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Does anyone keep their Macs pure and unsoiled by Windows?

Do you load Windows on your Mac?

  • Yes I also load Windows

    Votes: 50 49.0%

  • No my Mac is all Mac!

    Votes: 52 51.0%
  • Total voters
    102
  • Poll closed .
D

deblewis

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 12, 2012
40
3
I'm new to Macs.. Real new in I haven't even ordered just yet..

When I do finally get one my plan was to keep my PC for gaming and the Mac for every thing else and clean of any Window software. Reading the forums it seems everyone ends up with Windows. Do you find it becomes a necessity to load Windows?
 
I have to, mostly for work apps. Otherwise, gaming drivers are generally considered better under windows. The old 320m and HD3000 were nearly equal under OSX, under windows, the 320m was much faster (upto 50% faster) - and it was due to the 320m drivers being much better for windows.
 
deblewis said:
I'm new to Macs.. Real new in I haven't even ordered just yet..

When I do finally get one my plan was to keep my PC for gaming and the Mac for every thing else and clean of any Window software. Reading the forums it seems everyone ends up with Windows. Do you find it becomes a necessity to load Windows?
Click to expand...

My iMac has Windows 7 via Parallels, but my RMBP doesn't.. mostly to make the most of the storage + I don't need Windows, I just have it on the desktop for if a situation came about that I needed it for anything.
 
deblewis said:
I'm new to Macs.. Real new in I haven't even ordered just yet..

When I do finally get one my plan was to keep my PC for gaming and the Mac for every thing else and clean of any Window software. Reading the forums it seems everyone ends up with Windows. Do you find it becomes a necessity to load Windows?
Click to expand...
Some have need of Windows apps that have no Mac equivalent. I have never found a need to run Windows on my Mac.
 
All I ever use Windows for on my personal Mac is games, since I don't have a Windows PC. So if you have a gaming PC, then I'd imagine you'll have no need to install Windows on your Mac.
 
I ask so I can include Windows in my planning if it's needed. At this point I don't see a reason for it, but who knows I could be missing something.
 
I think the answer will likely be yes, especially since it will be your first Mac. You will likely find some program that you would like to use that you won't be able to use under OS X.

In the end, it all depends on your needs and we have no idea what those may be.

I am doing the inverse kind of. I own an Air, which I use primarily for Windows (bootcamp). I switch to OS X whenever I have the need.
 
killmoms said:
All I ever use Windows for on my personal Mac is games, since I don't have a Windows PC. So if you have a gaming PC, then I'd imagine you'll have no need to install Windows on your Mac.
Click to expand...

Same. I initially also installed it for the odd program that didn't have a Mac version or alternative, but over time, there really aren't any Win specific programs I need anymore. Just games, and even then, with Steam on Mac, my Win partition has gotten used less and less over the years.
 
deblewis said:
I'm new to Macs.. Real new in I haven't even ordered just yet..

When I do finally get one my plan was to keep my PC for gaming and the Mac for every thing else and clean of any Window software. Reading the forums it seems everyone ends up with Windows. Do you find it becomes a necessity to load Windows?
Click to expand...

"unsolied by Windows" :D LOL

I see what you mean though. Personally I have NEVER needed any Windows only software so I don't go near windows.

If I did though, I still wouldn't use bootcamp. Its not without it's (driver) problems and to be honest I can't be bothered running two OS's on my Mac. I much prefer the simplicity of OSX.
 
I use Parallels Desktop 7 for non-intensive apps that are Windows-only and also use CrossOver for a couple of games, such as Star Trek Online.

Other than that, it's all Mac for me. I avoid using the Windows virtual machine as much as possible. I used to use Boot Camp, but I hated having to reboot and drive fully into Windows just to use a particular app or game.

The way I see it, a Mac isn't a Mac unless it's running OS X! :)
 
I quit using windows 5 years ago and I plan to keep it that way. My only exception was using lab computers at college, but once I found the Mac Pros in the graphic design building that all changed.
 
Sometimes you have to Dance with the Devil

I must admit there are a few Windows-only programs that I need to run via Boot Camp, and, of course, some Win-only games. As far as MS versions for the Mac goes: it's true that there are Mac equivalents to MANY popular Windows programs, but I think it's possible that Mac Word might be the best Word processing program there is, period (Better than Word for Windows, Neo-Office, and OpenOffice. And Pages? Please.), so you might still have kiss some Microsoft ass. (Keynote DOES give PowerPoint a run for its money, though.)
 
Personally I only use Parallels Desktop for all the little programs and stuff that can't be run on Mac OS X and use my desktop PC for playing video games. But I'm thinking about getting an external USB 3 drive and seeing if I can run windows off that for when I want to play video games on the go.
 
Windows is the most dominant OS worldwide and is heavily used in any industry of work. I have certain applications I use in lab at college that are windows only, so I need parallels. Aside from that I never use windows.
I think as Apple's presence is becoming more and more dominant, software companies will definitely be looking to support both windows and mac. There is a lot of money to be made for companies out there!
 
For me the Mbp is a toolbox and windows is one of the tools I must use. I don't use boot camp just VMware so it isn't there unless I need it. To me this is the advantage of a Mac over a win laptop.
 
deblewis said:
I'm new to Macs.. Real new in I haven't even ordered just yet..

When I do finally get one my plan was to keep my PC for gaming and the Mac for every thing else and clean of any Window software. Reading the forums it seems everyone ends up with Windows. Do you find it becomes a necessity to load Windows?
Click to expand...
As much as I want to, it's impossible to not deal with Windows at some point - gaming and business most especially.
 
The only use i "need" windows for, is for gaming. I just think gaming is better in windows, and gives me a choice to overclock my 2011 mac mini.

But I have never needed windows for a program.
 
I have a pretty strong corporate notebook, and have no use of windows on my Mac`s, my only concession is Office Mac; Word, Excel, Powerpoint, no Outlook. i don't have an issue with MS, just that if I want to duel boot my Mac there are far more interesting OS`s than Windows. I think 7 is ok, and far from a bad OS, however for my usage/needs far behind OS X, roll on Mountain Lion :apple:
 
minnus said:
In the end, it all depends on your needs and we have no idea what those may be.
Click to expand...

My needs break down work related Office/ACAD, Gaming, and hobbies Photography/Art and Music..

I think I'm going to try to keep my PC to the work stuff and gaming.. Mac for Photoshop, Painter, etc..

I saw someone mention booting Windows from a thumb drive, is that possible?
 
killmoms said:
All I ever use Windows for on my personal Mac is games, since I don't have a Windows PC. So if you have a gaming PC, then I'd imagine you'll have no need to install Windows on your Mac.
Click to expand...

Do you game on your Retina MBP? If so what games do you play and how well do they run/how much RAM do they take up?
 
Windows is absolutely not required as a matter of course. Some people need it, but I would venture to say that they are a significant minority. Of course, many who do not need it still install it. I personally have Windows 8 and the beta of Parallels 8 installed right now, but that's only because I am beta testing Parallels 8 and didn't want to buy or pirate a copy of Windows, so getting the beta seemed like the best path.

jW
 
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