Macbook Pro 15 as an (almost) exclusive windows 10 machine?

[Abaganov]

Guys I need your help and advice,

So I need a new laptop, there are tons of software I use at at my new work that require windows 10 , so the obvious choice will be to get a Windows 10 machine ,

I been scrolling and checking , reading reviews and watching videos and I just can't see myself using a Dell or a Lenovo or an MSI.. after so many years I just can't jump ship.

How crazy would i buy to buy the new Macbook pro 15 to basically 90% of the time use it on a bootcamp windows 10 Mode ?

Is it throwing money away for nothing?

Would the windows 10 experience will be the same on a mac as running it a native windows 10 machine? (using bootcamp)

Does anyone else here use his Mac almost exclusively to run windows ? (and not on VM, i'm talking full on bootcamp)

 

[wlossw]

Your battery life will be subpar. Macbooks are optimized for MacOS... Bootcamp drivers can also be hit or miss. If you need to use windows software that is not overly demanding, running it in a VM may actually be smoother. Also the touchbar will lose any of its custom features.

At the end of the day do what makes you happy. Macs run windows perfectly fine.

 

[Abaganov]

Your battery life will be subpar. Macbooks are optimized for MacOS... Bootcamp drivers can also be hit or miss. If you need to use windows software that is not overly demanding, running it in a VM may actually be smoother. Also the touchbar will lose any of its custom features.

Thanks for your reply , Yes i know i will lose the touchbar custom features but don't really mind that at all , the battery performance part is nasty indeed.

 

[BarracksSi]

How much horsepower do you need for your work software?

Both of my job-issued laptops are out-of-warranty Dell Latitudes (one is Win10, the other is Ubuntu) and the only thing that turns the Win10's fan on is when MacAffee kicks in.

If my workplace allowed it, though, I'd set up my Mac to dual-boot (or triple-boot?). Then when I'm off the clock, I'd reboot into Mac.

 

[Abaganov]

How much horsepower do you need for your work software?

Both of my job-issued laptops are out-of-warranty Dell Latitudes (one is Win10, the other is Ubuntu) and the only thing that turns the Win10's fan on is when MacAffee kicks in.

If my workplace allowed it, though, I'd set up my Mac to dual-boot (or triple-boot?). Then when I'm off the clock, I'd reboot into Mac.

not super heavy stuff to be honest ,

I have looked at dell Latitudes actually in the last 2 days , mostly the E5570 model , it seems to be a solid machine with good battery life , been debating myself with the Latitude , the thinkpad p50 and just going with the mac and making it work

 

[SteveJUAE]

I have always exclusively run all my Mac's as windows machines with little or no problems, same for my wife but my 3 kids were more 25/75 usage in favour on MacOS

It's not the smartest or cheapest thing to do but if you like the hardware and styling who are we to judge

In fact part of the reason I opted was Apple offered a unique footprint plus specs that was not generally available in a Windows laptop and with Apples previous battery endurance record even with the windows OS hit it was still above average

However in the past year or two there are far more appealing W10 laptops and the choice is no so clear cut but as you are a MacOS user that should be enough providing price/specs etc meet your workflow and critera

 

[BarracksSi]

What do you own now?

If you already have a Mac laptop (like I do), it'd be way cheaper to try using Win10 on it and see how it goes. If the only drawback is speed -- that is, if there's no unsolvable driver problems or whatever -- go ahead and get a new Mac.

If not, get a basic Win10 machine, boost your productivity, get promoted, and then buy a new Mac.

 

[jerryk]

I think it is not a wise strategy. The MacBook is a nice Windows PC, but a great MacOS machine.

If it were me I would look at something like an Dell XPS 15. We have a couple and they are solid and fairly small. Also, you can upgrade the memory and ssd (we got the M.2 module system with the big battery) after the fact with a screw driver instead of a credit card.

 

[Toutou]

I'd look around for a nice non-Apple offering. Apple laptops are generally more expensive than their similarly spec'd Win counterparts, and that's okay, as long as long as they run macOS. The battery life is excellent, the trackpad is butter smooth. In windows, these advantages are pretty much gone (mediocre windows drivers + a less optimized system) and the MacBook becomes a mediocre-yet-pricy laptop with an apple on the back. (In my opinion)

 

[ZapNZs]

Can you swallow the high hardware costs relative to other computers that can run Windows, and the loss of the touch bar which you are paying several hundred dollars for? For the price of the lowest level 2016 TB, you could purchase a mid-level Surface Book and dual 4k displays or an i7/16GB/512SSD XPS-13 and have nearly a grand left over for fun.

Not too many years ago, it might have been more justifiable - but today, many high-end Windows PCs have hardware quality which is arguably comparable to what Apple makes. So, if it were me personally, of the two choices I'd purchase a Windows laptop. A 2015 refurb might be more financially justifiable for me, personally, since the entry level 2015 15-inch refurb is about $1,000 less than the entry level 2016, as well as a nTB 2016, given the much lower starting price and how I wouldn't be spending big money on a feature I would rarely use.

 

[Abaganov]

Guys many thanks for all your great advices , you might have convince me to go to the "dark side"

I will further into buying a windows machine for my work , its mostly between the XPS 15 (not really liking the carbon fiber surface) and the thinkpad p50 (I dig it but its fairly bulky)

 

[Kcetech1]

Zbook Studio or Zbook 15, and the Dell Precision Line are also possible in the chunkier but powerful as hell category with the P50 ( I have a P70 )

 

[Abaganov]

Zbook Studio or Zbook 15, and the Dell Precision Line are also possible in the chunkier but powerful as hell category with the P50 ( I have a P70 )

Thanks I will look into the Zbook

I was also thinking p70 , how do you like it? my only concern that i will basically have zero mobility with it

 

[Nayaa]

Guys many thanks for all your great advices , you might have convince me to go to the "dark side"

I will further into buying a windows machine for my work , its mostly between the XPS 15 (not really liking the carbon fiber surface) and the thinkpad p50 (I dig it but its fairly bulky)

Yes you should check out the XPS 15 from Dell as it has been known for its features and performance.

 

[SteveJUAE]

Plenty of good advice above let us know your final decision

 

[lordjimy]

If you don't need specific macOS software then buy a windows notebook. XPS 15" is a good choice but you have plenty other notebooks from other brands (Lenovo, HP, Asus, Acer, Razer, etc.) With windows notebook you'll have better driver support and battery optimisations for windows. Another benefit if you get a windows notebook is that any external device you'll attach it will work (in VMs this can be a problem with some devices).

 

[Abaganov]

Lots of good advice here guys , thanks a lot everyone ,

I am kind of gearing out now for ordering the thinkpad p50 , seems like a very solid machine


I have install windows 10 via bootcamp on my Macbook pro 13 2013 today and been using it in the last hours.

the overall experience is decent , but you can notice here and there that this is not optimize perfectly

I have install trackpad++ which does help , but scaling issues keep coming up here and there with different software I'm running, I guess the fact that this mac is old does not help too much either.

its not bad but not perfect and not sure I can live with that.

 

[Kcetech1]

Thanks I will look into the Zbook

I was also thinking p70 , how do you like it? my only concern that i will basically have zero mobility with it

its OK for mobility 5-6 hours on battery life roughly depending on what your doing. now keep in mind this thing is more of a Mac Pro replacement to me and I went for maximum power for editing video on the road ( and yes as a smaller woman I haul it all over with a Zbook 17 as well). the screen isnt as bright as some of my machines but not a big deal as I never run full brightness, the built in color calibrator is handy as hell though.

Xeon E3-1505, 64GB RAM, 3840x2160 non glare, m5000m GPU, 2T Samsung 960 pro PCIE, 2 x 4T Samsung 850 pro.

 

[Altis]

Lots of good advice here guys , thanks a lot everyone ,

I am kind of gearing out now for ordering the thinkpad p50 , seems like a very solid machine


I have install windows 10 via bootcamp on my Macbook pro 13 2013 today and been using it in the last hours.

the overall experience is decent , but you can notice here and there that this is not optimize perfectly

I have install trackpad++ which does help , but scaling issues keep coming up here and there with different software I'm running, I guess the fact that this mac is old does not help too much either.

its not bad but not perfect and not sure I can live with that.

Windows scaling isn't quite caught up with OSX... if the application isn't updated for it, it can have issues (which is common for any older or more obscure/proprietary software).

You may want to consider some of the new ultralights like the Samsung Note 9 (15" only 2.6 lbs ish) or LG Gram. Lenovos have really nice keyboards, though.

Having said that, I run Windows 7 on my MacBook Pro probably 75% of the time due to the software that I need to use. It seems to work a lot better on older machines than on the 2016 models with Windows 10 -- the drivers don't quite seem right yet. Win 7 runs better than OSX on my 2010 MBP though.

 

[dotdotdot]

I have the 2016 MacBook Pro 15" - after a brief stint with some hardware issues, this unit has been stellar.

I'm also a student, and a gamer. As weird as it sounds, the tables have turned - the "business" Windows and "creative" Mac, to me, has shifted, to getting work done in MacOS and gaming in Windows.

I'm typing this from my Windows partition - I actually find I spend about 50/50 in each.

Sometimes, I do wish I got a dedicated Windows laptop or a cheaper Mac and a desktop. But others, I'm very happy having one computer do everything.

I have yet to find any laptop with a display, keyboard, and trackpad as good as a MacBook. That, and the ability to run both Windows and MacOS, is why I recommend this machine over an equivalent PC.

Battery in Windows isn't terrible, it's basically the same as a Mac if you had an app open that forced the discrete GPU to always be on (like Photos) all the time.

Trackpad++ (software driver) for the trackpad makes it almost as functional as in macOS and makes it one of the best Windows trackpads. And theres no beating this display and keyboard.

 

[Abaganov]

I have the 2016 MacBook Pro 15" - after a brief stint with some hardware issues, this unit has been stellar.

I'm also a student, and a gamer. As weird as it sounds, the tables have turned - the "business" Windows and "creative" Mac, to me, has shifted, to getting work done in MacOS and gaming in Windows.

I'm typing this from my Windows partition - I actually find I spend about 50/50 in each.

Sometimes, I do wish I got a dedicated Windows laptop or a cheaper Mac and a desktop. But others, I'm very happy having one computer do everything.

I have yet to find any laptop with a display, keyboard, and trackpad as good as a MacBook. That, and the ability to run both Windows and MacOS, is why I recommend this machine over an equivalent PC.

Battery in Windows isn't terrible, it's basically the same as a Mac if you had an app open that forced the discrete GPU to always be on (like Photos) all the time.

Trackpad++ (software driver) for the trackpad makes it almost as functional as in macOS and makes it one of the best Windows trackpads. And theres no beating this display and keyboard.

thanks for that input , can you put the battery life while being on windows in numbers?

 

[kevinof]

2015 Mac book Pro here. I run Windows 10 on it almost 99% of the time and get around 6/7 hours heavy use. That's with keyboard backlight on and Bluetooth mouse.

 

[Abaganov]

2015 Mac book Pro here. I run Windows 10 on it almost 99% of the time and get around 6/7 hours heavy use. That's with keyboard backlight on and Bluetooth mouse.

does you mac have GPU?

 

[kevinof]

Intel iris 6100.

 

[Kcetech1]

2015 with dGPU for me is usually 4-5 hrs