Can a case be made for IT SysAdmin primary computer be macbook pro?

OP, is there a budget precedence that has been set for this type of thing? If the unit was formerly allotted $500 you will be in for a fight.
 
Well, then you might be stuck with it. At least they spent some $$$ on you. My last position I had to use my own damn equipment or get stuck with the leftovers. Be happy you have some decent gear.

What is your gripe about it?
 
I don't think I'd ever be able to get my manager to see the need for a Mac. I have one at home and I love it and everytime I use my Dell E6330 at work I really miss the gestures and etc.

On my home Macbook Pro I have my bootcamp install virtualized in Parallels when I need any Windows app which is becoming more and more not needed. The only Macbook Pro we have in our locations is two Macbook Pros that are used for field forensics work on "cyber criime" cases. Everytime anyone sees them they ask about them and want one :)
 
i guess the whole point is being productive while mobile. a 13" screen on some crappy resolution makes work extremely difficult. and then have the keyboard feel awful and the touchpad just miserable takes away advantage of having a laptop. it forces me to put it in its dock for 99% of what i do, sometimes i would rather use pen and paper and come back to the docked laptop.
 
i guess the whole point is being productive while mobile. a 13" screen on some crappy resolution makes work extremely difficult. and then have the keyboard feel awful and the touchpad just miserable takes away advantage of having a laptop. it forces me to put it in its dock for 99% of what i do, sometimes i would rather use pen and paper and come back to the docked laptop.

Did you get a non-retina MBP or something? 13" MBAs have a resolution of 1440x900. 13" rMBPs are 1680x1050. Non-retina MBPs are only 1280x800. That would be kind of a strange purchase for someone who needs a higher resolution display. Also, what could possibly be wrong with the touchpad? :confused:
 
To make a case for any purchase, you basically follow the same steps.

What do you do?
How will this purchase make you more productive?

I'd recommend writing down what you do on an average day, and see if you can't do any of that on a Mac. After that, go through your ticket queue and find the weird and random stuff. See if you can't do any of THAT on a Mac.
 
Did you get a non-retina MBP or something? 13" MBAs have a resolution of 1440x900. 13" rMBPs are 1680x1050. Non-retina MBPs are only 1280x800. That would be kind of a strange purchase for someone who needs a higher resolution display. Also, what could possibly be wrong with the touchpad? :confused:

He hasn't actually said what he got yet.
 
To make a case for any purchase, you basically follow the same steps.

What do you do?
How will this purchase make you more productive?

I'd recommend writing down what you do on an average day, and see if you can't do any of that on a Mac. After that, go through your ticket queue and find the weird and random stuff. See if you can't do any of THAT on a Mac.

If his laptop is too small to be efficient, then he needs a bigger machine. Being that they already dropped $1700+ on what he has, I doubt they would turn around a pop for a MBP.

It must be a X220/230 or something. I had an X220 for a while, and I loved it.
 
Lat?

Just get a touchpad like I posted earlier and use a mouse in the field.
 
Did you get a non-retina MBP or something? 13" MBAs have a resolution of 1440x900. 13" rMBPs are 1680x1050. Non-retina MBPs are only 1280x800. That would be kind of a strange purchase for someone who needs a higher resolution display. Also, what could possibly be wrong with the touchpad? :confused:

13" rMBP is actually 2560x1600
 
Oh, I see. You weren't able to make the case. That's really too bad. Especially since they still ended up spending a lot on your setup.
Not sure how they spent $1700 on a Dell laptop, particularly if it doesn't include monitors. But as far as I can tell the case proffered was "I want it" and not any business-oriented justification so it's no surprise the justification didn't work.
 
Not sure how they spent $1700 on a Dell laptop, particularly if it doesn't include monitors. But as far as I can tell the case proffered was "I want it" and not any business-oriented justification so it's no surprise the justification didn't work.

A 13" E6330 can easily push $1700.

I don't even think OP knows what he got. 13" Dell is not a model #.
 
ok ok, a lot of these replies are annoying. i merely posted this thread to see if there was other justifications than what i could come up with on my own. i have NOT requested it yet. when i was hired, the director and i shot a few emails back and forth on what laptop i wanted and at the time, not starting my job yet, i figured then was not the time to get into what really is a good laptop and what isn't. its a e6430 (no not the one with nice screen).

now 6 weeks into the job, we are rapidly growing and basically bringing on 2 new people a month or more. my laptop could easily be re provisioned and so i wanted to pop the question. since i have started, we have made great strides in general IT knowledge like ghz number is not the most important spec on a laptop etc ... the basics.

so this:
No shit, and I bet it is a really nice system. Be grateful OP.
is not helpful. my attitude is give me the best tool for the job. and if you can't, i will chip in. i would have GLADLY thrown $500 or whatever to make the difference between my model and what i wanted ... its what i am going to spend 8+ hours on a day!

Well, then you might be stuck with it. At least they spent some $$$ on you. My last position I had to use my own damn equipment or get stuck with the leftovers. Be happy you have some decent gear.

What is your gripe about it?

you seem jaded and overall a negative nancy. if your last position couldn't get you the equipment you needed, you should quit, thats not how a successful company is run. ... unless they thought you weren't worth the investment.
 
ok ok, a lot of these replies are annoying. i merely posted this thread to see if there was other justifications than what i could come up with on my own. i have NOT requested it yet. when i was hired, the director and i shot a few emails back and forth on what laptop i wanted and at the time, not starting my job yet, i figured then was not the time to get into what really is a good laptop and what isn't. its a e6430 (no not the one with nice screen).

now 6 weeks into the job, we are rapidly growing and basically bringing on 2 new people a month or more. my laptop could easily be re provisioned and so i wanted to pop the question. since i have started, we have made great strides in general IT knowledge like ghz number is not the most important spec on a laptop etc ... the basics.

so this: is not helpful. my attitude is give me the best tool for the job. and if you can't, i will chip in. i would have GLADLY thrown $500 or whatever to make the difference between my model and what i wanted ... its what i am going to spend 8+ hours on a day!



you seem jaded and overall a negative nancy. if your last position couldn't get you the equipment you needed, you should quit, thats not how a successful company is run. ... unless they thought you weren't worth the investment.

LMAO. Yes you could not justify it. We get it.

My last position was for a State Gov Agency that had a shoestring budget and was focused mainly on Tourism and Museums, so IT took a back seat. I had all the equipment I needed since I prioritized my spending, and that was in Servers+Software>Networking gear>User workstations>IT Staff gear. I can do my job on anything you hand me as long as it runs some flavor of linux and Windows XP+. If I went and spent 2K+ on a Mac laptop when the equivalent Dell would cost me >1500, I would be a bad manager. If your budget can justify a mac laptop for you, go ahead and request it.
 
follow up. we settled on middle ground: new lenovo with much better screen and SSD. they also ordered dual U2713HM for myself and the team. i think we have 6 new employees coming in next 6 weeks so my current laptop will be put to good use.
 
follow up. we settled on middle ground: new lenovo with much better screen and SSD. they also ordered dual U2713HM for myself and the team. i think we have 6 new employees coming in next 6 weeks so my current laptop will be put to good use.

Which Lenovo did you get?
 
T430s i think is what we will be ordering (probably next week)

although now that i am looking several options are no longer there ... odd

... the carbons are nice too but lacking graphical power
 
T430s i think is what we will be ordering (probably next week)

although now that i am looking several options are no longer there ... odd

... the carbons are nice too but lacking graphical power

T430 is a good laptop.
 
Back
Top