Windows Windows 7/8 for games

[Irishman]

Hi all,
I hate Windows!

...so now that I've got that out of the way... there are some pretty decent games out recently and coming out soon that I'd quite like to have a go at! Namely Farcry 3, Bioshock Infinite, and the new Star Trek on its way and Grand Theft Auto 5. And it's gonna be a while before the Mac versions come out, and even then I'm not sure I'm expecting the ports to be that good.

Now, I don't own a Windows box, don't want or need one. I have a Macbook Pro and don't need Windows clogging up my precious HDD space... so, like a geeky genius I'vd removed the DVD drive I seldom use, stuck that in an enclosure, and slotted a fairly decent spare 2.5" SATA HDD in its place with a DVD caddy. Now I have two HDD's in my Macbook Pro!
Like a geeky genius!

Now I just have to install some form of Windows OS, and I admit It's been a while since I was a PC guy... anyone got any experience/recommendations on a gaming platform?

Windows 7. Windows 8 is hated even by Windows game developers (see Gabe Newell's recent rant on the subject).

But, of the games you mentioned, if you don't HAVE to start playing right now, wait til July when the Mac port of Bioshock: Infinite hits. Feral is shooting for either the Mac App Store, Steamplay, or both.

It should be tasty!

 

[antonis]

From Wikipedia:

"According to Microsoft, the Start Menu was removed because relatively few people actually used it."

At the same page, there's a list of the most downloaded 3rd party utilities that restore the start menu. It seems that's the first thing most (or at least a great number) of W8 users are downloading after installing the new OS.

Bottom line : Nobody fails like microsoft.

Link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Start_Menu_replacements_for_Windows_8#cite_note-3

 

[R1PPER]

I installed windows 8. It was abit buggy but worked pretty fast. Then it started telling me that my copy i bought was not a valid copy and locked me out. Tried a reinstall and 3D graphics got borked?

I have now installed windows 7 which is working flawlessly.

I love the speed of booting into 8 and once you get used to clicking on the desktop button it looks and acts like 7. I will give them another month to fix all the issues as my 7 copy is working great for now.

Bottom line 7 or 8 are pretty similar. if you get a good working instal.

 

[Hakiroto]

I installed Windows 8 using Boot Camp on my late 2012 iMac and it's been great for what I need it for... gaming. I don't care for the Metro interface or initial lack of Start menu but I really don't care. It boots up, I click on Steam or Origin then play a game. I've never had any issues. I used Windows 7 on an old MacBook in Boot Camp and that was also fine and I'd probably prefer it if I did anything more than gaming but for me, Windows 8 is fine and was cheaper than Windows 7 (I got the x64 OEM DVD for a fairly good price).

 

[Mac32]

I installed Windows 8 using Boot Camp on my late 2012 iMac and it's been great for what I need it for... gaming. I don't care for the Metro interface or initial lack of Start menu but I really don't care. It boots up, I click on Steam or Origin then play a game. I've never had any issues. I used Windows 7 on an old MacBook in Boot Camp and that was also fine and I'd probably prefer it if I did anything more than gaming but for me, Windows 8 is fine and was cheaper than Windows 7 (I got the x64 OEM DVD for a fairly good price).

I see some people claim that gaming in Windows 8 "feels" smoother when the fps drops below 60, ie. more even framerate/less stuttering or something. But then again, others claim Windows 8 gives overall a bit less performance, some say the difference is negliable. Have you noticed games playing overall smoother in Win8?

 

[AdrianK]

$199. Just. Wow. Is it ten times better than Mountain Lion? Why is it ten times the price?

Because Microsoft can't subsidize software prices in hardware.

System Requirements on the box states minimum resolution of 1366 x 768. Huh. That rules out my 8 month old Macbook Pro.

That's the minimum resolution in each axis to allow splitscreen. You can run it on a 1280*800 display without any issues.

 

[iMacFarlane]

That's the minimum resolution in each axis to allow splitscreen. You can run it on a 1280*800 display without any issues.

That's good to hear. I'm leaning towards 8, I think. Same price as 7, newer, longer support life, plenty of room for improvement/growth. It does install on Bootcamp, right? No terminal hacks or crazy tricks required?

 

[saturnotaku]

No terminal hacks or crazy tricks required?

Long as you have the Boot Camp 5.0 support software, you should be fine.

 

[iansinthebag]

Windows is Great!

The reason that windows has the majority of games, is because you can pimp out a PC to your liking, but it gets wayyy more complicated when you get to Apple hardware..