Does Windows 8.1 under bootcamp have performance hit?

[rvs007]

I have a 2012 Mac Mini quad i7 2.3Ghz with a 1TB fusion drive and 16GB of RAM set up as my wife's computer. Under OSX Yosemite, it performs very well. Problem is my wife hasn't gotten used to using OSX and wants to go back to Windows environment. So I'm contemplating installing Windows 8.1 under bootcamp.

However, I just want to check, does Windows running under bootcamp suffer from any performance hit, as compared to say a PC that has the equivalent hardware (quad i7 2.3, SSD, 16GB RAM)? If it does suffer a performance hit, I might not do that and instead build her a PC and I'll take the Mac Mini and use OSX myself.

Also, we bought an Apple trackpad to use with the Mac Mini. Will it work under bootcamp Windows? And will the scrolling/gestures still be buttery-smooth under Windows?

Oh and one more question... my Mac Mini has a 1TB fusion drive (1TB HDD plus a 120GB SSD) set up. Will that still work in Windows under bootcamp? I'm a bootcamp newbie so I haven't actually looked into how to set it up, but from what I read so far, I may need to repartition the HDD. So if I have a fusion drive, will that cause a problem if I try to install bootcamp?

Thanks!

 

[yjchua95]

I have a 2012 Mac Mini quad i7 2.3Ghz with a 1TB fusion drive and 16GB of RAM set up as my wife's computer. Under OSX Yosemite, it performs very well. Problem is my wife hasn't gotten used to using OSX and wants to go back to Windows environment. So I'm contemplating installing Windows 8.1 under bootcamp.

However, I just want to check, does Windows running under bootcamp suffer from any performance hit, as compared to say a PC that has the equivalent hardware (quad i7 2.3, SSD, 16GB RAM)? If it does suffer a performance hit, I might not do that and instead build her a PC and I'll take the Mac Mini and use OSX myself.

Also, we bought an Apple trackpad to use with the Mac Mini. Will it work under bootcamp Windows? And will the scrolling/gestures still be buttery-smooth under Windows?

Oh and one more question... my Mac Mini has a 1TB fusion drive (1TB HDD plus a 120GB SSD) set up. Will that still work in Windows under bootcamp? I'm a bootcamp newbie so I haven't actually looked into how to set it up, but from what I read so far, I may need to repartition the HDD. So if I have a fusion drive, will that cause a problem if I try to install bootcamp?

Thanks!

It does.

This is because Windows does not recognize Fusion Drives and will only install into the HDD sector, which is slower than a tortoise.

 

[Gjwilly]

And the Trackpad under Windows is nothing like under OS X.
Very limited Windows functionality.

 

[rvs007]

Thanks for the replies. For those two things alone, I won't bother with bootcamp and will keep the Mac Mini on Mac OS and will put a system together for my wife running Windows 8.1...

 

[panzer06]

You could get a Thunderbolt SSD external drive and Windows 8.1 runs quite well from one of those.

Cheers,

 

[doynton]

You could get a Thunderbolt SSD external drive and Windows 8.1 runs quite well from one of those.

Cheers,

Yes but probably it would be cheaper to buy a windows PC

 

[yjchua95]

You could get a Thunderbolt SSD external drive and Windows 8.1 runs quite well from one of those.

Cheers,

A USB SSD will work too.

I've got my 960GB Transcend JetDrive booting Windows.

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Thanks for the replies. For those two things alone, I won't bother with bootcamp and will keep the Mac Mini on Mac OS and will put a system together for my wife running Windows 8.1...

See my post above.