>We are interested in buying a MAC for off-line analysis. Since we have a >shortage of desk/bench space, there is interest in perhaps getting a >notebook instead to run Cellquest. I have noticed discussions about OS9, >OSX, and other compatability issues. Are there any additional concerns we >need to be worried about. Yes, I have advised the investigator to call BD >before he places the order for the MAC, which should probably be sufficient. >I am mostly interested in a heads up for what to look for, since our lab is >a PC/NT/Win9x lab. > >Thank you in advance for your help on this relatively simple question. > >Doug > > If you are going to buy another Macintosh specifically for analysis then you will need to buy another license for CellQuest. In that case before you buy make sure you consider FlowJo as an alternative analysis package to CellQuest. We have found it much better and there have never been any compatibility problems - I'm running it right now on a Powerbook. I have not tried CellQuest on a Powerbook. (All our acquisition is done on a FacStarPlus with a Mac running CellQuest, but I haven't used CellQuest for analysis since FlowJo was released in 1997). In terms of saving desk/bench space, you might also consider the G4 Cube - it really is a tiny computer and if you coupled it with an LCD monitor it would take up not much more space than a laptop (I have no idea how that would compare price wise though - in Australia it would end up being about the same I think). The Cube will run FlowJo slightly faster but there is not a big difference between a G4/400 (Cube) or the G3/500 in the top of the line Powerbook (rumour has it that the Powerbook line will be significantly revised in January if you can wait that long...). The big disadvantage of going small (whether laptop or lcd monitor) is the limited screen space you can use. Both CellQuest and FlowJo benefit from more screen space, ie larger monitors. However, the best way I have found to increase screen space is to add a second monitor. The Powerbook has the advantage here as it supports a second monitor straight out of the box - at the moment I'm running the powerbook with a 15inch monitor sitting beside it and the Mac desktop expands over both of them. (It is more difficult to add a second monitor to the Cube as it involves finding a single video card that will support dual monitors; if you bought the normal G4 Tower you would simply add a second PCI video card) Of course once you start adding second monitors they start taking up more space. The other thing to make sure is that you get sufficient RAM. Some of the base Mac models ship with only 64MB. This may be enough depending on the analysis you do but I think 128MB or more is much better (our lab G4s which are used for analysis have 192MB). Don't hesitate to ask any more questions... Adrian Smith
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