iMac for Windows use only?

[TSE]

I am looking at buying an iMac, but for Windows use only.

Really, the only comparable all-in-one desktop is Sony's, but it still has an inferior graphics card and screen.

Am I crazy for considering buying an iMac for Windows use only? Does anyone else do this?

Are the drivers for Windows on the new iMacs good? Are there any restrictions? Is it possible to install other graphics drivers from AMD besides the ones Apple handpicks for you?

 

[Dresevski]

This is not a crazy idea. In fact it is something I am prepared to do for work purposed if ever necessary. The graphics drivers can be changed (at least as far as I know). A link in this forum would be awesome to the download! But you will be fine. Easy to do bootcamp and set the default startup to be Windows. The iMac is a thing of beauty even if it only runs W7.

Btw I have had 0 problems in my bootcamp partition.

 

[iSayuSay]

Sure it can .. it's just too bad you don't use OSX on it. I myself have bootcamp Windows, even Parallel desktop when I only need windows for certain compatibility. But a dedicated iMac only for windows is .... a waste

Better run desktop PC in it. You know, more bang for your bucks. And if you love Apple display so much, just plug your CPU into Cinema Display

 

[zarathu]

Put VMware Parallel desktop on it and run windows in unity with the mac. The system will treat all the windows programs as if they are mac programs. Its awesome.

I don't do it all the time since I don't want to be getting windows viruses on it, but that shouldn't happen if you are careful.

 

[alust2013]

I would just build a nice desktop PC. Sure, it's not an all in one, but it's a heck of a lot cheaper and you can put a better GPU in it anyway

 

[Icaras]

Are the drivers for Windows on the new iMacs good? Are there any restrictions? Is it possible to install other graphics drivers from AMD besides the ones Apple handpicks for you?

They're ok and functional and do exactly as intended without problems.

Before this new iMac, you were able to download and install AMD's Catalyst drivers over Apple's bootcamp drivers, but I have already tried with my new 2011 iMac and I have been getting errors from AMD saying that the video card is not recognizeable. This is actually a known issue already and if you do a search, I'm sure you'll find the thread on this. It's really odd, and I hope AMD fixes this soon. On my 2010 iMac, I always kept up to date with AMD's own drivers and it worked beautifully.

Put VMware Parallel desktop on it and run windows in unity with the mac. The system will treat all the windows programs as if they are mac programs. Its awesome.

I don't do it all the time since I don't want to be getting windows viruses on it, but that shouldn't happen if you are careful.

The fact that the OP is asking about the iMac's graphics card and drivers from AMD makes me think he might be possibly be using the machine for gaming, in which case, he/she should stay far away from any virtual machine programs for OSX. Just go native.

 

[TSE]

Thanks for the help thus far.

The problem with building a desktop is that a comparable screen to the 27 inch iMac is the Dell Ultrasharp, and that is $1000 dollars on it's own, which leaves ~$700 for the computer portion which is really cutting it, and I would much rather just have an all-in-one form factor.

Since I can't upgrade the drivers, are the Apple drivers decent? Or are they garbage like the default MacBook Pro drivers were from 2008?

 

[Icaras]

Since I can't upgrade the drivers, are the Apple drivers decent? Or are they garbage like the default MacBook Pro drivers were from 2008?

Yea, they're not bad at all....though I can't remember and compare to the 2008 MBP drivers....L4D 2 and Dead Space so far has been running ultra smooth for me (with V-sync turned off), but I would still prefer being able to download the AMD drivers.

I think I'll shoot an email to AMD this weekend and see what's going on.

 

[MrT-Man]

They're ok and functional and do exactly as intended without problems.

Before this new iMac, you were able to download and install AMD's Catalyst drivers over Apple's bootcamp drivers, but I have already tried with my new 2011 iMac and I have been getting errors from AMD saying that the video card is not recognizeable.

I got the Catalyst drivers installed on my 2011 27" i7 iMac in Boot Camp. Can't remember what I specifically did to get them installed, but I seem to recall that they did come off of the AMD site. Search around on these forums, I'm sure there's instructions someplace.

 

[Georgio]

I use Win7 on my iMac for gaming all the time and only drop into MacOS when I need to do serious, boring stuff for work.
You just configure Bootcamp so that it only boots into Windows and you're sorted.
If for some reason you do need MacOS you just hold the 'alt' key down after the bootup chime and pick which OS you want from there. Easy.

 

[MikeM87]

If your using Boot Camp for certain tasks but mainly using the Mac for OSX then yes its fine to buy a Mac. If you are just going to be using windows then i would opt for a PC as their will be less issues with drivers and other pieces of hardware, afterall the Mac was designed for OSX but can also run other operating systems as such as windows, although my advice to you would be to buy a suitable PC that would probably cost less than a Mac and in all fairness perform better running windows.

The only reason i can see you needing a MAC is for how it looks and can you really justify this amount of money for that? Dont get me wrong i love the style, i've just purchased a new iMac myself but i very very rarely use windows on it.

Afterall this is only my opionion if your happy and would like to buy a Mac and run windows on it then go for it but me personally in your situation would be leaning towards a PC.

Mike..
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iMac 2011 i5 quad core
Macbook Pro 2010
iPad 32GB + 3G
iPhone 16gb