Windows 7 & Mac Laptops

Gangster

Gangster

Gangster

Soldato
Joined
30 Dec 2004
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London
Hey

I'm new to the MAC arena, and found out recently that Windows 7 could be installed.

Just wanted to ask if people here do this? Why you do it and whether it brings you any advantages?

I'm a complete mac newbie, but have been thinking of getting one for quite some time.

If anyone could give me some input that would be great.

Thanks
 
It means you can run Windows versions of software so you can use any software you already have (if you want) without needing to replace it with a Mac version (if there is one).

It allows you to intergrate into Windows based networks a little more cleanly (particularly if you want to use it with work systems where IT dept does not support anything Mac).

Personally I have Windows installed on my Apple computers but in reality rarely use it other than for gaming.
 
Thanks for the reply.

So it runs exactly as Windows 7 would on a PC?

Only reason I'm thinking of installing Windows is because all my software on my pc is windows based, and that would mean i'd need to buy software for the mac wouldn't it?
 
It runs just like on your Windows machine

Gangster said:
Thanks for the reply.

So it runs exactly as Windows 7 would on a PC?

Only reason I'm thinking of installing Windows is because all my software on my pc is windows based, and that would mean i'd need to buy software for the mac wouldn't it?
Click to expand...

You will not need to buy duplicate software for your Apple. But given the relative uplift in cost if you're not planning on using OS X as the main OS what's the point of paying the premium for the Apple product?

Not that I'm trying to discourage you from buying a Mac of course :D
 
I see your point, well the reason is because I dont often here about problems with Macs - and just thought they were more sturdy, reliable etc?
 
I have both platforms and honestly I only use Windows when I need to (which is not often).

I have never had an apple laptop or desktop fail on me - admittedly I may well have been very lucky in this regard. I agree with the general sentiment that they are more reliable and harder to F-up than an Windows machine.
 
Gangster said:
I see your point, well the reason is because I dont often here about problems with Macs - and just thought they were more sturdy, reliable etc?
Click to expand...

Apart from the cases there is nothing special about Apple hardware. Uses the same CPUs and GPUs etc as any other manufacturer. The MBPs are well built, and are much better to look at than most others, but they can still fall over! :)

OS X isn't perfect either. The only reason OS X has a better reliability record is it written to only support a small range of Apple hardware. Like any OS it can screw up and crash.

I use a virtual machine application called Parallels that lets me run Windows 7 at the same time as OS X - the best of both worlds :) I could have dual-booted, but that would get irritating switching back and forth. With a VM I can enjoy OS X, and seamlessly use MS Office or Internet Explorer. I even do Powershell scripting via my VM :D

Parallels is free to try for 20 days, plus there are other VM applications which are completely free - such as VirtualBox.
 
Gangster said:
I see your point, well the reason is because I dont often here about problems with Macs - and just thought they were more sturdy, reliable etc?
Click to expand...

They're no more or less reliable than a decent non-Mac laptop really. In fact, most of my hardware issues with laptops have been MacBooks. Splitting plastic, dead battery (more than once) and dead hard disk to name three.
 
I do this, mainly for running a few Windows only applications like Imgburn, and playing some games like League of Legends. The only annoying thing is having to load up the Boot Camp thing in System Preferences every time just to restart into Windows! Wished there was a quicker way where you can just click it.
 
CrossOver and Parallels work brilliantly, even for a fair few demanding Windows-only games - there's very little reason to use BootCamp if you have either installed. It is more of a drain on your hardware though (especially the RAM) as you're essentially running 2 OSes at once.
 
sharingan_sasuk said:
I do this, mainly for running a few Windows only applications like Imgburn, and playing some games like League of Legends. The only annoying thing is having to load up the Boot Camp thing in System Preferences every time just to restart into Windows! Wished there was a quicker way where you can just click it.
Click to expand...

When you restart your computer - hold down the option key and then it brings up two hard drives. Choose the windows one, and boom - loads into windows :)
 
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