Windows 7/8 on a MacBook Pro?

[PlushyX]

So, I used to run a PC and I LOVE my mac, but the compatibility just isn't there with 90% of games and programs. I have an i7 with 2.6 GHz, and 8 GB DDR3 RaM. I also have 661 GB free on my hard drive, if I run Windows on my mac do I lose all my data from my OS X? And also will this lag my computer?
\-Thanks PlushyX

 

[zombiedave]

Bootcamp! If you want your windows games on the mac. Works fine.

 

[saturnotaku]

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/boot_camp_install-setup_10.7.pdf

The guide is for OS X Lion, but the same instructions apply to Mountain Lion.

 

[A Hebrew]

No you don't. I recommend running anything non-intensive on a VM like Parallels or VMWare, that way you can be in OS X at the same time. If the game you are playing is graphics heavy then use Boot Camp.

 

[dusk007]

You won't loose anything you can have both if you have enough space on the SSD/HDD.
Booting to Windows 8 takes a lot longer than on an optimized actual Windows notebook.
Performance is just the same as everywhere. Where it lacks is in touchpad drivers, graphics switching and just general battery life.
Plugged in with a mouse the MBP does very well with Windows for games.

If you intend to switch entirely to Windows, you are better of selling it and buying a Samsung or Asus.

 

[Voodoofreak]

I used to feel the same way, but once I setup bootcamp...all that went away.
It's an easy and straightforward setup even if its the first time you are installing windows and driver setup etc.

However, I have come to realize that I boot my computer less and less in bootcamp because the only reason I ever needed to get in there was windows video games.

 

[glenthompson]

So, I used to run a PC and I LOVE my mac, but the compatibility just isn't there with 90% of games and programs. I have an i7 with 2.6 GHz, and 8 GB DDR3 RaM. I also have 661 GB free on my hard drive, if I run Windows on my mac do I lose all my data from my OS X? And also will this lag my computer?
\-Thanks PlushyX

I don't do gaming on my MBP but have pretty much found equivalent or better applications on the Mac side. The only thing I've had to use Windows for in the last 6 months is Visual Studio to update a program I developed some years ago. Part of my requirement in switching to the Mac was availability of apps to meet my needs. I do have to run Office for Mac for compatibility with others.

 

[newmac2013]

Part of my requirement in switching to the Mac was availability of apps to meet my needs. I do have to run Office for Mac for compatibility with others.

I remember reading a while ago that the 08 version of office was real buggy. Have you had any problems with office?

 

[glenthompson]

I remember reading a while ago that the 08 version of office was real buggy. Have you had any problems with office?

Outlook is very different from the Windows version so I dumped it in favor of Mail since I don't have to deal with Exchange. I have some moderately complex excel spreadsheets that work fine. I don't do very fancy word or PowerPoint files so those do fine for me. No compatibility issues with sharing files with Windows users.

 

[kevink2]

I run Windows in a VM, and for my usage it is fine.

I used to run both Bootcamp and VMWare (so if desired, I could reboot directly into Windows, but normally run it in VM for convenience).

I finally gave it up when, on occasion, it would lose it's activation. I got tired of going through the reactivation phase. Never messes up in just VMware.

I don't run games, though.

If you are doing the Windows for games, and normally shutdown the system anyway, bootcamp is probably the better choice.

 

[takeshi74]

I used to run both Bootcamp and VMWare (so if desired, I could reboot directly into Windows, but normally run it in VM for convenience).

I finally gave it up when, on occasion, it would lose it's activation. I got tired of going through the reactivation phase. Never messes up in just VMware.

Interesting. I use both and never have activation issues. I guess that's not entirely correct. I did have to deal with activation when I imported my Boot Camp partition into Fusion instead of running my Boot Camp partition under Fusion. Once I got that sorted out I haven't had any activation issues.

 

[foxf8]

no data lose or anything like that bootcamp is great. i used a flash drive and put windows on there threw bootcamp. it also since its a mac and they only use certain parts bootcamp auto puts all the drivers u need in a file on the flash drive as well so as soon as u get to the desktop open the flash drive. open the drivers folder and open the program to which installs all drivers! blue tooth, wifi, graphics, usb 3.0 if u have it. its the most painless installl of windows ever. also in control pannel there is a new option called bootcamp click on mac os folder if u want to audo boot back to mac every time u turn your computer on or hold down option key during start up to choose which partion u want to boot off of. i play games all the time lol i well say this it runs way hotter than on mac os because it use's the graphic card instead of onboard graphics 100% of the time cant use onboard in windows its locked out.

 

[Zeov]

BootCamp.


i have 250 GB on my retina dedicated for windows, so all my games and stuff is located there. works great. and no, you will not lose any data, unless you overwrite the wrong partition ^^,.

 

[NewishMacGuy]

I remember reading a while ago that the 08 version of office was real buggy. Have you had any problems with office?

All MS stuff is real buggy, but I suspect that you're used to that.

Office 2008 was unloved and a much skipped "upgrade" because it stank worse than MS products usually do, and it broke your macros on top of that (didn't support VB).

Office 2011 is decent with only a few differences from Windows for W/P/E.

Outlook is very different from the Windows version so I dumped it in favor of Mail since I don't have to deal with Exchange. I have some moderately complex excel spreadsheets that work fine. I don't do very fancy word or PowerPoint files so those do fine for me. No compatibility issues with sharing files with Windows users.

Office 2011 Outlook is similar but the email is stored in a different file format so it can be a PITA to convert in certain circumstances. Outlook is a confusing mess of bad software design anyway so you'll be happy to let it go in favor of Mail, Calendar, Notes, Reminders & Contacts which are much better and better integrated. These days they all support Exchange pretty well.

Generally speaking compatibility (or the OSX equivalent) may be better than you think - especially with Citrix. I can work interfacing with my (MS-based) office almost entirely in OSX. And I'm in finance, which is definitely NOT a Mac environment. The only reason I need a Windows VM is to run Excel models with Bloomberg data calls - because Bloomberg (being the worst GD monopoly on the planet) won't build an OSX native version of Bloomberg Professional, nor will they build support for making data calls through Citrix.


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