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davidra

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 12, 2011
413
4
Bad options, I think. My university can provide me with Windows for $15, but my only options are Windows7 32 bit, or Windows 8 (obviously 64 bit). Nobody has access to Windows 7 64 bit anymore. Which would you choose? Essentially, since I'm not interested in Windows 8 very much, what I'm really asking is how will Windows 7 32 bit run in Bootcamp?
 

elithrar

macrumors 6502
May 31, 2007
372
3
Win 7 32-bit will "run" fine, but you will be RAM limited.

If you're just Boot Camping Windows and don't intend to use it 24/7, Windows 8 is fine. I use it for gaming and some commercial apps that don't run on OS X, and most of the time I'm dealing with the app and not Windows. Once you're in desktop mode it's 95% the same as Win 7 anyway.
 

davidra

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 12, 2011
413
4
As a Mac newbie, I intended to try bootcamp and consider adding Parallels if I wasn't happy with rebooting. I likely won't be using Windows a lot, and my current PC uses Windows 7 32 bit. I've not seen much of Windows 8 but what I did see I didn't much like. But I'm gathering by your response that you would go with Windows 8 over 7, 32 bit?
 

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
You didn't mention which Mac and how much RAM you have.

You could also get the W7 32 bit, and just try to use the provided product key with the official W7 64 ISO. That usually works fine.

B
 

davidra

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 12, 2011
413
4
Thanks. Can give that a try. The Windows disks will only cost $15; my concern about Windows 8 is that I know nothing about whether it's compatible with a lot of the PC apps I currently have. But for $15 I'll probably get both and see what works best.

I'll be getting the 27 with 8 GB and a fusion drive. This stuff's basically all new to me. After talking to some folks it sounds like maybe Parallels would be easier to use than rebooting for intermittent use, but maybe I'll go for having both options (bootcamp and Parallels). I think I've seen instructions about how to set both of them up on the same machine, and it would nice to have an option.
 
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