Macbook pro

[magic]

Does anyone know about the difference in the two graphics cards availible?

A is VIDIA GeForce 9400M
B is 9600M GT with 512MB

will either one run artcam? is one better?

[geometree]

I believe the 9600 GT is like a dedicated video card while the 9400m shares system memory. The MacBooks that have the 9600 GT actually have a 9400m chip in them also. This page explains it. http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/graphics.html
Either should run be able to run artcam but the 9600 will be much faster. If your serious about buying a macbook wait a couple weeks updated models will be out anytime now...

[carlosgmarroquin]

Are you aware that in order to run Artcam (that is written for Windows) in your Apple, You'll have to have installed Bootcamp or use a program like VMWare Fussion or Parallels?

I use bootcamp and WMWare.

It runs better and faster with bootcamp.

[magic]

Does WMWare stand for Worm Ware?

[carlosgmarroquin]

Sorry, I misspelled. it's VMWare, it stands for Virtual Machine Ware. It simulates an Windows XP (or any other windows) on top of your MAC OS X. The graphics card support is ok but not great.

On the other side, Bootcamp is the support from Apple for creating a real partition where a Windows XP runs directly on top of the MacBook Hardware. The support for the graphics is great.

[magic]

Thanks

For a minute I thought you wanted me to load corrupt Fat 32 files.

So in addition to bootcamp i also need to load XP (I HATE vista)

[carlosgmarroquin]

You are not the only one.

And yes you need a valid WinXP License for your bootcamp partition. It doesn't come with bootcamp.

then, when you have that installed, when you boot you decide which partition you boot the machine: Mac OS or WinXP.

[magic]

Sounds like making a R.A.I.D ?

[jerry_stanek]

won't VMware lwt you start it from your Apple OS like it does on a windows machine?

[bbrozo]

I would recommend using VirtualBox. I use it on Ubuntu so I can flip back and forth between Linux and Windows at the same time. It works very well (faster than VMWare) and is free. I haven't tried it on the Mac but there is a port for the Mac available.

[carlosgmarroquin]

Any Virtual Machine Software would do it, but in this case, because you are running a graphics and cpu intensive program, is important that the graphics card support is optimal.

On the other hand, when you run a Virtual machine you can switch between the programs in the windows VM and the programs runnng in the mac os environment.

In the case of bootcamp, you are runnng the mac book in windows exclusively.

Jerry: I didn't get your question? Iwt?