Intel-based Apple Laptop — Serious Contender For Corporate Adoption
At my work we use IBM (now Lenovo) laptops running Microsoft Windows XP. Two things may change that equation.
Out mainstream laptop has been the IBM Thinkpad T42, and it is one sweet machine. But Lenovo has moved on, so our next model is a Lenovo Thinkpad T60. It has great speed, thank to the Intel Core Duo 2 processor, yada yada yada.
But there’s a HUGE (future) fly in this laptop ointment called Microsoft Vista. Before long, ordering laptops with XP, while possible, will not be routine, as they’ll come loaded with Vista.
And by the way, Microsoft has also redesigned Microsoft Office, giving it a new and arguably much improved user interface using the so-called “ribbon”. But it is another change, and another chance to spend a few hundred dollars per employee.
But we have options..
The latest Intel Core Duo 2 laptops from Apple are very competent machines. For about $2,000 you get a very useable laptop configuration that runs like a bat out of hell.
The Apple OS X operating system is a pretty user interface layer on top of a BSD version of Unix. OS X is a solid, proven system. It has more than its share of eye candy plus clever apps such as great search, a clever integrated chat program (with voice), and a tightly integrated calendar.
Using a program called Crossroads (a commercial version of the Linux Wine application), you can run mainstream Microsoft applications including Visio.
A reasonable option would be to adopt OpenOffice as your mainstream office productivity bundle. It is very competitive with Microsoft Office, and happened to cost zero dollars per copy.
I have no idea whether my company will follow this path. All I know for sure is that my button-down corporate IT guys are now seeding a couple of the Apple laptops around to gauge user reaction.
One more Lenovo tidbit: when you convert from the T42 to T60 laptops, you are forced to purchase all new power bricks, and all new docking stations. The dollars really add up.
It is not insane to consider buying an Apple laptop instead.