Q. I am going to start college in the fall and I need a laptop. Uncle Jim, who is a Mac addict, is making an argument for a MacBook with Parallels 3.0 and Windows XP installed. He said that way I would have the best of both worlds. My mom is looking at the price. She said we could get a PC for less money but I want to make sure we're making the right decision. If money is not an issue, what is your recommendation?

    A. Both your mom and your uncle are correct. You can indeed get a decent laptop from Dell or Hewlett-Packard for less than the $1,099 that Apple's least expensive Mac laptop, the MacBook, costs. But, in my view, the Mac has a better, faster operating system, better built-in software, and is far less likely to expose you to viruses and other malicious software. Plus, the MacBook itself is a sturdy piece of hardware. And there's a very good Mac version of Microsoft Office that is fully compatible with files created on the Windows version.

    Your uncle is also correct that Macs can run Windows, and Windows software, quite well. However, the solution he suggests, using the Parallels software, which enables Windows use on a Mac, will add significantly to the price. Parallels costs around $60, and you also must buy a full, boxed edition of Windows XP or Vista. While prices for Windows vary, this full version (not an upgrade version) of XP can cost nearly $200, and Vista typically costs more.

    So, if money really isn't an issue, I recommend the MacBook. But, since that is rarely the case in real life, you might want to weigh the cheaper alternatives more carefully. Or, if you do buy the MacBook, I'd hold off on the Windows installation until and unless you find you need Windows programs that have no counterpart on the Mac. The average undergraduate likely won't.

    Q. I am dissatisfied with my Internet service provider and I would like to switch to another one. If I switch, can I keep the same email address? Do I have to keep paying the old ISP if I switch and keep the email address?

    A. It depends on your ISP. If it is America Online, you will be able to drop AOL as your ISP and continue to use your aol.com address, regardless of which provider you use to access the Internet. But, in most cases, if you are using the email address provided by your ISP, you will have to relinquish it. However, I would suggest you consider obtaining an email account that isn't tied to an ISP, so that, if you have to change ISPs again, it won't disrupt your email. Among such email-only services are Yahoo Mail, Microsoft's Windows Live Hotmail, and Google's Gmail.

    Q. Your column last week concerned a navigation device called Dash Express that transmits the speed and location of your car to the company for traffic information purposes. But couldn't this capability also be misused by the company to track a driver's whereabouts, or even help issue speeding tickets?

    A. Theoretically, yes. But the company, Dash Navigation, says it retains no personally identifiable information on its servers, and merely collects traffic data from participating cars anonymously. A company spokeswoman says: 'If the FBI came in and asked us to find someone, we would have no way of locating an individual car.'

    專欄作家莫博士就有關如何選購筆記本電腦、電子郵件地址的保留以及Dash Express個人信息保密問題答讀者問。

    問：我秋天就要上大學了，想要買一部筆記本電腦。我的叔叔吉姆是個蘋果電腦發燒友，他極力主張我買MacBook，裝上Parallels 3.0和Windows XP操作系統。他說這樣我在軟硬件上就都是最好的了。我媽媽比較了價格。她說我們可以少花點錢，買臺其他牌子的電腦，不過我想確保我們能做出正確的決定。如果錢不是問題的話，你推薦哪款電腦呢？

    答：你的媽媽和叔叔說的都沒錯。最便宜的蘋果(Apple)筆記本電腦MacBook要1,099美元，你不需要花這么多的錢就能買到一部不錯的戴爾(Dell)或是惠普(Hewlett-Packard)電腦。不過，我認為蘋果電腦的操作系統更好、更快，內置軟件也性能更佳，而且受到病毒和其他惡意軟件攻擊的可能性要小得多。除此之外，MacBook本身也很結實耐用。還有一套Mac版的Microsoft Offic辦公軟件，這套很好用的軟件可以與Windows版Office軟件創建的文件兼容。

    你叔叔另一個正確的地方是蘋果電腦確實能良好地運行Windows操作系統和Windows應用軟件。不過，他建議的方法──在蘋果電腦上安裝Parallels軟件，以便運行Windows操作系統──會使價格大大提高。Parallels軟件價格大約為60美元，你還必須到店里買套完整的Windows XP或Vista。由于不同的Windows操作系統價格不同，Windows XP完整版（而非升級版）的價格可能會接近200美元，而Windows Vista的價格通常還要高。

    廣告因此，如果錢真的不是問題的話，我建議你買MacBook。不過，在現實生活中，常常還是要權衡價格的，所以你可能需要認真地考慮一下價格較低的電腦。不過，如果你買了MacBook，我建議你別裝Windows系統，除非你需要的Windows軟件沒有相應的Mac版軟件。普通的大學生很可能使用內置軟件就足夠了。

    問：我對自己的互聯網服務提供商(ISP)很不滿意，我想換一家。如果我換了ISP的話，我還可以保留原來的電子郵件地址嗎？如果我想保留的話，是否還要向原來的那家交錢？

    答：這取決于你的ISP。如果你現在的ISP是美國在線(America Online)的話，你可以取消服務，而仍然保留你的aol.com電子郵件地址，無論你新的ISP是哪一家。不過，在很多情況下，如果你使用的是ISP提供的郵件地址，你將不得不放棄它。我建議你申請一個不和ISP掛鉤的電子郵件帳戶，這樣，如果你必須再次換ISP的話，你的電子郵件不會因此中斷。這類電子郵件服務包括雅虎公司(Yahoo! Inc.)的Yahoo Mail、微軟(Microsoft Corp.)的Windows Live Hotmail和谷歌(Google Inc.)的Gmail。

    問：上周你的專欄中講到了一種名為Dash Express的電子導航設備，能夠將車的速度和位置上傳給Dash Navigation公司，進行交通信息處理。不過該公司會不會濫用這種能力來追蹤駕駛者的位置，甚至幫助開超速罰單？

    答：理論上講，是可以的。不過，Dash Navigation表示，它在自己的服務器上并沒有保留任何能夠識別出個人身份的信息，只是以匿名的方式從參與的汽車中收集交通數據。公司的一位發言人說，如果美國聯邦調查局(FBI)來公司要求我們找到某個人，我們也沒法找到某輛特定汽車的位置。