Help please! Windows for Mac or buy a cheap PC?
Jun 01, 2016
Hi everyone,
So I'm having a dilemma and I would really love some advice. This is actually an ongoing saga that has been getting more and more complicated each day. So, I'm presently a student but have decided to purchase Storyline 2 to build my expertise as a developer and hopefully take on some side projects (I also want to take advantage of student pricing). But I'm having a lot of trouble getting SL2 up and running.
I initially planned to install Virtual Box on my Mac laptop and run SL2. But as I went this route, I realized my laptop doesn't have much memory (I've only got 21GB free). I also realized I'd need to buy Windows for Mac, which would cost about 150$ - remember I'm a student, so every cent counts!
Others have recommended that I purchase a second, PC laptop, something inexpensive that would be my SL2 computer (also I wouldn't have to buy Windows). However, I went to Best Buy and the basic computers were around 550$. They had between 4-6GB of room. I don't know if I should bite the bullet and buy one, or if it's silly because if I'm going to buy a work computer, I should buy something of quality.
Option 3 is that I go to the Mac store and get more memory. I buy Windows for Mac, use Virtual Box and hopefully (finally) get SL2.
I'd love to hear if other people have found themselves in this situation and what you have done.
5 Replies
Hi Madeleine,
I know a lot of users in the forums utilize Storyline on a Mac (with Parallels or VMWare, etc.) myself included. It's honestly the fastest Windows machine I've had. :)
You may want to take a look at some of the other threads here with information in regards to other users experiences with working on a Mac:
Also, you mentioned you were a student - and if you haven't yet purchased, please feel free to reach out to our Success team here - they'll be able to assist with any pricing questions and other discounts you may be eligible for.
Thanks so much, Ive been flip flopping back and forth. I'm certainly going to check those threads out!
Thanks for getting back to me!
No problem Madeleine and feel free to let us know if you have any other questions!
Hi Ashley,
I’m in a similar situation and wondering if you still use and feel comfortable using a Mac for Storyline development? I’ve previously built Storyline courses with a Mac using Vmware and it worked, though was very slow. After some investigating, I realized my 7 year old Mac was just getting old and needed way more storage and processing power:) Either way, I’ll need a major upgrade. If you’re still using a Mac, would you mind sharing the specs that you’re running? My old Mac was running Windows 7x64 on VMware.
Any advice you have will be greatly appreciated.
Rainey
Hey Rainey,
Yes! Our entire team uses Mac.
I have a MacBook Pro and use Parallels for Windows.
We have to have it all for helping out customers. I personally have Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and mostly use my Windows 10 VM for all the newer products.
Just be sure you can meet the system requirements listed here (those are for Articulate 360).
Hope that helps! New equipment is always fun!
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