Is Anyone Here Who Uses Their Mac to Run Windows Only?

[Guest]

Yep... bought a mac book pro just to run vista... love it - had no intention of running OSX.

[StevoJD]

Actually, that is against the Apple agreements governing resellers so it isn't a bad thing to do, he wasn't doing his job. :)

If you walked into a Toyota Dealer and the guy had all Yugos on the floor and when asked he said, "Oh, they are just better." I think a great deal of people would also have spoken to someone higher up or to the company themselves as there are agreements for resellers that say what you can and can't do with another company's brand.

Still, that's a car, a $20,000 or so worth object.

This is just a computer.... A simple computer... Plus, it's still Mac hardware, just running XP on it... Not really worth a guy's job, and he probably had a family to feed too. I don't think the guy really notified or called Apple about it though.

Also, to answer some questions for Crossover, yes it does run in DX8 only, but it's still noticeably fast, it actually performs better than Wine.

The games I run on it are CSS and Team Fortress 2 only. :p

[nmesisca]

Actually,

the comparison doesnt really stand.

Apple will make exactly the same amount of money if the poor guy was selling with OSX or with XP. It doesnt detract from their sales at all. If anything, its one less customer that will ring Apples tech support even though he has payed the full price of the OS.

If you're buying a car, and the manufacturer sells it with a GPS of one brand, and the reseller decides another brand of GPS is better, thats a comparison.

In any case, the guy who reported to Apple is a sad sad person.

[giga Veteran]

Actually,

the comparison doesnt really stand.

Apple will make exactly the same amount of money if the poor guy was selling with OSX or with XP. It doesnt detract from their sales at all. If anything, its one less customer that will ring Apples tech support even though he has payed the full price of the OS.

If you're buying a car, and the manufacturer sells it with a GPS of one brand, and the reseller decides another brand of GPS is better, thats a comparison.

In any case, the guy who reported to Apple is a sad sad person.

Unless you know, the people thought they were getting another new experience--but instead were tricked into thinking macs come with XP like regular PCs. The selling point of macs aren't the hardware to me really--it's the OS.

[nmesisca]

Well... assuming XP was installed and licensed legally.. the customers WILL realise it when they are presented the bill that includes WinXP license too.

Besides, I have no doubt that Macs can run XP as fast, if not faster then OSX.. its an older os and the limited Mac hardware makes it ideal.

Apple can revoke the "partner" status to the reseller if they wish at any time, but cannot prevent him from selling Macs with ANY os he wants (legal). The reseller prolly stopped selling them because he couldnt get them at the same "partners" price.

[Cara Veteran]

Apple can revoke the "partner" status to the reseller if they wish at any time, but cannot prevent him from selling Macs with ANY os he wants (legal). The reseller prolly stopped selling them because he couldnt get them at the same "partners" price.

This is true, what more than likely happened is Apple caught wind of this and revoked their Apple Authorized Partner status until such as time as they complied with the agreement. Had they loaded XP in Boot Camp or Parallels/VMWare there wouldn't have been an issue I'm sure. :)

[russellc]

I have Windows installed as a boot option but I think I will be removing it to add disk space back to the primary partition. I do not play games on my PC at all anymore, especially now that I have a PS3. Plus, any games I am looking forward to (Spore and Starcraft 2) will be available for Mac.

[Mikee99]

Also, to answer some questions for Crossover, yes it does run in DX8 only, but it's still noticeably fast, it actually performs better than Wine.

Well, of course it runs fast. When running in DX 8 mode, you are not getting the full graphical output of your GPU. It's like running a really old game vs. a really new one. Your GPU isn't going to be rendering all the effects that it should be rendering to give nicer looking output. It's like downgrading your GPU.

[offroadaaron]

Well, of course it runs fast. When running in DX 8 mode, you are not getting the full graphical output of your GPU. It's like running a really old game vs. a really new one. Your GPU isn't going to be rendering all the effects that it should be rendering to give nicer looking output. It's like downgrading your GPU.

how do you know its downgrading your gpu Mac OS X doesnt even have DX? maybe in windows standards its a downgrade.

[Mikee99]

how do you know its downgrading your gpu Mac OS X doesnt even have DX? maybe in windows standards its a downgrade.

:argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh:

Because, the GAME is running in DX8 mode. The Crossover (wine) libs are not able to replicate DX9 compatibility. Say goodbye to HDR.

Don't believe me? Take a look at the WINE (crossover uses wine) screenshots here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=574342&page=4

You must be delusional if you think those screenshots are good. One user posted screenshots taken with his 7800GTX. (You need an account to view the screenshots) That's a nice card, and those screenshots look absolutely awful. Honestly, I would expect screenshots like that with a crappy GeForce Go 7300!

Edited July 9, 2008 by Mikee99

[offroadaaron]

:argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh:

Because, the GAME is running in DX8 mode. The Crossover (wine) libs are not able to replicate DX9 compatibility. Say goodbye to HDR.

Don't believe me? Take a look at the WINE (crossover uses wine) screenshots here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=574342&page=4

You must be delusional if you think those screenshots are good. One user posted screenshots taken with his 7800GTX. (You need an account to view the screenshots) That's a nice card, and those screenshots look absolutely awful. Honestly, I would expect screenshots like that with a crappy GeForce Go 7300!

so your saying that on my machine everything on low, because thats how i play it CSS on my macbook pro, is better that playing in DX8 on high? I don't play with HDR on... Plus how do you know if they ported it to Mac that it'd have HDR or DX9 style textures? you don't!

how do you know its downgrading your gpu Mac OS X doesnt even have DX? maybe in windows standards its a downgrade.

Edited July 9, 2008 by offroadaaron

[dysmatik]

I did for awhile on my MacBook.

I just missed OS X and finally found all the programs I needed for OS X to make the move.

Now I love using my Mac and use it as my main computer.

[Malbojia]

Believe or not I actually do since its a requirement for software Q&A. I'll only boot it back into OS X when I get a incoming build to test out.

[Mikee99]

so your saying that on my machine everything on low, because thats how i play it CSS on my macbook pro, is better that playing in DX8 on high?

What you wrote in that sentience made absolutely no sense. Please re-write it.

I don't play with HDR on... Plus how do you know if they ported it to Mac that it'd have HDR or DX9 style textures? you don't!

Again, that made absolutely no sense. Ported what to Mac? The crossover libraries? The crossover libraries can only support DX8 mode in games. You are running a Windows game using these libraries on your mac. Because the libraries can only run the game in DX 8 mode, the game will run in DX 8 mode.

Jesus ****ing Christ! This is not ****ing rocket science people!

[offroadaaron]

What you wrote in that sentience made absolutely no sense. Please re-write it.

Again, that made absolutely no sense. Ported what to Mac? The crossover libraries? The crossover libraries can only support DX8 mode in games. You are running a Windows game using these libraries on your mac. Because the libraries can only run the game in DX 8 mode, the game will run in DX 8 mode.

Jesus ****ing Christ! This is not ****ing rocket science people!

angry little tard aren't you, I cbf explaining it to you to be honest, I wouldn't waste my time.

[Mikee99]

angry little tard aren't you, I cbf explaining it to you to be honest, I wouldn't waste my time.

This: "so your saying that on my machine everything on low, because thats how i play it CSS on my macbook pro, is better that playing in DX8 on high?" -- is not a coherent sentence. Please go back to grade school to learn basic English grammatical structures, and then we can have a real debate.

Edited July 10, 2008 by Mikee99

[TonyLock]

I'm running XP SP3 on my MacBook Air.

I have a problem when I go to hibernate, XP sometimes just hangs and does not enter hibernation. 70% of the other times, it hibernates correctly. Anyone else having this issue? The KB909095 Update didn't fix this and besides, SP3 allegedly fixes this issue; does it hell!

[Brony]

it's a bit pointless to buy a macbook just for use with vista/xp mainly because the lack of some keys and the lack of touchpad with two buttons (to use two digits is a bit tricky) and (for mbp) you must configure manually the minimum fan speed. Also is quite expensive.

Otherwise Macbook is stylished and powerful.

[TonyLock]

Just to let everyone know that Windows XP actaully (seeminly) runs better on a MacBook than on my other laptops!!!

[dyn]

Dude, get a life. Why would you give a damn if the guy wants to run XP on his stores iMacs? You seriously went and ratted him out to Apple like a bitch!?!?!?

You should be real proud of yourself on that one. Real proud...

Selling Macs with only Windows on it is like selling something that looks like a Ford but in fact is a Fiat car. It tends to be a bit more like ripping off the customer. In the Netherlands this is illegal and it's also illegal if you don't report something illegal (it makes you an accomplice). Maybe that would be the same case in Spain (both countries are part of the EU so it might well be the case).

If they've got a contract with Apple stating that they have to sell Macs with OS X on them and they don't than that's just illegal, breach of contract.

The moral: it's questionable if it's a good thing to rat that person out or if it's not. There are 2 sides to each story and in this case we've only seen 1.

Personally I don't care if they run Windows on it or not as long as they sell the Mac as is (meaning: with everything that should be in the box like OS X, iLife, etc.). I do think it's a bit like wasting money if you don't use the OS that came with the machine (like getting Windows with a machine but you only use Ubuntu; I would've returned Windows or use it) but than again...to each it's own :)

You are absolutely correct, and I do think Mac OS X is easier to use solo in a networked environment, but all the other computers on my network are PCs running Vista (actually, only one remains running XP.) Therefore, it's simply easier for me to network when my iMac is booted into Vista.

If the operating system knows smb/cifs (and nearly all of them do) than networking is no problem. In this case I think it's more a problem with certain knowledge than some machine not being able to network fully/correctly. At work we have a real multi-os environment (Windows server, Windows clients, Mac clients, Linux clients) and are able to use the network without any problems on all of the machines.

What and why does it make booting into Vista easier to you regarding networking?

interesting.. seems to me you kinda negated his freedom to choose whatever he wants to use? very low in my opinion.

even sadder that apple would even consider your letter, let alone heed it, as grounds for discontinuance of reselling their hardware. shows how sad they are as well, strictly speaking of them as a business entity.

I think Apple would have done some research to make sure the complaint is valid before even taking action. In this case they might have found something called breach of contract in which case they can sue or take other measures. Or this is just a story in a category called urban legends aka it's bogus.

This: "so your saying that on my machine everything on low, because thats how i play it CSS on my macbook pro, is better that playing in DX8 on high?" -- is not a coherent sentence. Please go back to grade school to learn basic English grammatical structures, and then we can have a real debate.

You seriously need to learn something called "respect" since you don't have it. There are people who don't master the English language that well because they're from another country or simply because they are not good at languages (mostly your either good at languages or good at science stuff). First learn to respect other people and than come back so we can have a real debate. Right now it's more like a flame war...

[kaiwai]

One of the Apple Resellers local to me in Spain (i'm on holiday out here at the moment) had XP installed on all the iMacs in his store, when I asked him why he explained that "Windows XP was better and faster then anything OS X could offer" I sent Apple a nice letter and he no longer sells Apple Hardware :D

I think it's just plain wrong

Hmm, the only time I've seen 'Windows' pitched is as a parallels set up - there are alot more 'oooh's and 'aah's' when they see that the operating system is loaded in another Window.

As for 'Windows XP was better and faster than anything OS X could offer" - he doesn't deserve to sell computers let alone a Mac.

I can assure you, I remember talking to a lady, middle aged - and self confessed luddite. She moved to the Mac, she had to relearn, and she would never move back. She is a very happy Mac customer and now tells all her friends how easy things are.

People need to experience something - and the fact that Apple also promotes the fact that it runs Office also makes alot of people happy. A family friend sent back her PC and bought a Mac after finding out from me that there was Office on Mac. She could now take work home (she is in the NZ Air Force), do her work in Word, and take it back to work with it all saved exactly as expected.

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

One of my main jobs at my workplace is to sell Apple Macs.

While one of the perks is 'You can run Windows XP or Vista if you want to', I usually follow that up with.

'... But why would you want to do that? *laughs*'

It makes the customer laugh as well!

[AltecXP]

Few developers here at my company use XP as the only OS on their MacBooks. They just don't care at all for OSX but like the hardware/design.

[Quillz]

One of my main jobs at my workplace is to sell Apple Macs.

While one of the perks is 'You can run Windows XP or Vista if you want to', I usually follow that up with.

'... But why would you want to do that? *laughs*'

It makes the customer laugh as well!

I'd like to do it so I can actually play games and run the vast majority of all software out there. I also like my right clicking.

[MMaster23]

I have a friend who has Vista on his Macbook Pro. He also still has Tiger on it but that's only becuase it doesn't know how to deinstall it and couldn't care less about OSX.