesn't yet provide the native graphics drivers needed to make the display hardware run at full speed. Still, Parallels Workstation - a free download while it is in testing but available for $49.99 in ‘a few weeks’ when the company says it will be officially released - was a usable solution for occasionally running Windows applications. It should only get better with improved hardware support.” (http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/04/16/100bus_boot001.cfm)

Weston continues that he didn’t find any Windows software that didn’t run well under Boot Camp, including VPN applications and games, but complains about the Mac OS’s inability to take advantage of the hard drive partition formatted to XP’s default file system.

Would the average big company want to pay a bunch of expensive people to sit around and turn their computer on and off – possibly not. But one laptop does take up half the space of two, I must admit. And it would be handy to have both a PC and a Mac along when you’re traveling. You could use your Mac laptop safely in public Internet access areas without worrying about what your computer is going to catch, for example.

For now, I’ll stick with my dual-laptop sharing one screen approach, but if you’ve a hankering for one of these new Macs, don’t let me discourage you.