Pediatric Startup w/ iMac's

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scd2016
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Pediatric Startup w/ iMac's

Post by scd2016 » Mon Aug 10, 2015 4:52 pm

I'm starting a pediatric dental practice and have been very impressed with Open Dental! I have also been impressed over the years with Apple products and have read posts on here that highlight the benefit of Apple products, mainly not being nearly as susceptible to viruses, etc.

My question is: What is the best way to set up the practice with OD on iMac's? Most people seem to like Bootcamp or Parallel's (I prefer Parallel's since you can run OS and Window simultaneously). Are there other systems that are working better?

In our practice, we want to take advantage of online forms, Kiosk Check-in and/or completion of forms in the office, and obviously have digital radiographs as well as any other convenience that will streamline appointments and require less time for the staff to complete.

Any suggestions/experiences?

KevinRossen
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Re: Pediatric Startup w/ iMac's

Post by KevinRossen » Tue Aug 11, 2015 7:21 am

scd2016 wrote:I'm starting a pediatric dental practice and have been very impressed with Open Dental! I have also been impressed over the years with Apple products and have read posts on here that highlight the benefit of Apple products, mainly not being nearly as susceptible to viruses, etc.

My question is: What is the best way to set up the practice with OD on iMac's? Most people seem to like Bootcamp or Parallel's (I prefer Parallel's since you can run OS and Window simultaneously). Are there other systems that are working better?

In our practice, we want to take advantage of online forms, Kiosk Check-in and/or completion of forms in the office, and obviously have digital radiographs as well as any other convenience that will streamline appointments and require less time for the staff to complete.

Any suggestions/experiences?
If you're dead set on doing iMacs then your best bet is to go with Parallels. Boot Camp would mean you're running Windows on Apple hardware. Expensive route to go.
Kevin Rossen
Office Manager, Rossen Dental
Founder, DivergentDental.com
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wjstarck
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Re: Pediatric Startup w/ iMac's

Post by wjstarck » Tue Aug 11, 2015 2:53 pm

,,,and to add an FYI, you may or may not have seen this

http://www.wired.com/2015/08/researcher ... acks-macs/

So while Macs have traditionally escaped the viruses that have plagued the PC world up until now, I think it is reasonable to assume that the Mac will become a more attractive attack vector from here on in, particularly in light of the overwhelming market share of the iPhone of late.

Now don't get me wrong - I love Macs, having run them since the mid 90's (intially with DentalMac) but then mostly as Web/Mail/DNS Servers (Cube, Xserves) running on the original OSX 1.0 beta and all iterations since

I think you invite a lot of headaches running a mixed setup if you are considering OD as a practice managment software. So much easier to run PCs, and the hardware is of excellent quality these days, and your hardware costs will be substantially lower.

Most everything in the dental software/hardware world is geared towards PCs so it's what most everyone expects to see so support is simplified as well. Much less finger pointing is something is not working as expected. Open Dental is a PC software.

Regardless of what you decide, don't cheap out on firewall, antivirus and backup software. No consumer grade crap in my opinion.

That means Watchguard (or equivalent) for firewall, Symantec Endpoint Security for antivirus (greatly simplifies deployment and upgrades) and Crashplan or Carbonite or equivalent for cloud based backup.

Not that you can't do this all with Macs, but over the years I've learned that keeping it simple saves you a tremendous amount of grief over the long run.

Again, just my opinion and this setup was worked well for me for close to 20 years, but would love to hear from anyone with a contrary opinion :D
Cheers,

Bill Starck, DDS
Big Idea Software, LLC
Developer, EASy(Electronic Anesthesia System) for Open Dental
817-807-1709
TX, USA

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irfan
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Re: Pediatric Startup w/ iMac's

Post by irfan » Thu Aug 13, 2015 7:17 am

if you run bootcamp you are right back to being open to windows viruses... i think its overblown anyways... its cheaper to go with windows computers and hire an IT guy to lock them down well so people dont install anything else

stjames70
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Re: Pediatric Startup w/ iMac's

Post by stjames70 » Wed Aug 19, 2015 9:29 am

None of the last three posts had anyone who actually uses Windows as virtual machines in an OS X environment.

Well, I do, and I have been for seven years running -- no viruses yet, except in one of the Windows virtual machines -- what did I do with that machine? I trashed it, re-educated my staff never, ever to check email or visit websites on the Windows virtual machine, and copied a virgin copy onto that Mac -- up and going within 60 minutes without the need for IT support.

If you need information on how I set up my systems, look up my previous posts.

Just to give you an idea of what our current setup:

Seven 2008 MacPro 3,1 computers -- they are dual quad core Xeon machines -- super stable and super easy to update fix if necessary.
Eight 2009 iMacs -- they are Intel based and the most basic processor I could buy at the time, but I upgraded their memory to 16Gb each since memory was so cheap.

They are all running VM Ware Fusion 7 and Win 8.1 as virtual machines (VMs)

The resolution and clarity of the iMac screens are impressive to this day. Apple never skimped on their IPS displays, so viewing angle has always been much better than the standard screens which usually accompany PC systems.

And I should add that it is a myth that Mac systems cost more than PCs. By the time you put the components together (screen, speakers, etc) of the same caliber, the cost differential still favors PCs, but not by much.

My machines still run extremely fast to this day -- these are six, seven year old systems. By now, most PC systems are (1) dead, (2) obsolete -- broken parts, fans, screens -- you name it -- I know, I had basic Dell machines, and they started failing about three-four years into their existence.

When my iMacs become obsolete in a few years, they still can be used as Target Display machines with the addition of Mac minis -- voila, brand new machines with beautiful screens and the addition of a tiny little CPU (the Mac Minis)

So if you have a good grasp, knowledge of how to network your system together without IT help, then definitely go with OS X machines running Windows VMs.

Good luck!!!

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wjstarck
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Re: Pediatric Startup w/ iMac's

Post by wjstarck » Thu Aug 20, 2015 2:21 pm

stjames70 wrote:None of the last three posts had anyone who actually uses Windows as virtual machines in an OS X environment.
Make that the 2 posts previous to mine :roll: (I am an Apple Developer FYI :lol: )

Lenovo makes some very nice all in ones that are on sale now for $499. A "comparable" iMac is $1099. I put comparable in quotes because nothing on the PC side compares to Apple hardware.

Asus also makes some of the best PC hardware on the planet. Outstanding displays too. They also make nice all in ones.

I stay away from Dell and HP not very impressed with their quality.

At the end of the day, it's all about what you want to do. If you love Apples and want that hardware, and the budget allows, by all means go with the iMacs. No real right answer in this arena :lol:

Whatever you decide, let us know!!!

(Just wishing I would have bought Apple stock when it dipped to $23/share in the late 90's before Jobs came back :cry: :cry: :cry: )
Cheers,

Bill Starck, DDS
Big Idea Software, LLC
Developer, EASy(Electronic Anesthesia System) for Open Dental
817-807-1709
TX, USA

scd2016
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Re: Pediatric Startup w/ iMac's

Post by scd2016 » Thu Aug 20, 2015 6:49 pm

Any opinions on VMware Fusion v/s Parallels?

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wjstarck
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Re: Pediatric Startup w/ iMac's

Post by wjstarck » Thu Aug 20, 2015 7:27 pm

I'm partial to Fusion because like stjames70 said, very easy to replace the VM if anything goes haywire.

I personally dislike dual booting and here's why: With a VM like Fusion, you will have OSX running, then the Windows VM will run in a window which you can maximize to full screen when you want to work in Windows. If you want to pop over into OSX you can just minimize the Windows VM window, do what want in OSX, and pop right back in. If you run something like Parallels you'll have to reboot everytime you want to switch between OSes - what a pain. Plus if you ever want to fiddle with other OSes (eg Linux) you can just create another VM. So, alot more flexibility.
Cheers,

Bill Starck, DDS
Big Idea Software, LLC
Developer, EASy(Electronic Anesthesia System) for Open Dental
817-807-1709
TX, USA

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Manny Ramirez
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Re: Pediatric Startup w/ iMac's

Post by Manny Ramirez » Sat Aug 22, 2015 1:05 pm

This is been a long debated topic for many years. For as long as I've doing IT, I know many business owners love the look and feel of Apple PCs as well as the dependability and security that MacOS provides. That being said, it all comes down to Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Equipping an office with Apple computers is not cheap. You also need a technician who specializes in MacOS networking (those are hard to find and more expensive) Additional, you have to take into consideration the additional hardware the office will implement to go paperless and digital. You have to make sure that you hardware supports such devices natively without the use of third-party software. Any good IT guy will advise you to KISS your technology (Keep it simple stupid) The more pieces the wheel has; the more complicated the solution will be. There is also another trend. Apple software, hardware, and solutions are always more expensive. For what you said, you are a startup pediatric startup. That suggest that you want to manage your cost wisely. Although, I use a Macbook Pro to do IT work on a daily basis, and have used Apple product for a reasonable time; I would go PC with MS Windows 8.1 Pro. (I don't work for Microsoft). I know that there are a lot of folks here that are both IT and Dental Informatic savvy and are probably 100% correct. I believe that are many ways to skin a cat. I prefer skinning the cat the easiest way possible. So before you invest do your homework. Hardware and software compatibility is your number one homework. There are a lot of good looking Windows PCs out there. You also want to make sure that your network security tight. I believe the best Anti-virus is you. You can control what goes in and out of your PCs. So far you have done very good. You have found possibly the best DPMS in the market. Now KISS.

Good luck
Manny Ramirez
Senior Network Engineer
E-ssential Networks LLC

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Manny Ramirez
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Re: Pediatric Startup w/ iMac's

Post by Manny Ramirez » Sun Aug 23, 2015 6:43 am

Manny Ramirez wrote:This is been a long debated topic for many years. For as long as I've doing IT, I know many business owners love the look and feel of Apple PCs as well as the dependability and security that MacOS provides. That being said, it all comes down to Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Equipping an office with Apple computers is not cheap. You also need a technician who specializes in MacOS networking (those are hard to find and more expensive) Additional, you have to take into consideration the additional hardware the office will implement to go paperless and digital. You have to make sure that you hardware supports such devices natively without the use of third-party software. Any good IT guy will advise you to KISS your technology (Keep it simple stupid) The more pieces the wheel has; the more complicated the solution will be. There is also another trend. Apple software, hardware, and solutions are always more expensive. For what you said, you are a startup pediatric startup. That suggest that you want to manage your cost wisely. Although, I use a Macbook Pro to do IT work on a daily basis, and have used Apple product for a reasonable time; I would go PC with MS Windows 8.1 Pro. (I don't work for Microsoft). I know that there are a lot of folks here that are both IT and Dental Informatic savvy and are probably 100% correct. I believe that are many ways to skin a cat. I prefer skinning the cat the easiest way possible. So before you invest do your homework. Hardware and software compatibility is your number one homework. There are a lot of good looking Windows PCs out there. You also want to make sure that your network security tight. I believe the best Anti-virus is you. You can control what goes in and out of your PCs. So far you have done a very good. You have found possibly the best DPMS in the market. Now KISS.

Good luck
Manny Ramirez
Senior Network Engineer
E-ssential Networks LLC

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