Does ATX work better on a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro

[ETax847]

Thinking about buying my first Mac Laptop.  Does anyone currently use ATX on either the Air or the Pro and do you have any performance issues?  Which is the better option for me?

[Jack from Ohio]

Unless you install a program that creates a virtual Windows machine on your Mac, ATX will not work.

My recommendation is NO MAC! If you use QuickBooks, the version for Mac is a kindergarten child compared to the PC version. Weak and inefficient.

[ILLMAS]

Works fine, avoid any virtual program to run windows, one accidentally click on the X of the virtual program and kiss your work goodbye, bootcamp is the way to go.

[kcjenkins]

Marco, I don't have a dog in this fight, strictly Windows here,  But I'd still be interested if you could expand on that answer.

[ILLMAS]

In OSX (mac operating program) not that many people completely exit/quit a program, they usually just click on the red X which closes the window only, however if you are not careful when running Windows on a virtual program, you might close it accidentally and it might not save your information, but being careful avoids this. There is a worst problem that happens frequent to people using a virtual program, and it's the dreaded computer freeze and quit unexpectedly error, getting either message means whatever you were working on in Windows is lost.  Most people don't realize that running Windows virtually takes up memory and if you are running other OSX program at same time you have a higher chance of the computer freezing, if you were to run Windows on bootcamp, you can only work on one operating system at a time.  I prefer bootcamp over any virtual program out there

[Jack from Ohio]

I'll keep my PC laptop.

[easytax]

I'll keep my PC laptop.

 

Yup, me too.     Besides, as I get older --- less things to remember that do not really count.

[Eric]

I use Windows, Mac, and Linux daily, and don't have very strong feelings about any of them--what really matters is that the software you use is available for your chosen platform.
 
Like Marco says, it's been a while since virtual machines were required to run windows software on a mac.  The innards of a mac are no different than the innards of a PC these days, so you can run windows on them just as you run windows on any PC hardware.  There is no difference aside from a slight difference in keyboard layout.
 
Unfortunately, I don't think the answer to the original question is very straight forward.  If you're set on a Macbook, you have to make a difficult decision between getting the right display, or getting beefier specs.

 

The Macbook Air can't be configured with the best CPU or the most RAM, and from what I've read over the past couple tax seasons here, ATX has become quite a resource hog.  Someone with more experience with the software can correct me if I'm wrong.

 

And the Macbook Pro with Retina Display, although you can get the best CPU/RAM configurations, most Windows software will look like garbage on that beautiful high resolution display... unless you have really really good eyes.

 

Windows hasn't had support for super high resolution displays until version 8, and improved in 8.1, but even with OS support, most third party windows applications look terrible.  They either appear too small on the screen due to the high resolution, or they get scaled up and buttons/icons/text get bitmapped/pixelated/blurry.  If you're curious about this, do some google searches for Windows software High DPI" or something like that.  Plenty of PC Laptops are available with even nicer screens than what's available on the higher end Macs, so it's just a matter of time before software catches up.  Don't count on ATX being early to that party though.

 

I guess I would wonder if you plan on using the Macbook with an external monitor.  If so, plug a standard resolution monitor into a Macbook Pro (like a 1080p 23" monitor, for example) and you'll be all set.

 

Display aside, I suggest the Macbook Pro with the fastest Core i5 processor available.  Don't spend on the i7 unless there is almost no price difference, and instead put the money into a large SSD and as much RAM as you can afford.  I'll expand on my reasoning a bit:

 

In a Macbook (and most Windows laptops too), you're probably fine with an i5.  What most people don't realize about the Intel Core i7 processors found in the majority of laptops is that they're not the same as the quad-core desktop versions.  They're dual core low-power versions that are built to use less battery and require less cooling.  This isn't specific to Macs, this is usually the case with Windows laptops as well but there are exceptions.  The difference in processing power between the dual core i5 and dual core i7 laptop chips usually isn't worth the additional cost.  If we were talking about desktop processors, I'd suggest quad core Core i7, but we're not.

 

In these low wattage Intel Core processors (i7 4500U / i5 4200U for example), the biggest difference between the i5 and i7 is in 3D performance for gaming.  In productivity applications, you'll see about a 4-7% difference in performance.

[ETax847]

Per ATX:

 

MacBook’s are currently not officially supported OS environments for ATX.  Do we have people that use them…yes, and they run a windows virtual environment with them.  However, the behavior may not always be as expected and in those situations our hands are tied from a support perspective.  Also, if you decide to run it in a virtual windows environment make sure you do it as a standalone; you definitely do not want to introduce it to the network environment as that  creates additional quirks.

 

Also, the organizers are on track to be released next Thursday, the 23^rd

[Eric]

All that is irrelevant if you don't run it in a virtual machine.  You can run Windows natively on Mac hardware, no virtual machine, exactly the same as running Windows on a PC.  The only differences are minor things like Contrl/Alt/Command/Delete buttons on the keyboard.

 

Use Bootcamp so that when you start your computer, you can choose to start either Mac OS X, or Windows.  Dual booting is well supported by Apple.

 

Or buy a PC laptop and don't worry about it.  If you're looking for a nice laptop that rivals the quality of a Macbook, check out the Asus Zenbook line or Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus or the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon.

 

They're all more expensive than your average laptops, just like a Macbook is more expensive than your average laptop.  But the hardware is a lot nicer than your average laptop, if you care about quality of materials and construction.

[Jack from Ohio]

I will stick with my PC laptop. Problem solved.

[Eric]

Hey Jack, will you be sticking with your PC laptop?

[JohnH]

Interesting discussion, and thanks for the expert advice Eric.

I come down on both sides of this issue, depending upon the function.

In my office I use PC's because they are cheap. But for travel and for media, I like to use a top-quality computer that is robust in the technical sense and also durable in terms of construction. For me, only a Mac adequately satisfies those criteria. I also like the idea of not having to constantly fight the virus protection wars.