Info for Mac Users (Re: SPSS Mac 13 vs. Windows 14)

[Monica Perry]

Hi Christopher (and List),
I just purchased a Macbook Pro this weekend, and asked them about using Boot Camp and other emulators for SPSS 14 and my old Windows software.  They sold me a copy of Parallels Desktop (actual release date is today acording to Amazon.com), which was described to me as an emulator that runs Windows natively because it does not rely on the Rosetta Stone translation running in the background.  Since I live 1.5 hours from the Apple store I decided to buy it blindly, and look into it later (can be returned in 14 days it if it's unopened).  **You do need your own copy of Windows to install--no MS programs or OS are included**
 
Boot Camp seemed to be too much of a pain so I was willing to settle for the Mac SPSS lower version, and just buy Office 2004 for Mac.  That was until I played around with Office in the store and discovered how awful it is.   So I essentially got Parallels to install my copy of Office 2000 for XP; adding SPSS 14 is a bonus.  BTW Office 2004 for Mac was (education price) $149, $99 after rebate, and $200-400 for other versions (standard-professional), and Parallels was $79.  So I saved $20 and can run Tiger and XP at the same time.  XP can be viewed as full screen, as an application window in Tiger, split screen ½ and ½, or Tiger on one monitor and XP on another w/ the mouse moving between them...in theory, I have not installed it yet.
 
This first link compares emulators and has tips/tricks (check out "Reader reports about Parallels" and "Tip: Optimizing Parallels Desktop Performance").  The second link is to Parallels web page and gives the option of a 30 day trial download version.
 
If you decide to buy it, check around for prices, I've seen $50 mentioned in a few articles (beta version?), but since it's not supposed to be released until today Amazon didn't have a price.  I plan to check later and see if Apple will match the price and give me a credit if it's cheaper (if not, I'll just return it and order one from Amazon).
 
http://www.macwindows.com/winintelmac.html#parallels 
 
http://www.parallels.com/ 
 
If anyone has tried this setup, please let me know how it's going.
-Monica
 
Monica Perry
Title 1 Program Specialist
Pitt County Schools, Greenville NC  
[phone]
 


>>> "Boyd, Christopher" <[hidden email]> 07/06/06 1:58 PM >>>

After checking the archives, I did not see a conversation about this.
Forgive me if this has been discussed at length.

I am thinking about upgrading from SPSS windows version 12.0.

1) Is there a significant differences/advantages to SPSS V14 Windows
compared to SPSS V13 MAC?

2) My portable computer is a Mac Intel machine, which can run both Mac
and windows operating systems, though I can allocate just 550 MB of ram
to Windows while running MAC OS X.  If I run just windows on my Mac, the
1GB of ram is available. I would prefer to be able to switch back and
forth between the two operating systems.

Is 550MB of RAM enough to run SPSS Windows 14.0?  My data-sets tend to
have tens of thousands to millions of records, but generally are not
subjected to statistical heavy lifting.

Thanks for your thoughts.

**********************************************************************
Sent from the New York City Office of the Comptroller. This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept for the presence of computer viruses.
**********************************************************************