On a general legal listserv to which I subscribe, someone recently stated that he was considering switching to a Mac and asked for feedback/suggestions. Attorney Robert B. Ransom of Leventis & Ransom in Columbia, SC provided the answer listed below. Because I was so impressed with its insight and thoroughness, I asked Rob to let me use it as a "guest post" here on The Mac Lawyer. Rob graciously agreed, and here is how he answered that question:
First, you definitely should get a Mac. I suggest the 17" MacBook Pro. It is absolutely unstoppable. Every time I show up in court or at a mediation with a laptop presentation, opposing counsel gets seriously jealous. It's a lot of fun to sit and effortlessly run through my presentation using the MacBook Pro's remote control, and then watch opposing counsel fumble around like a blind old woman trying to get his/her stone-aged PowerPoint presentation to run correctly.
Plus, Mac has a presentation software called Keynote that is really just unbelievable in terms of simplicity of use and power of features. I had one defendant offer to pay me an additional $5,000 at mediation if I would let its lawyer have a copy of my presentation. Charts, text, motion, photos, video, you name it, it's drag-and-drop easy. I won't even mention things like iTunes, iPhoto, Final Cut, Safari, etc. other than to say they are soooo much better than what you can get on a PC.
Second, you may have some technical issues to overcome interfacing with a Windows server, I have not tried that. However, the new Macs with the Intel chip sets (Duo Core) are capable of running the Windows XP Pro operating system on the Mac hardware so it should work (don't know about Windows Vista, but hey, when is Vista actually going to get released??) Right now, running XP Pro is done by downloading a free program called BootCamp.
Mac is expected to release the latest version of its OS X operating system, called OS X Leopard, in March; Leopard will allow you to run XP Pro natively on the Mac so you don't have to download BootCamp. This is extremely significant because right now the only plausible reason for buying a PC is that a Mac won't run all the Microsoft software products commonly in use by most offices. Well, with Bootcamp / Leopard and the new Intel chips, that is no longer the case. The Mac will run everything you can run on a PC, while the PC will not run anything that runs on a Mac. So why buy a PC and rule out using a large universe of available software? Plus, PC software sucks compared to what a Mac will do.
My own personal opinion is that Windows Vista will only be a cheap imitation of Mac OS X. The reviews I have read all say as much. Accept no substitutes. Get a Mac, you will never look back. It's like the difference between a computer and a stone tablet. Viruses?? No such thing on a Mac. PC crash and have to be rebooted repeatedly? Almost never happens on a Mac. Go to another office and want to make your laptop hook up to the wireless internet? Good luck on a PC. With a Mac, open the laptop and you're connected. I could go on and on.
Rob "Mac" Ransom
Leventis & Ransom
Columbia, SC
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