Putting XP or Vista on a mac?

[Vikinguy]

I'm sure this has been debated plenty here...but I see a lot of folks buying a new mac and saying they're gonna put XP or Vista on them. Wasn't the whole point of paying the premium $$ for a Mac that you don't have to deal with that crap anymore?

[old-wiz]

Sometimes you have something on vista/XP that does not exist on Mac OS. Also some people need it for access to corporate networks.

[r!ggaman]

I have XP installed so I can play games. The new 9400m on the aluminum macbooks are amazing. Other than that I stick with os x.

[Your5335]

The only reason of me putting Windows Vista on my new Aluminum MacBook was to run Office 2007 because Office 2008 of Mac sucks compared to it and also Remote Desktop Connection for my other PC's.

[MacDawg]

You can run OSX and still run XP or Vista for the occasional reason... Office/games/Quicken/or some special program

It offers flexibility with BootCamp or Parallels/Fusion

Really a great option

Woof, Woof - Dawg http://homepage.mac.com/k.j.vinson/pawprint.gif

[showkati]

people consider mac to run xp/vista the best.

[XnavxeMiyyep]

The only reason of me putting Windows Vista on my new Aluminum MacBook was to run Office 2007 because Office 2008 of Mac sucks compared to it and also Remote Desktop Connection for my other PC's.

Wait, you like Office 2007? Really? Even with all the menus combined into an inexplicable golden ball?

[heatmiser]

Wait, you like Office 2007? Really? Even with all the menus combined into an inexplicable golden ball?

It's far better than Office '08.

[MacDawg]

Wait, you like Office 2007? Really? Even with all the menus combined into an inexplicable golden ball?

Well... 2007 over 2008 for the Mac I can see :rolleyes:

But I'm with you... I prefer 2003 and 2004 myself

The new interface is totally whacked if you ask me

Woof, Woof - Dawg http://homepage.mac.com/k.j.vinson/pawprint.gif

[cellocello]

The Mac-native Remote Desktop app available from MS is LEAGUES better than the windows version.

I RDP into my vista box all the time from my Mac.

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/remote-desktop/default.mspx

[Mr Rogerss]

Being people have spent their entire life on PC, it is hard to not use Windows. I use it for some programs I cant get on MAC, but mainly for Office.

Oh, Office 2003 is the best.:rolleyes:

Networking and Gaming are probably the best reasons. Its very rare a large company will make a switch like that. Its just not practical.

If Mac didn't give me this option I don't know if I woud have switched, I would have to buy a cheap PC desktop to take to college.

[Coulter]

I think Windows XP is a great operating system. The only reason I'm getting a Mac is so i can run OS X, Windows and Linux/UNIX.

A PC can't easily do that.


Edit: In fact FreeBSD 4 is the best, in my opinion, that I've ever used.

[HLdan]

An Apple Macintosh may not be the answer to all of man kind but it's certainly the closest you are going to get in the industry. There's no other computer in the industry that natively runs the Mac OS, it's own Unix system and Windows. It can run any other operating system through virtualization with minimal loss in speed. It's the perfect solution for many people who want it all, but in one package.

[tubbymac]

The Mac-native Remote Desktop app available from MS is LEAGUES better than the windows version.

I RDP into my vista box all the time from my Mac.

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/remote-desktop/default.mspx

Wow I never knew that existed for the Mac. Thanks for that great link! That's one less program I have to run in a Windows virtual machine :)

[iObama]

Don't forget that Macs aren't compatible with every program under the sun.

FWIW, I think Office 2007/8 are the best versions of Office they've ever had!

[silverblack]

I need Windows (especially Vista) to remind myself everyday how fortunate I am to be living in the mercy of Mr. Jobs.

[Your5335]

Wait, you like Office 2007? Really? Even with all the menus combined into an inexplicable golden ball?

I personally love the new vision of Office. I think it's better than any version of Office. Maybe it's because our school has it installed on every computer. Our school really didn't accept 2003 so we had Office XP. Then we moved to 2007.

[robanga]

Having both Office 2008 and Office 2007 on Vista, I can tell you that the Windows version is far better. It makes sense that MS would deliver the best experience for their OS ;)

Other than that, I maintain Windows on a bootcamp partition as well as VM Fusion largely because of Outlook and Outlook plugins that I need.

[cellocello]

Having both Office 2008 and Office 2007 on Vista, I can tell you that the Windows version is far better.

How does Office 2008 for Mac stack up against the older versions of Office for Mac, iWork and OpenOffice? I'm currently trying to decide what office suite to install.

Thanks,

[ZiggyPastorius]

How does Office 2008 for Mac stack up against the older versions of Office for Mac, iWork and OpenOffice? I'm currently trying to decide what office suite to install.

Thanks,

Honestly, if you're not a heavy spreadsheet user, I would go for iWork. For the average user, you won't notice any difference at all except better performance and a better interface. :p It's a lot cheaper than office, too, so there's plenty of benefits in it, I think.

[robanga]

Honestly, if you're not a heavy spreadsheet user, I would go for iWork. For the average user, you won't notice any difference at all except better performance and a better interface. :p It's a lot cheaper than office, too, so there's plenty of benefits in it, I think.

I concur, unless you are doing a lot of excel work iWork is fantastic for most users. If though you want seamless file transfers and the like to work back and fourth between a Mac and a Windows PC on the same files, having office in both places is nice. iWork reads office files and writes to the Office format, but not all translations are seamless.

Office 2008 is better than the previous version in my opinion. It is a very decent suite, just not as nice as the Windows side with its better ribbon interface, better right click access to tool bars etc.

I do not have a lot of experience on OpenOffice other than playing with it for an hour or so.

On the iWork side, Keynote is amazing. If given the opportunity, I'd do 100% of my presentations in it, but as it is I have to deal with a lot of PowerPoint in my business so its just easier using Office.

BTW; iWork for windows would sell, I am quite sure of it.

[mosx]

I'm sure this has been debated plenty here...but I see a lot of folks buying a new mac and saying they're gonna put XP or Vista on them. Wasn't the whole point of paying the premium $$ for a Mac that you don't have to deal with that crap anymore?

I have Windows on my Mac because I made the mistake of buying a Mac and Windows allows me to not deal with OS X's crap ;)

[VSMacOne]

I'm sure this has been debated plenty here...but I see a lot of folks buying a new mac and saying they're gonna put XP or Vista on them. Wasn't the whole point of paying the premium $$ for a Mac that you don't have to deal with that crap anymore?

It's quite simple... With a Mac you get the best out of both worlds.. You have the reliability of OSX, and the option to use Win for those applications that are not OSX compatible. There are a lot applications like that. Some people have Win for games as well, and the new Macs are better for gaming then the older ones.
So here are at least a couple of reasons to have Win installed on your Mac...

[Applepwns]

I'm sure this has been debated plenty here...but I see a lot of folks buying a new mac and saying they're gonna put XP or Vista on them. Wasn't the whole point of paying the premium $$ for a Mac that you don't have to deal with that crap anymore?

You pay the premium for an amazing computer that you can do just about anything with. You Also pay for the amazing service you get even after your warrenty expires and of course you pay for the apple logo :)

[alphaod]

I use Vista everyday. Until Apple comes out with a convertible computer, I'll stick with buying Windows.

[silverblack]

What is convertible computer? This is what I got from Google!?

[robanga]

What is convertable computer? This is what I got from Google!?

That is one fine looking convertible.

[cellocello]

TWO floppies?! My MacBook doesn't even have ONE!

Man, this MacBook sucks.

[mcguidance]

i just partitioned my alumibook and have windows xp SP3 now - posting this from windows..my questions are simple but may have complicated answers:

1. I have no audio - I think I need to download some sort of sound drivers, but where do I do that? I would like to play some games, but obv need sound to do so.
2. I can't right click - On OS X you can set it so you can hold a button and click or right click to get to secondary options, but on Windows I don't have that option. I went to the Control Panel and checked out the Mouse options but there is no option to enable a right click. Is there a button I can hold that will emulate the right click?

Thanks so much for your help. I think that's all for now!!

MC

[ebika]

i just partitioned my alumibook and have windows xp SP3 now - posting this from windows..my questions are simple but may have complicated answers:

1. I have no audio - I think I need to download some sort of sound drivers, but where do I do that? I would like to play some games, but obv need sound to do so.
2. I can't right click - On OS X you can set it so you can hold a button and click or right click to get to secondary options, but on Windows I don't have that option. I went to the Control Panel and checked out the Mouse options but there is no option to enable a right click. Is there a button I can hold that will emulate the right click?

Thanks so much for your help. I think that's all for now!!

MC

Did you use your leopard DVD while in windows to install drivers? If not, give that a shot, it should give you pretty much everything.

[tubbymac]

i just partitioned my alumibook and have windows xp SP3 now - posting this from windows..my questions are simple but may have complicated answers:


1. Drivers are on the Mac OS X Leopard install DVD. Stick it in windows and it should autorun.

2. Trackpad right click is 3 fingers. It's bugged and an absolute nightmare to use on Windows. Not sure what the Windows bootcamp experience was on the previous gen Macbooks but on the aluminum Macbooks it's close to hell on earth with buggy drivers, cracking/stuttering sound, bugged graphics on external monitors, trackpad that skips all over the place... basically everything that could be broken on windows is broken on the alumibooks.

[sushi]

What is convertible computer? This is what I got from Google!?
Brings back memories. :)

That was so cool when it was introduced.

IBM really made a nice product. If memory serves, they were the first to use 3.5 inch floppy drives in a laptop. Other manufacturers were offering 5-1/4 inch floppy drives in their laptops. You could also remove the LCD screen and attach a monitor that would sit above the laptop. Really innovative at the time.

[mcguidance]

Did you use your leopard DVD while in windows to install drivers? If not, give that a shot, it should give you pretty much everything.

I did this twice, still no sound?? I have tried to do it manually, too. No luck. So annoying. I really need to get this working, ugh.

I did get the right click with three fingers, that works well (after getting the hang of it for a bit).

[RTiii320]

i needed for a couple programs for school that only ran on windows.. However my new school i am encouraged to have a Mac.