Increasingly, I’m coming across software and apps I want to play around with (or “analyze” to use the professional word ;>) that require Windows. I, of course, work on a PowerBook. For example, BMC’s Service Desk Express (the hosted version of Magic) and Spiceworks have required Windows.
I haven’t bought a desktop PC in…gosh…I don’t know how long. While I’ve purchased several laptops (Dells and and ThinkPad), those are relatively easy to shop for.
So, I thought I’d ask: what do you recommend? Ideally, I’d like a server like box so that I could run any of the enterprise software apps I might get my hands on. It’d be nice to get 64 bit and some dual-cores to see what’s what in that area. And, of course, I’d like to run VMWare to get Windows, Linux, Solaris, and friends up and running. My budget, of course, is “as little as possible.”
I might order up an Ultra to try for 60 days: maybe $895 isn’t so bad a price…or is it? Like I said, I have no idea about Windows desktop pricing at the moment. Perhaps I’ll end up with a Dell: that seems to be the preferred choice for the sweet spot between cheap and “works well enough.”
Disclaimer: BMC and Sun are clients.
Why not use parallels? If price is a concern, it's tough to beat fifty bucks.
You're the second person to suggest that, and it's a good idea. I'd have to buy an Intel Mac in that case, which might be fine.
I'll have to stack the pricing up.