Can a Mac have a Second Act as a PC?

[jodr]

I understand that Macs run Windows, and in my recent laptop search, I got plenty of encouragement from Mac fans along the lines of "with a Mac, you're getting both a Mac and PC. When you buy a PC, you just get the PC."

So I appreciate the 2-for-1 idea that if you tire of OS X and want a Windows system, as I'm sure rarely happens, you've already got the hardware in a great form factor.

What I am skeptical of is the practicality of transforming a Macbook Pro into a PC. Perhaps it's because, typical of the web, the problems tend to rise to the surface, and I've read some accounts of Windows not managing the Mac hardware (fans, wireless card, etc.) quite as well as it would a Dell. Is this the result of some deep bond between Mac guts and OS X, or just pure squeaky wheel nonsense?

-- Sent from my G4 Power Mac

(PS - This is just "fyi" pondering...I've been more than satisfied with OS X, though if I'm moving up to Intel Macs I am intrigued by saving money down the line with the slightly wider array of freeware available for Windows. As a comforting thought, mostly.)

 

[MacDawg]

Personally, I would never buy a Mac with the express desire of running Windows either predominantly or exclusively

Yes, you can run Windows, either virtualized or native

But if you need a Windows desktop or laptop, buy one
They are much cheaper

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[Gabriel GR]

Last time I used Windows natively, during hot greek summer, I was disappointed by the battery and how hot the machine runs. Apparently the drivers provided for bootcamp are not the greatest.

Ever since I have been using Windows in Parallels and I am very pleased.

If you want to run windows only, a machine with the same specs can be had for a lot less.

 

[kny3twalker]

The issues I have in order of importance are about half the battery life in windows versus osx (about 4 hours versus close to 7), the backlight to the keyboard defaults to maximum brightness after reboot and cannot be turned off completely other than in bright lighting environments, and tap and drag is very difficult to perform because of poor driver support. I have also read about poor fan support, but personally it has not been an issue.