tsheehan

Anyone use a mac and AIM data? what do I download to run the analysis programs on my Mac. I hate this thing. (the Mac) My wife thought it was cute. I call it my white thin paper weight witha keyboard.Help.

Regards
TSheehan

Gary R.

Unless it's a new MacBook (Intel CPU) and you can run Windows you are out of luck....

Circuit Motorsports

It would have to be a Macbook Pro with Boot Camp or Parallels.

Macs make great trackside laptops. They have the best screens and great battery life.

tsheehan

SOL for me. White thin paper weight with a key board it is. I have a windows based PC in the trailer. I will have to fetch it. Thanks
Regards
TSheehan

DrJupeman

I use my MBP running Fusion to run AIM data from my wife's and son's karts.

Gary R.

Yeah, VMWare is pretty slick. You still need an Intel CPU based Mac though don't you?

Never mind -
VMware Fusion 3 System Requirements

* Works on Any Intel® Mac
* Minimum 1GB of RAM (2GB RAM recommended)
* 700MB free disk space for VMware Fusion and at least 5GB for each virtual machine
* Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later; Mac OS X 10.6 or later
* Operating system installation media (disk or disk image) for virtual machines.

Any performance degradation between Fusion (3?) and booting into Windows using one of the Mac booters?

Nugget

If you've got an older PPC Mac you can run Microsoft VirtualPC to get Windows up and running. But really, the price of an Intel Mac can be less than a set of tires and that's the best approach.

I use VMware Fusion for my Traqmate stuff and it works quite well for my needs. You couldn't pay me to go back to Windows now.

fc-racer

I'm using Parallels with AIM RaceStudio and it works great. No issues downloading information or uploading GPS tracks, etc.

Gary R.

That's one thing I wondered about, so without rebooting (using BootCamp) RaceStudio's USB driver's allow you to hook to the MXL or use the Data Key without issue.. good to know.

OTOH Bootcamp is free with OS X but Parallels and VMWare are relatively cheap and seem pretty slick..

fc-racer

Gary R, I've had absolutely no problems at all. I have OSX running and Parallels running WinXP in a window and am able to download/upload/analyze all day long. Even battery life has not been the issue I thought it would be. I'm using a gen 1 Macbook so it's not even the latest technology.

When I get home, I export the data files and analyze them in more detail on a 27" iMac running WinXP in parallels. It's pretty fun to see the data on a huge screen. Again, it all works seamlessly with no issues. I've been playing with RS 2.35.1 that was released yesterday and it seems to work great too.

Gary R.

Sheesh, they release updates like I change my socks.

Tom W

I have a MacBook Pro that I use at the track and a Mac Pro at home. I run MoTeC and have run Traqmate software using either boot camp or Parallels without any problems at all.

I use windows at work and Mac at home and there is a lot to like about the Mac - if it runs the software you want to use.

Gary R.

Well, with BootCamp I don't see how a top end Mac Pro wouldn't do anything the best PC can AND run all the great Apple applications... like Final Cut, unless they don't incorporate the latest top tier Intel CPUs.

kgorman

We use Macs with Parallels and VMware and/or bootcamp. Big mac fans. But honestly, after dropping and ruining two MBP's at the track, get yourself a simple PC used from craigslist. The requirements are fairly low for a track day only laptop.

The spec we use is:

- PC, I like old thinkpads best
- 2 usb ports
- 14" or greater screen with 1280x1024 or greater
- >= 1GB RAM
- >= 250GB HDD, more if you do lots of video
- Windows XP
- Analysis package of choice
- VLC for windows (video program)
- USB CF/SD reader
~ $150 used.

Save your nice mac for when you analyze stuff at home and/or post processing of videos (if you still do that...;-). For video, just be sure you have VLC it makes everything so much simpler.

We run MoTeC, RS2 (AiM), Racepak, Traqstudio, Dashware, Modus, etc, etc on Parallels or VMware on OSX on many laptops.. All our analysis, compression, processing hosts at the shop are OSX too.. PM me if you ever have problems, we can help.

Gary R.

Your worse than my daughters when they were in college but at least those Macbooks were covered by insurance! My roomate knocked it off my bed, my friend knocked a glass of water over on it, my classmate knocked it off my 3rd story balcony.... wonder if I can get the same insurance on one?