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Windows on Mac - which one?

G

guklein

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 8, 2008
591
0
I have an iMac 2.66GHz 2GB memory (soon I will update to 4GB RAM).

I want to install a windows in my Mac, just to run some applications (nothing hard) that does not run with Mac.

What Windows is a good choice to install? (better perfomance in my case).

XP? Home Basic? Home Premium?

Thank you.
 
I would say whatever you have access to. If you are going to go buy one of the Window OS's i would go XP but that is a personal preference. I do have XP installed through boot camp and use it every day with VMWare in Unity and have no problems with it at all.
 
I have a XP SP1 'installation disk' - it came with my old Compaq notebook.

It is possible to install it?

Thank you.
 
STXSTEVE said:
Yes that will work!
Click to expand...
Not true. You really dont know all the details to assume it will work:rolleyes:
guklein said:
I have a XP SP1 'installation disk' - it came with my old Compaq notebook.

It is possible to install it?

Thank you.
Click to expand...
Maybe, it depends if it is a restore disk or an actual windows install disk.
If it is computer specific restore disk it will not work.

guklein said:
And after installed SP1, would I be able to update to SP3?
Click to expand...
Yes, SP3 is a free update from microsoft. So just run windows update. (Actually I think they removed it from windows update... just go to the Microsoft site and download it)
 
About your instructions...

Could I create a SP3 disk direct from SP1? Or I have to put SP2 before?
 
Go XP SP1 and no more (don't install SP2 or 3. This is what I did with VMWare and it is superfast and responsive.

I formerly had updated my XP OS will all the SP's and it was slow as molasses because I think that the SPs just install a bunch of security stuff that has to filter everything going on.

If you get more Windows applications and it says you have to have SP2 or later installed, don't believe it. I have other applications installed calling that say you have to have SP2 or later with XP and they work fine without them.
 
flanamac said:
Go XP SP1 and no more (don't install SP2 or 3. This is what I did with VMWare and it is superfast and responsive.
Click to expand...
This isn't really good advice. XP SP1 wasn't very secure and had a lot of security holes. SP2 was released with the sole purpose of fixing those holes and all of the security updates from Microsoft released since then require SP2 to be installed. SP3 is an optional upgrade but I would apply that too as it will become mandatory at some point.
 
steveza said:
It's pretty good even in Beta form and there will be a release candidate during April which will be even better I suspect.
Click to expand...

Its better than Vista: solid, secure, faster and nippy, but its worse than Vista in lots of other ways too: The workflow sucks big time, you cant have all your programs open in individual Windows on the taskbar, they cluster together which is simply awful. Its a nightmare when im trying to code in multiple windows of one program such as visual studio. Hopefully in a final version you'll be able to turn that function off.

Windows-Taskbar-Previews.png


After all that though its still the best Windows option available at the moment, very good backwards software compatibility, it even runs C&C 95 which is fairly amazing.
 
kastenbrust said:
Its better than Vista: solid, secure, faster and nippy, but its worse than Vista in lots of other ways too: The workflow sucks big time, you cant have all your programs open in individual Windows on the taskbar, they cluster together which is simply awful. Its a nightmare when im trying to code in multiple windows of one program such as visual studio. Hopefully in a final version you'll be able to turn that function off.
Click to expand...
You can do this in the Beta already - On the taskbar properties page -> Taskbar buttons -> Never Combine. Give me a sec and I'll post a screenshot from my PC
 
kastenbrust said:
im extremely happy now :D
Click to expand...

Hey Windows 7 Guru... I noticed that the BETA is no longer available for download, and I don't have a copy. Do you know when Windows 7 is set to come out? Also, do you know where it can be downloaded from another server? I have keys but I don't have the install file as I wiped a disk clean to use on my AirPort Extreme Base Station.

ALSO, you have written several places that Windows 7 is very stable, very robust, and a much better OS than XP and Vista. I would generally recommend that people stick with XP until Windows 7 is formally introduced. What has been your experience as far as driver and hardware support? I never installed Windows 7 on my Mac as I didn't figure it would work, however you have stated you have installed on Macs. So, are the standard OS X "Windows" drivers working on Windows 7? This seems odd as Vista was always problematic when coming to driver and peripheral support from XP.

Anyways, any info you can give is greatly appreciated. I am going to, assuming I can, install Windows 7 on my MBP v2,2. My kids use it for video and games and I use it for a client app one day per month. But, I have never been too fond of the Vista "Ultimate" version I have and I thought it would be cool to try Windows 7 on my MBP if the driver issue isn't a well issue.
 
Scottsdale said:
I noticed that the BETA is no longer available for download, and I don't have a copy. Do you know when Windows 7 is set to come out?
Click to expand...

Microsoft say Q1 2010, I think August/September this year.

Scottsdale said:
Also, do you know where it can be downloaded from another server? I have keys but I don't have the install file as I wiped a disk clean to use on my AirPort Extreme Base Station.
Click to expand...

Torrent, but ONLY if you do have a legal key.

Scottsdale said:
ALSO, you have written several places that Windows 7 is very stable, very robust, and a much better OS than XP and Vista.
Click to expand...

I've said its stable and good but i've never ever ever said its much better than OS X, i've never even hinted its in any way better than OS X. Its better than all other versions of Windows, but it still doesn't even remotely compare to OS X Leopard.

Scottsdale said:
I would generally recommend that people stick with XP until Windows 7 is formally introduced. What has been your experience as far as driver and hardware support?
Click to expand...

Windows XP is way too insecure for me, too easy to compromise, too slow, and not compatible with lots of new software such as Visual Studio 2008,and it doesn't have very good backwards compatibility either, for example it cant run C&C 95 very well, whereas Windows 7 does. I dont like having an anti-virus either because their mainly pointless so Windows 7 takes care of that side of things for me.

Scottsdale said:
I never installed Windows 7 on my Mac as I didn't figure it would work, however you have stated you have installed on Macs. So, are the standard OS X "Windows" drivers working on Windows 7? This seems odd as Vista was always problematic when coming to driver and peripheral support from XP.
Click to expand...

Windows 7 is the first Windows to be backwards drive compatible, i can actually get my PC PCI internal wireless card to get to work with Windows XP drivers, so Windows 7 can use Windows Vista and Windows XP drivers which means its really easy to install all your old hardware.

Windows 7 will install fine using Bootcamp and the starndard Bootcamp Windows drivers, on any intel Mac, as many people have already said on this forum. Your right Vista driver support did suck, but this has been addressed in Windows 7.
 
kastenbrust said:
Microsoft say Q1 2010, I think August/September this year.



Torrent, but ONLY if you do have a legal key.



I've said its stable and good but i've never ever ever said its much better than OS X, i've never even hinted its in any way better than OS X. Its better than all other versions of Windows, but it still doesn't even remotely compare to OS X Leopard.



Windows XP is way too insecure for me, too easy to compromise, too slow, and not compatible with lots of new software such as Visual Studio 2008,and it doesn't have very good backwards compatibility either, for example it cant run C&C 95 very well, whereas Windows 7 does. I dont like having an anti-virus either because their mainly pointless so Windows 7 takes care of that side of things for me.



Windows 7 is the first Windows to be backwards drive compatible, i can actually get my PC PCI internal wireless card to get to work with Windows XP drivers, so Windows 7 can use Windows Vista and Windows XP drivers which means its really easy to install all your old hardware.

Windows 7 will install fine using Bootcamp and the starndard Bootcamp Windows drivers, on any intel Mac, as many people have already said on this forum. Your right Vista driver support did suck, but this has been addressed in Windows 7.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information. I never thought or said you figured Windows 7 to be better than OS X... we all know better than that. I just mentioned that you said was better than XP and Vista. That being said, I sure hope it is better than Vista. I had actually always had great experiences with XP in business. I have not enjoyed the compatibility and hardware issues in Vista. I actually think from everything I have read, Microsoft has made progress for sure. How much progress, I do not know. We will really see when we can truly compare it in its final version versus Vista and XP, and of course against Snow Leopard.

Anyways thanks for the information. I actually was an MCSE who gave up on Microsoft five years ago... Early in my career, I did network design, engineering, and even had other certifications like Cisco and etc... However, I hated what I was doing, earned an M.B.A. and gave up that focus and switched to business & technology consulting... what a rewarding switch for me.

I have loved nearly every experience with the Mac, and I rarely miss Windows. One day per month, I work on a client financial application that runs on Windows, and my kids use Windows for their games. So, that is my only interest in Windows currently.
 
guklein said:
I want to install a windows in my Mac, just to run some applications (nothing hard) that does not run with Mac.

What Windows is a good choice to install? (better perfomance in my case).

XP? Home Basic? Home Premium?
Click to expand...


I went with Vista after testing XP Pro 64, XP, and Vista on my Parallels Desktop. Vista seemed much zippier and the file explorer (the windows) actually offered me a few nice things that OS X didn't have. So for me it was Vista all the way - quite a big difference! I haven't tried Windows7 yet so I can't comment on that.
 
guklein said:
I have a XP SP1 'installation disk' - it came with my old Compaq notebook.

It is possible to install it?

Thank you.
Click to expand...

OEM install discs aren't usually good for installation on someone else's hardware, so I would have to say no, but there could be exceptions.
 
kastenbrust said:
im extremely happy now :D still OS X is much better :)
Click to expand...
Not wanting to get into a debate on this point :) but I prefer the icon grouping feature to the way OS X presents multiple open widows of the same application. I typically have about 10 remote desktop sessions running at the same time which was mayhem on previous versions of Windows.
 
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