I have a hardware upgrade! I’ve just been upgrade to a MacBook Pro. So far, so good, although I’m still playing around with the configuration to figure out how I best want everything to run. So far it’s the following configuration.

Hardware: 15.4″ MacBook Pro, 2.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo,4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, 200 GB 7200 RPM SATA HD

Software:
Mac OS X with VMWware Fusion 2.0b2 running a Vista x64 VM. With the Unity mode in Fusion it allows me to run my Windows Apps in their own windows that I can re-arrange on my screen just like a normal Mac app. The performance isn’t quite as good as running Vista right on the Mac, but so far it isn’t to bad. I’m running Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Office 2007, and any other “Windows only” software. VMWare Fusion also allows me to run a single browser (i.e. if I click on a link in Outlook it opens it in the browser of my choice in Mac OS, currently FireFox 3.0). It also allows me to map the Document, Pictures and Music in Windows to the same folders in Mac OS. All my files are stored in Mac OS, but I can open them as if they were stored within my Vista VM. I’m using Mozy Home Backup to run an incremental nighty backup of all my important files. For ~$5.00/month I can get encrypted unlimited backup space. I’m also running Office 2008 for Mac. Running my VM takes quite a bit of battery power, so running Office for Mac allows me to save battery power while working on files and reading emails while traveling.

That covers all the major packages that I have running currently. I’m sure the list will continue to change and grow as I move forward. I have already been pleasantly surprised at the number of applications that I’ve been using in Windows that are also supported on the Mac.