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Question about the mac, I am thinking of buying one

J

jazzneel

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 21, 2010
58
5
I want to buy an iMac, but the thing is, I need windows for work. My question is, if I install windows 7 on my mac, is there ANY difference between a normal PC and windows on my mac? Can windows on mac connect to every single work server or whatever that I need to (as in, servers that support windows only-government stuff), or the does PC have certain qualities that differentiate it (software wise) from using bootcamp and installing windows 7?

Thanks very much for your help! I'm sorry if I sound like an idiot, this would be my first mac and I don't understand this stuff that much :(
 
You will be fine for 99.9% of everything you do, but it is not exactly like a windows box. I run into driver issues every once-in-a-while. An example that comes to mind is in-line mics (such as those found on many headphones today) don't work. There just isn't a driver for that.

That being said, the nature of the PC / Windows business (a software company trying to provide compatibility for thousands of component combinations) means you will likely encounter the same .1% of odd issues with a Windows box.
 
Logos327 said:
You will be fine for 99.9% of everything you do, but it is not exactly like a windows box. I run into driver issues every once-in-a-while. An example that comes to mind is in-line mics (such as those found on many headphones today) don't work. There just isn't a driver for that.

That being said, the nature of the PC / Windows business (a software company trying to provide compatibility for thousands of component combinations) means you will likely encounter the same .1% of odd issues with a Windows box.
Click to expand...

Driver issues are part of running windows, whichever hardware you use to run it.
Windows on a mac, runs like windows on Dell or HP, only without the bloatware.
 
ditzy said:
Driver issues are part of running windows, whichever hardware you use to run it.
Windows on a mac, runs like windows on Dell or HP, only without the bloatware.
Click to expand...

Exactly. BootCamp is the same as a (crappy) computer running Windows. And for those not wishing to have BootCamp, virtualization apps such as Fusion, Parallels or the free VirtualBox should be more than enough.
 
ditzy said:
Driver issues are part of running windows, whichever hardware you use to run it.
Windows on a mac, runs like windows on Dell or HP, only without the bloatware.
Click to expand...

This. Its 100% identical. I am a windows technician by trade who works with desktops and servers for a living. I use Mac at home but have Windows on it for the rare case I need to use it.

As far as the other poster mentioning driver issues, this is nothing to do with Windows being on a Mac, its Windows being Windows.
 
ditzy said:
Driver issues are part of running windows, whichever hardware you use to run it.
Windows on a mac, runs like windows on Dell or HP, only without the bloatware.
Click to expand...

I would argue the only difference is you can go out and find those drivers for a windows box. On the mac side, they just don't exist in some cases. Don't get me wrong though, I will only be buying macs for the foreseeable future.
 
ah ok, thanks for all your help! My biggest concern is I need to work from home for a week once a month, and I work for the government, so I need to have a secure/100% windows compatible system so I can access everything.

I am basically deciding between the HP all-in-ones with the core i7, or the imac 21.5" (the $1,200 one)...
 
jazzneel said:
ah ok, thanks for all your help! My biggest concern is I need to work from home for a week once a month, and I work for the government, so I need to have a secure/100% windows compatible system so I can access everything.

I am basically deciding between the HP all-in-ones with the core i7, or the imac 21.5" (the $1,200 one)...
Click to expand...

Which government?:)
 
rkaufmann87 said:
Which government?:)
Click to expand...

I work for the CDC in Atlanta, but work from Pittsburgh one week out of the month.

Also, I'm sorry, this isn't the actual jazzneel owner, this is his sister (hijacking his username since he let me) :)
 
Logos327 said:
You will be fine for 99.9% of everything you do, but it is not exactly like a windows box. I run into driver issues every once-in-a-while. An example that comes to mind is in-line mics (such as those found on many headphones today) don't work. There just isn't a driver for that.

That being said, the nature of the PC / Windows business (a software company trying to provide compatibility for thousands of component combinations) means you will likely encounter the same .1% of odd issues with a Windows box.
Click to expand...

You launch something like CPU-Z and you find the mobo type and you find the newest drivers. All fixed now. Boot Camp is just a partitioning agent and driver installer. Nothing more. I don't use it and have dedicated HD's running Windows with each companies most updated drivers. Works perfectly. No difference. Even though iMac is an altered chipset (I think) it should be Z68 or something for the newest iMac's.
 
jazzneel said:
I work for the CDC in Atlanta, but work from Pittsburgh one week out of the month.

Also, I'm sorry, this isn't the actual jazzneel owner, this is his sister (hijacking his username since he let me) :)
Click to expand...

As long as the CDC allows you to access their systems from non-governement systems you'll be fine. This caveat applies to any personally owned hardware. Accessing the VPN, CITGO or any other CDC resource is dependent on access credentials, key fobs and departmental policies and permissions. The type of hardware should not matter as long as you're running Windows and compliant with departmental policies.

Cheers,
 
panzer06 said:
As long as the CDC allows you to access their systems from non-governement systems you'll be fine. This caveat applies to any personally owned hardware. Accessing the VPN, CITGO or any other CDC resource is dependent on access credentials, key fobs and departmental policies and permissions. The type of hardware should not matter as long as you're running Windows and compliant with departmental policies.

Cheers,
Click to expand...

I also work for cdc and used to be able to login to citgo w my iPad, but can't anymore , is there something I need to download or does anyone has the link?
Thanks so much
 
jazzneel said:
I want to buy an iMac, but the thing is, I need windows for work. My question is, if I install windows 7 on my mac, is there ANY difference between a normal PC and windows on my mac? Can windows on mac connect to every single work server or whatever that I need to (as in, servers that support windows only-government stuff), or the does PC have certain qualities that differentiate it (software wise) from using bootcamp and installing windows 7?

Thanks very much for your help! I'm sorry if I sound like an idiot, this would be my first mac and I don't understand this stuff that much :(
Click to expand...

Windows will run on your Mac.

The issues you will have is with drivers. Boot Camp drivers are so crappy!! It will be a pain to use your trackpad on Windows, as the driver is very bad. The keyboard is not ideal as well.

I do have a 15-inch MacBook Pro and, believe me, it is a pain to use Windows on Boot Camp on it. Any PC laptop runs Windows better because of drivers.

Of course you should not have the same issues with an iMac, since it is a desktop. You can solve most of these issues by buying a separate keyboard and mouse.

But if you are buying a desktop and you need Windows, why not buy a desktop PC then? Do you want to run OS X as well?

----------
ditzy said:
Driver issues are part of running windows, whichever hardware you use to run it.
Windows on a mac, runs like windows on Dell or HP, only without the bloatware.
Click to expand...

Any Windows PC can have driver issues. You may have trouble with them, but, once these troubles are solved, they run well.

However, Boot Camp drivers do not work well at all. The trackpad provides a poor experience under Windows. Apple does not pay attention to its Boot Camp drivers, and, therefore, running Windows on a Mac can be a bad experience.
 
Logos327 said:
I would argue the only difference is you can go out and find those drivers for a windows box. On the mac side, they just don't exist in some cases. Don't get me wrong though, I will only be buying macs for the foreseeable future.
Click to expand...

What do you mean?

If it's an "in line mic" (in your original example), if you can't find the driver for windows then that's a problem with the people who made the headset, not because you're running windows on a Mac.

Running Windows on a Mac is literally functionally identical in every respect to running Windows on an EFI-capable PC.

Just because it's a piece of hardware that you're connecting to a Mac (in bootcamp) doesn't somehow make it magically different to plugging that exact same piece of hardware into a PC - the driver you need is exactly the same.
 
joe-h2o said:
What do you mean?



If it's an "in line mic" (in your original example), if you can't find the driver for windows then that's a problem with the people who made the headset, not because you're running windows on a Mac.



Running Windows on a Mac is literally functionally identical in every respect to running Windows on an EFI-capable PC.



Just because it's a piece of hardware that you're connecting to a Mac (in bootcamp) doesn't somehow make it magically different to plugging that exact same piece of hardware into a PC - the driver you need is exactly the same.
Click to expand...


Theoretically it is the same. However, some hardware is made for running on OS X and not Windows.

Take the trackpad, for instance. The Logitech trackpad was made to run on Windows. If it doesn't run well, you can install the driver and it will run fine. The Apple trackpad, however, was designed for the Mac. It is different from the Windows trackpads. You need a specific driver for it to run on Windows. Apple's trackpad driver for Windows, however, is a bad driver and, as a result, the trackpad does not run well on Windows. And there is no replacement: you cannot use another drive to make Apple's trackpad run on Windows.

So, the experience is not the same. Should Apple provide decent drivers, Windows could be great on a Mac. But the drivers are crappy.
 
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