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

[se7en.hu]

Why? Simple. Cause I was an idiot. :p There was no real reasoning behind it. I just used Windows, never had used a mac back then (this was like 3/4 years ago) and so hated anything to do with Apple. Like many of the other Apple haters, I dont think they hold valid reasons, maybe they see it as a threat or something. Im not sure.

I don't hate windows now, I just dont use it. I think Linux is the way it should be though, free and open to many brilliant minds to share and develop ideas together. (Y)

I'd be using Linux if it had the commercial software i need available to it, but even then, I think for me, in terms of functionality and everything, OSX is by far the closest it comes to perfect, if you know how to use it properly that is.

Edited August 8, 2008 by se7en.hu

[violetkitty]

OS X is beautiful, smart, stable and quite functional. I wouldn't dream of using Windows as a replacement, especially since I have my nice pretty Mac hardware :p

I feel dirty that I was even considering a Windows dual boot, but I suppose the I wouldn't mind the penguin as much, the Linux penguin is so cute! (yeah I know that's not a good reason hehe)

[Smethead]

I bought a Mac to get away from Windows. I don't use Bootcamp either; I have a Windows XP virtual machine to test things - but that's it.

Running Windows only on a Mac kind of defeats the point of buying one in the first place.

Completely agree

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

Strangely the more I use OSX, the more I start to ponder going back to Windows. For all of its foibles and irritating quirks, its actually not quite the trainwreck that the dedicated Mac fans would have you believe.

OSX is absolutely wonderful and there is no doubt about that - it does many things better than Windows does and alongside Linux, its a revelation. But I guess i'm just too used to the Windows way (have been using it for ages!) and haven't ended up finding OSX to be quite the empowering experience I hoped it'd be. In fact I seem to find myself to be less productive under OSX.

The biggest problem with the switch has been ME though - I hoped getting a Mac with a less powerful graphics card would steer me away from playing video games but if anything its done the opposite and now I just resent having to play games with lower detail or at a lower resolution. I can't help but think i'm destined to stick with Windows and just sell the iMac!

[Alexandre.]

I wish I could run Windows okay on my Powerbook G4, then I would use it for school ( I need to use a Windows PC). Does anyone here know if XP ( or even Vista, but I'm probably pushing my luck) on Microsoft Virtual PC would run okay on a Powerbook G4 ( 1.33 GHz, 2 GB ram)

Thanks

[Mikee99]

I wish I could run Windows okay on my Powerbook G4, then I would use it for school ( I need to use a Windows PC). Does anyone here know if XP ( or even Vista, but I'm probably pushing my luck) on Microsoft Virtual PC would run okay on a Powerbook G4 ( 1.33 GHz, 2 GB ram)

Thanks

When I ran XP in PowerPC on an iBook G3 900, it ran like a pentium II. So, it would probably run like a higher-end P2 or a low to mid-range P3.

[Alexandre.]

When I ran XP in PowerPC on an iBook G3 900, it ran like a pentium II. So, it would probably run like a higher-end P2 or a low to mid-range P3.

Hmm, thanks for the reply. But that is a G3, maybe a G4 would do better...

[EduardValencia]

Wow the poll is quite a surprise,28% of mac users run Windows as their primary OS :o

[giga Veteran]

[Alexandre.]

Lol @ Giga, a wall full of faceplam =P

[MulletRobZ]

Doesn't this defeat the purpose of getting a Mac in the first place? :s As for me, I can't run Windows natively (not via Virtual PC) because I got my Mac before the Intel transition.

[Damian]

I wish I could run Windows okay on my Powerbook G4, then I would use it for school ( I need to use a Windows PC). Does anyone here know if XP ( or even Vista, but I'm probably pushing my luck) on Microsoft Virtual PC would run okay on a Powerbook G4 ( 1.33 GHz, 2 GB ram)

Thanks

I used to use XP on my PowerBook 1,5 GHz + 2GB RAM and it worked great.

It all depends on which software you're going to use.

I wouldn't run Vista on it lol.

[Alexandre.]

I used to use XP on my PowerBook 1,5 GHz + 2GB RAM and it worked great.

It all depends on which software you're going to use.

I wouldn't run Vista on it lol.

Thanks, but the one I'm using now has 728 MB of RAM, and the one with 2 GB isn't mine so I can't test, but I can use it if I wanted too. Do things like Office 2007 ( I need to run access) work OK? and did you get the internet connection working? one more =P : which program to emulate did you use.

Thanks again.

[Damian]

Thanks, but the one I'm using now has 728 MB of RAM, and the one with 2 GB isn't mine so I can't test, but I can use it if I wanted too. Do things like Office 2007 ( I need to run access) work OK? and did you get the internet connection working? one more =P : which program to emulate did you use.

Thanks again.

I suggest you to upgrade to 2GB RAM to make XP work good.

I haven't use Office 2007 on it. Only Office 2003.

Internet connection works without problems.

I cant remember exactly but it uses 'Shared Networking' from your Mac to connect to the internet.

Software i used:

- Remote Desktop

- Office 2003 (full package)

- TOPdesk

- Inventory Manager

- DOS.

[Boz]

I just recently switched full time using Vista x64 Ultimate on my Mac Pro 8-core / 2x 8800GT cards / 10gb of ram and I couldn't be happier. OSX was giving me so much trouble, constant needs for reboots, weird crashed of my external drives etc etc.. and I got sick and tired of it.

I went back to Vista and using it on a rock stable Apple hardware is a pure winner. No crashes, no hiccups.. everything works terrific.

I still have OSX but I only boot into it if I do some iPhone dev or some OSX centric testing. That's it.

[Lasker]

I just recently switched full time using Vista x64 Ultimate on my Mac Pro 8-core / 2x 8800GT cards / 10gb of ram and I couldn't be happier. OSX was giving me so much trouble, constant needs for reboots, weird crashed of my external drives etc etc.. and I got sick and tired of it.

I went back to Vista and using it on a rock stable Apple hardware is a pure winner. No crashes, no hiccups.. everything works terrific.

I still have OSX but I only boot into it if I do some iPhone dev or some OSX centric testing. That's it.

Don't know why you have so much trouble with OS X, I have my new iMac and I can't be more happy than when I was using Windows Vista, it was like a nightmare. I am very happy and comfortable with my iMac with OS X Leopard. I will feel dirty if I try again to install Windows in my beautiful iMac. :wacko:

[Boz]

Don't know why you have so much trouble with OS X, I have my new iMac and I can't be more happy than when I was using Windows Vista, it was like a nightmare. I am very happy and comfortable with my iMac with OS X Leopard. I will feel dirty if I try again to install Windows in my beautiful iMac. :wacko:

Yep..OSX is super awesome if you are using it for browsing internet, some photo viewing and family video editing. it's a visually beautiful system. But you start pushing heavy apps on it and it completely collapses.

Especially Leopard. It's plagued with so many bugs that I wouldn't even know where to start. But it's not even that.. I install Adobe CS3 Master Suite that I use for work and I have the same version on PC.. my quad PC 2.6 with 8gb of ram with Vista works unbelievably faster then my 8-core Mac Pro with CS3 for example.. and this is just one set of apps I use. Let's not even go into the fact that all serious apps are now given priority on Vista. CS4 suite will be fully 64 bit with numerous speed and technological improvements on PC. On a Mac it will still have serious limitations, namely the 2gb memory cap limit.

I'm sorry..I switched and spent thousands of dollars.. I used OSX as my main work system on every day basis for 7 months or more now and I never had so many problems, delays and reboots. I can't remember when I last rebooted Vista. I'm not really super dissapointed and I still think Apple Mac Pro is a wonderful machine and OSX looks great but it's really not even close to the hype that surrounds it.

People can say what they want, but Vista x64 Ultimate is superb. You put Sp1 and everything works extremely well and it's pretty slick too (not Apple but very nice). The problem with Vista is huge variety of hardware. You put Vista on Mac Pro with rock stable hardware, it SCREAMS.

Again, OSX is a beautiful life OS. If you don't really put a lot of strain, don't use a lot of apps it's going to work out beautifully for you. But once you start loading it with real world apps for serious work, it starts falling apart. That's where Windows got mature. They've been struggling with numerous apps, buggy drivers etc etc for years and years and finally built a system that actually solves a lot of the previous problems, something that Apple will just begin to face as their market share goes up IMO.

[giga Veteran]

Yep..OSX is super awesome if you are using it for browsing internet, some photo viewing and family video editing. it's a visually beautiful system. But you start pushing heavy apps on it and it completely collapses.

Especially Leopard. It's plagued with so many bugs that I wouldn't even know where to start. But it's not even that.. I install Adobe CS3 Master Suite that I use for work and I have the same version on PC.. my quad PC 2.6 with 8gb of ram with Vista works unbelievably faster then my 8-core Mac Pro with CS3 for example.. and this is just one set of apps I use. Let's not even go into the fact that all serious apps are now given priority on Vista. CS4 suite will be fully 64 bit with numerous speed and technological improvements on PC. On a Mac it will still have serious limitations, namely the 2gb memory cap limit.

I'm sorry..I switched and spent thousands of dollars.. I used OSX as my main work system on every day basis for 7 months or more now and I never had so many problems, delays and reboots. I can't remember when I last rebooted Vista. I'm not really super dissapointed and I still think Apple Mac Pro is a wonderful machine and OSX looks great but it's really not even close to the hype that surrounds it.

People can say what they want, but Vista x64 Ultimate is superb. You put Sp1 and everything works extremely well and it's pretty slick too (not Apple but very nice). The problem with Vista is huge variety of hardware. You put Vista on Mac Pro with rock stable hardware, it SCREAMS.

Again, OSX is a beautiful life OS. If you don't really put a lot of strain, don't use a lot of apps it's going to work out beautifully for you. But once you start loading it with real world apps for serious work, it starts falling apart. That's where Windows got mature. They've been struggling with numerous apps, buggy drivers etc etc for years and years and finally built a system that actually solves a lot of the previous problems, something that Apple will just begin to face as their market share goes up IMO.

Speak for yourself. I run Aperture and Photoshop "serious apps" on a daily basis and it runs perfectly well. I'm sure you had problems, but some of the stuff you spout is just rubbish.

[Boz]

considering you are a mod I would expect you respect the rules and not insult me by calling what I say rubish. It's a personal attack and using 2 applications out dozens I run on daily basis on both of and my mac clearly have issues on osx. If you have anything to comment about my post that proves I'm not right do so but please restrain yourself from calling my responses rubish.

I assure you that I use more apps then just photoshop and apple's own aperature. Bridge crashes nonstop on osx, photoshop doesn't crash that often but works seriously slower then on my slower of. Flash and dreamweaver are awful and have mysterious lags and hang ups and font management apps are iffy. Font book is iffy and can't handle lots of fonts without crashing and finder quite often completely stops responding to keyboard (a problem well known) until you restart it or reboot, it works in other apps.

And this is just scratching the surface. The pinnacle is bad handling of external drives that ate of formated and connected to the mac resulting in complete loss of data when you get "INITIALIZE DRIVE" message.

The best part has to be customer support and blue flashing on multiple monitors that is filled on apple forums. Response from their customer support? "sorry you will have to wait until next osx patch" . Peachy!

Don't tell what it is and what's not. I spend thosands of dollars on a mac gave it a chance for 7+ as my primary mashine and I can say 100% confidence that when system is loaded vista kicks osx butt.

Edited September 1, 2008 by Boz

[giga Veteran]

considering you are a mod I would expect you respect the rules and not insult me by calling what I say rubish. It's a personal attack and using 2 applications out dozens I run on daily basis on both of and my mac clearly have issues on osx. If you have anything to comment about my post that proves I'm not right do so but please restrain yourself from calling my responses rubish.

I assure you that I use more apps then just photoshop and apple's own aperature. Bridge crashes nonstop on osx, photoshop doesn't crash that often but works seriously slower then on my slower of. Flash and dreamweaver are awful and have mysterious lags and hang ups and font management apps are iffy. Font book is iffy and can't handle lots of fonts without crashing and finder quite often completely stops responding to keyboard (a problem well known) until you restart it or reboot, it works in other apps.

And this is just scratching the surface. The pinnacle is bad handling of external drives that ate of formated and connected to the mac resulting in complete loss of data when you get "INITIALIZE DRIVE" message.

The best part has to be customer support and blue flashing on multiple monitors that is filled on apple forums. Response from their customer support? "sorry you will have to wait until next osx patch" . Peachy!

Don't tell what it is and what's not. I spend thosands of dollars on a mac gave it a chance for 7+ as my primary mashine and I can say 100% confidence that when system is loaded vista kicks osx butt.

Calling some of the "facts" you state rubbish is an attack? Get a hold of yourself man. (the main thing I was calling rubbish was the 2GB limit for Photoshop and some of your judgements on what 10.5 can handle)

I can understand you have problems, but equating one side of your own problems to make a sweeping judgemental decision that OS X "can't handle more than a few serious apps" is severely misaligned. Most of your complaining seems to be on Adobe apps--I can't speak personally on Bridge/Flash/Dreamweaver (though I have heard they are crap) as I don't use those, but Photoshop/Lightroom/Aperture are the main "serious" applications I use on a daily basis for "serious" work and I have yet to have any sort of crashes or slowdowns like you've been experiencing. Yeah, I've had Finder lock up on me a few times, but that's usually solved through a right click Finder dock icon -> relaunch. Can't say that I've ever experienced the initialize drive error on my externals (hfs+) or your font book problem.

So yes, I'm telling you to man up for yourself and quit assuming that your own problems apply to every other person. I'm sorry that your experience has been so rough, but try and be more objective. :)

[Lasker]

Calling some of the "facts" you state rubbish is an attack? Get a hold of yourself man. (the main thing I was calling rubbish was the 2GB limit for Photoshop and some of your judgements on what 10.5 can handle)

I can understand you have problems, but equating one side of your own problems to make a sweeping judgemental decision that OS X "can't handle more than a few serious apps" is severely misaligned. Most of your complaining seems to be on Adobe apps--I can't speak personally on Bridge/Flash/Dreamweaver (though I have heard they are crap) as I don't use those, but Photoshop/Lightroom/Aperture are the main "serious" applications I use on a daily basis for "serious" work and I have yet to have any sort of crashes or slowdowns like you've been experiencing. Yeah, I've had Finder lock up on me a few times, but that's usually solved through a right click Finder dock icon -> relaunch. Can't say that I've ever experienced the initialize drive error on my externals (hfs+) or your font book problem.

So yes, I'm telling you to man up for yourself and quit assuming that your own problems apply to every other person. I'm sorry that your experience has been so rough, but try and be more objective. :)

And let me add to this that I use Final Cut not everyday but few times a week and I never had a slowdown or lag in anything. I am not sure but it could be that his Mac Pro have some defects inside maybe in the video card or power supply.

[digitalsoft]

I dont own a mac but when im at college i tend to use windows, mainly just to use office as i cant stand using mac office. 2 of my friends use windows as their primary on their macs