Macbook Or Not?

Is not a problem for me. Coz I already have one, and I will not and cannot get a new laptop in one year at least. I'm writing this for those who are still struggling between macbook and thinkpad. But I guess except for Apple and Google, there won't be many other companies who will give u a macbook for work laptop, so this might be your once in a lifetime chance to own and work on a cool chic computer and with a cool chic operating system. So think about it;)

First, Pro or not? If you have the money and you can lift heavy stuff, you should definitely get a pro. The screen looks better and the keyboard feels better. Besides, the chip is faster and I guess if you work with a big RAM the system can be very powerful. I don't have the money plus I don't like carrying heavy laptop, so I just got a macbook, white. So the following points are based on my experience with my little 13" macbook.

Second, upgrade the RAM! Now the macbook comes with 1G RAM out of box, while when I bought it, it was 512MB and I had to upgrade it to 1G. Still I feel that 2G will be even better considering I sometimes like to listen to iTunes while working on Photoshop. Actually the upgarde is much cheaper than it was, plus you can find some provider on eBay who offer 2G RAM for around $110. So why not?!

Third, Office 2004. Office 2004 seems so advanced comparing to Office 2000 I had on my previous work laptop. But MS never stops taking money out of pocket so here comes Office 2007 (for Windows, released) and Office 2008 (for Mac, beta testing). I have seen macbook+free Office 2004 at a local Apple store in Sydney but not sure whether that's valid for US as well. If it is, then it might be a good deal. One thing I'm not sure is how Office 2004 and 2007 interacts, becoz I've had some problem with different versions of office file don't work together. Considering there will be a lot of teamworks and exchange of files in B-school, that might be a problem.

Fourth, Windows & Mac Side by Side. You'll still need Windows, surely. Coz some of the softwares required by B-school can only run on Windows. But, with the help of Parallels/Bootcamp/VMware, it's pretty easy to get Windows and Mac OS to run side by side. Personally I'm running Parallel and am pretty satisfied with it.

Finally, softwares I love most on Mac: Quicksilver(totally change the way you launch applications), Adobe Creative Suite 2 (still thinking about whether to upgrade to CS3 or not), Adobe Lightroom, iSync (sync your cell phone via bluetooth), iCal(D calendar you ever need). Last but not least, Mac OS, it's nothing like Windows, trust me.

McK Reception

McK held a reception at their Shanghai office for this year's MBA admits this Thur. Their new office is in this building called the Platium, which is very close to my old office. I had to say their office is gorgeous! You can overlook the busiest business district in Shanghai through the glass wall. The venue for the reception is in a cafeteria inside their office, and if it's not IN their office, I would think it's some high end restaurant. But the finger food they served definitely needs to be improved...

We had one senior partner and many associates joined us, answering our questions. But as one of my friend call it, "Brain Wash", McK delivers very strong message about their values and their impacts. I talked to one associate who has served in McK for 8 years, and he obviously believes in the McK values very strongly. McK provides the best quality of service in consulting, McK does what's best for clients, McK recruits the most talented ppl and McK never forces you to work long hours or on projects you hate... Not sure how much of these are true, but even half of them are, then McK must be worth working for at least for a couple of years. And it's also impressive that they reach out to future MBAs at such an early stage.