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Why Mac running Windows bootcamp is not as good as Windows machines?
- Thread starter hajime
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One explanation is Apple wants to undercut the performance of windows under Mac so that hopefully people will hate windows more than macOS.
On the other hand, hackintosh synthetic score is higher than mac running native macOS, and also higher than windows running on the same hackintosh machine. So yeah.
On the other hand, hackintosh synthetic score is higher than mac running native macOS, and also higher than windows running on the same hackintosh machine. So yeah.
I have a MacBook Pro Retina and for the last 3 years been running Bootcamp on it. I have found that Windows 10 runs very well on it. I use several dedicated window's programs and like the convenience of using one laptop for both situations. I have not had any performance or limitations running these programs under Bootcamp.
When Apple first used Intel CPU, they tried to get some Windows users to use the Mac. At that time, I found Windows under Bootcamp as good as if it were running on a Windows laptop. So things have changed in recent years?
But Apple can do a whole lot with their drivers as they are not out of the shelve components. They don’t have to but who knows.
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I did not use boot camp enough to have a say. 128GB on a Mac is like 16GB on an iPhone 11 Pro Max. But based on my limited experience, Windows performance on a Mac is definitely not on par with macOS performance. Often windows feels quite a bit laggy.
Windows 10 on Bootcamp on my iMac Pro feels the same as Windows 10 on my workstation PC. No noticeable difference at all. Runs VR games on Oculus Rift at acceptable speed, too.
I run Windows 10 on my Mac Pro, and it runs very well, just like on an equal PC.
Some years ago, running it on a MacBook Pro, it played well on the speed side, but the machine was heating a little more than with Mac OS
Some years ago, running it on a MacBook Pro, it played well on the speed side, but the machine was heating a little more than with Mac OS
imo, there's a few reasons.
First is that many laptop makers provide tweaks to enhance batter performance, dual iGPU/dGpu set - you can select which one you want. Not so in the MBP. In fact there's almost no battery saving tweaks and the battery life is significantly worse. The same goes for thermal management, MBPs tend to run hotter in windows.
Drivers, Apple is slow to the party when rolling out drivers and it seems getting worse. They're in the business to get people to use their services and ecosystem, that breaks down when people choose windows.
None standard hardware, the T2 ,and more specifically Touchbar. You get no benefits of those, and the touchbar is locked in on F keys, being OLED, using windows for long periods of time will cause burn in.
To summarize, Windows is not Apple's focus, and it shows with the level of support and features.
First is that many laptop makers provide tweaks to enhance batter performance, dual iGPU/dGpu set - you can select which one you want. Not so in the MBP. In fact there's almost no battery saving tweaks and the battery life is significantly worse. The same goes for thermal management, MBPs tend to run hotter in windows.
Drivers, Apple is slow to the party when rolling out drivers and it seems getting worse. They're in the business to get people to use their services and ecosystem, that breaks down when people choose windows.
None standard hardware, the T2 ,and more specifically Touchbar. You get no benefits of those, and the touchbar is locked in on F keys, being OLED, using windows for long periods of time will cause burn in.
To summarize, Windows is not Apple's focus, and it shows with the level of support and features.
I hit the same thing at first. When I would start a game the fan would instantly turn on and sound like jet engine taking off. I went to Boot Camp assistant and installed the provided drivers and that helped with that a lot. Unfortunately now I'm stuck where 90% of the time Windows won't boot. I've found reports of other people having this issue but haven't found how they've resolved it.
I agree. Windows is not Apple's focus. Apple has some very customized hardware which will not work with generic drivers. The trackpad, for instance, is a pain to use under BootCamp, even though it is pure magic under macOS. The difference is that Apple will not put the effort to make good drivers for it to run on Windows, and it will not work with Precision drivers which Microsoft provides.
No performance penalties. But the drivers are crap. The trackpad is poor under BootCamp, and I do use a mouse instead. Any Windows machine has a better trackpad than a Mac under BootCamp.
I setup win10pro on my mbp 15,4 a few weeks ago and it seems fine. I'm using a cheap SSD connected with USB3.0 on tb3 dock. I've been trying to get it to work with my Samsung X5 without any luck so far though. 
GB5 results are: 1026/3994
BM disk speed test: W180MB/s and R200MB/s Samsung X5 is 530MB/s and 2125MB/s but it's not running winblows yet...
GB5 results are: 1026/3994
BM disk speed test: W180MB/s and R200MB/s Samsung X5 is 530MB/s and 2125MB/s but it's not running winblows yet...
Windows on any modern Mac is the equivalent of running it on equivalent hardware, albeit with better build quality. In fact, I just ordered 12 iMacs for use in one of the classrooms at my work due to their competitive pricing, excellent build quality, and seamless integration with Windows 10 images deployed through MDT.
W10Pro on my Macbook Pro 2018 i9 is by far not as good as on a Thinkpad or other PC
-- USB-C behaves different i.e. Windows supported firmware updates often not possible on my photo-equipment (flash lights, camera ...)
-- eGPU (blackmagic) is not working (even with drivers from bootcampdrivers.com)
-- battery life is shorter (W10 is using only the amd-GPU, you can not switch to the processor-graphics)
May be office apps and some games are equivalent.
-- USB-C behaves different i.e. Windows supported firmware updates often not possible on my photo-equipment (flash lights, camera ...)
-- eGPU (blackmagic) is not working (even with drivers from bootcampdrivers.com)
-- battery life is shorter (W10 is using only the amd-GPU, you can not switch to the processor-graphics)
May be office apps and some games are equivalent.
What nobody in this thread mentioned. Windows will easily install in any Windows notebook or workstation.
Bootcamp has been at least for me and my MP 6.1 End 2013 a true PITA.
I tried the Assistants even up to Yosemite and for reasons I never understood, the set up procedure after the partition and downloading the drivers did not went on „not finding any suitable partition“.
In the part of this forum “for Windows and other OS“ I explained how I managed to install Windows 10 without a not working Bootcamp Assistant of Mojave.
As long as the cheapest computer installs Windows even the newest Windows 10 without any problem and Macs may prove difficult to install it, one must be very motivated to install it and use it in a Mac.
Or one needs software only available for Windows and has not the possibility to use a native Windows computer.
If Windows performs as well or not truly as well as in a native Windows computer is in my opinion not so important. Whoever needs maximal performance like for instance for playing demanding games will anyhow use Windows machines.
Bootcamp has been at least for me and my MP 6.1 End 2013 a true PITA.
I tried the Assistants even up to Yosemite and for reasons I never understood, the set up procedure after the partition and downloading the drivers did not went on „not finding any suitable partition“.
In the part of this forum “for Windows and other OS“ I explained how I managed to install Windows 10 without a not working Bootcamp Assistant of Mojave.
As long as the cheapest computer installs Windows even the newest Windows 10 without any problem and Macs may prove difficult to install it, one must be very motivated to install it and use it in a Mac.
Or one needs software only available for Windows and has not the possibility to use a native Windows computer.
If Windows performs as well or not truly as well as in a native Windows computer is in my opinion not so important. Whoever needs maximal performance like for instance for playing demanding games will anyhow use Windows machines.
Personally, Windows wasn't running as good on my MacBook Pro (both the 2009 I had before and the 2012 I have now) as it would do on a traditional Windows laptop, on the other hand, it ran fine on my old Mini (09) or my old iMac (06), so I guess it depends.
It wasn't really slow on the MacBook, but it wasn't really that enjoyable, the trackpad really isn't as good as on macOS so when you're used to it, it feels like Windows is running like crap, oh and my MacBooks also overheated way more than it would normally do on macOS
It wasn't really slow on the MacBook, but it wasn't really that enjoyable, the trackpad really isn't as good as on macOS so when you're used to it, it feels like Windows is running like crap, oh and my MacBooks also overheated way more than it would normally do on macOS
I have a 500gb Macbook pro. I want to know how much space I should give to windows. Apple mentioned 128 gb. I plan to add my software that I use on mac also on windows. I have a horseracing forum and I can only post my excel spreadsheets through IE. I can post the spreadsheets as png's but it's a bit more work. Thanks.
Thanks for the reply. I used bootcamp on my mac to get windows on. It seems to be working perfectly. Now I have the best of both worlds. I have my IE on windows now so I am able to post my spreadsheets on my forum. Thank you.
Depends on the model. Remember the whole 2018 MBP throttling thing? And how Apple "fixed" it? They only fixed it on macOS. It's still a problem in Windows, so performance is worse in Windows than macOS and worse than a comparable Windows laptop with the same CPU. Drivers for the MBP in Windows are very suboptimal.
I use a external 27 inch screen and a keyboard/mouse - apple of course. I don't really use the trackpad that much. Everything is working flawlessly so far. Though I do love the keyboard and trackpad so much better on the new 16 inch Macbook pro than previous models.
When a question like this is asked, it is hard to compare the older MacBooks to the current batch today. Why? The original MacBooks were a standard trackpad where the most complex "gesture" was two finger scroll. They even had a physical click button much like the PCs of the era. Half of the complaints about Boot Camp is when you go from macOS where the entire mouse tracking and gestures are designed to be integrated into the OS to Windows where it is an add-on through additional software there is bound to be some loss in the experience.
When a newer MacBook is running Windows, there is no doubt that the trackpad is definitely not as great of an experience compared to macOS. However, it is still leaps and bounds better than most of the PCs on the market.
Often, this is caused by the lack of graphics switching from within Boot Camp. Unfortunately, until recently, PCs rarely shipped with two GPUs except in dedicated workstation configurations. Apple may add the functionality in the future, however I found that the heat output was comparable to other machines with the same GPU. The reason why it is not an issue in macOS is that it will seamlessly switch between GPUs.
What type of Mac are you using and what version of Windows?
It is the iMac that was released in 2017. I downloaded the current version of Windows 10 (I know that's vague but I'm not near my iMac right now). I'm having a problem similar to this one listed on the Apple support forum.
I got sick of it and just removed my Bootcamp partition. I'm giving Parallels a go now.