How much space to give for Windows 7

[john1c]

Hello everyone,

Im new to macs... I recently purchased an iMac.. specs are:

i3 3.2
4gb memory
1tb harddrive

im basically looking to install windows to play counter strike and some other steam games.. how much space should i give windows? thanks guys!

 

[pt0016]

Depending on how much gaming you do, personally, I would put 200gb, of the 1000gb I have, for all the games I play, as it is difficult in the future to change partition sizes.

 

[john1c]

Depending on how much gaming you do, personally, I would put 200gb, of the 1000gb I have, for all the games I play, as it is difficult in the future to change partition sizes.

does this slow down my computer? also, im probably just going to play about 1-2 games on windows..and maybe put office 2010..thats pretty much it

 

[pt0016]

Well if only playing a few games and office, then you probably only need to use about 50GBs.

No, it won't slow down your computer, although, make sure you install the bootcamp drivers on Windows, located on Mac OS X Install Disc One.

 

[Winni]

does this slow down my computer? also, im probably just going to play about 1-2 games on windows..and maybe put office 2010..thats pretty much it

If you put Office on the Windows partition (probably instead of installing Office for Mac), then I already wonder why you want to keep Mac OS X on that machine. In all likelihood, you'll be spending more time in Windows anyway, so why don't you just wipe out the entire hard disk and make it a plain Windows machine? (Yes, you can do that - just don't use that stupid "Boot Camp" assistant.)

 

[fhall1]

I have a 60GB Windows7 partition with Office 2010 installed, but no games....there's plenty of spare room on the partition so far.

 

[Hellhammer]

If you put Office on the Windows partition (probably instead of installing Office for Mac), then I already wonder why you want to keep Mac OS X on that machine. In all likelihood, you'll be spending more time in Windows anyway, so why don't you just wipe out the entire hard disk and make it a plain Windows machine? (Yes, you can do that - just don't use that stupid "Boot Camp" assistant.)

Or buy Parallels or Fusion and run Windows in VM as that is fast enough for things like Office. That's what I do when iWork can't satisfy my needs.

Resizing the Windows partition isn't that hard if you follow the instructions.

 

[talmy]

Another advantage of the VM is the partition size expands as needed. I've got 5 GB of CAD programs in a Windows 7 VM and my partition is slightly more than 16GB.