Parallel’s Desktop: an unholy match made in heaven

Allright… so we’ve all seen Boot Camp, Apple’s dual-boot solution allowing you to run Windows on your Intel Mac. But there’s a real inconvenience there with having to restart your machine so you can take advantage of those pesky few apps that you may need on the PC side of things. Wouldn’t it be great if you could take advantage of true virtualization and just run Windows inside OS X while still retaining high performance? I’m not talking sluggish old Virtual PC here folks. I’m talking snappy, quick, and seamless go between both operating systems. Well it’s here and it’s caled Parallel’s Desktop.

Like other Vmware out there, you can set up multiple PC comfiigrations with different hardware and software setups. When it comes to testing web content for Mac-PC compatibility, this really takes the cake. You probably shouldn’t expect to be able to play CPU intensive games or anything but for development applications it’s near perfect. There has been talk of adding this functionality into Mac OS X in the future so Parallels may not always be necessary, but it all depends on what Apple wants to do. In the meantime, you can download parallels for a free test-ride.

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Book: Flash Applications for Mobile Devices

My friend Scott has just sent out the link to the Boston Flash Mobile Users Group about his new book. While I haven’t read it yet, this book is a going to be a “must read” for anyone serious about getting into Flash Lite development.

I’ve pre-ordered mine, now go get yours.

Powerbook Dilema – Repair or Replace?

My trusty old 12″ Powerbook is having issues. After a series of hardware errors began popping up I was forced to back it up and put it on the physically unable to perform list. Up until now, it has been a true workhorse. It’s been beaten up, dropped (see pic), and dragged around the country the last three and a half years, so I don’t think I should be that dissappointed. I’m just not sure yet what to do based on the economics here.

The cost to repair it at an Apple store is probably going to cost between $300-$400. While I can afford it I wonder if it’s wise to invest in an aging machine when I can buy a new Dual Core Intel Macbook for about $1000 with all of the new bells and whistles. Sure that’s almost 70% more to replace it but it comes with the warranty as well so if (when) I bust it, I can repair it with Applecare. On the otherhand, my Powerbook was completely ample for my needs at present so I hate to just give up on it. It’s like that middle-aged car that you are kind of forced to repair rather than go through the hassle to replace it.

My greedy, gadget-loving side is telling me to replace it, but my loyal, practical side is telling me to fix it. So I’m giving myself a deadline to act on the end of the year. Until then, my perfectly good PC Toshiba laptop will be taking over my portable needs. Any advice here is welcome.