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Windows Users: What versions did you install

sarakn

sarakn

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 8, 2013
765
46
Please don't harm me, I know, I know, it's a Mac forum. I come in peace.
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Now that's out of the way, I've been a windows user and this is my entry into the mac world. As an IT consultant, I can not get rid of that cocaine monkey called windows. With my new haswell MBP, I plan on running windows via parallels. My MBP is the 2.6/16GB/1TB option so it's maxed out.

I currently run Windows 7 Ultimate on my Dell laptop and wanted to know what version you recommend. 8.1 now has the improved features like start menu without all that bogus metro interface. I had 8 on my desktop and hated it. Does 8.1 have all the features of 7 and then some or do I stick with 7.

Also, I take it I should get the 64bit, right?

Thanks!
 
I havent yet but i will be putting windows 8.1 on very soon, need windows sometimes for certain things.

I think you pretty much have no choice but windows 8.1 with the retina MBP as older versions of windows dont support/are terrible at high dpi scaling, so if u dont run windows 8.1 everything will look really tiny!.

64 bit would be the one you would want yes if you are looking to install.
 
sarakn said:
8.1 now has the improved features like start menu without all that bogus metro interface.
Click to expand...
I think you got something wrong there, the only thing the new start menu button does is to take you to 'that bogus metro interface' - It doesn't give you the windows 7 start menu back. There's however a wide variety of software to give you that experience, such as Classic Shell.

sarakn said:
Also, I take it I should get the 64bit, right?
Click to expand...
I don't own a mac yet (I will in the comming week though) but to my understanding from the Apple website about Boot Camp, you can only run 64-bit Windows on Boot Camp 5, and only windows 7 is supported by Boot Camp 4. (The latest Boot Camp software to support 32-bit OS.)

Please correct me if I'm wrong though.
 
Thanks all.

I had windows 8 on my desktop and that metro crap was just annoying. I saw a couple YT vids of win8.1 and it does have the start menu - maybe they had something else installed. As long as I can get rid of it and use the standard desktop for my 100+ icons, I'm good.

I don't think I'll be running bootcamp. Since I'm getting a maxed out system, parallels should run just fine. But 64bit for sure.
 
Donsig said:
I think you got something wrong there, the only thing the new start menu button does is to take you to 'that bogus metro interface' - It doesn't give you the windows 7 start menu back. There's however a wide variety of software to give you that experience, such as Classic Shell.


I don't own a mac yet (I will in the comming week though) but to my understanding from the Apple website about Boot Camp, you can only run 64-bit Windows on Boot Camp 5, and only windows 7 is supported by Boot Camp 4. (The latest Boot Camp software to support 32-bit OS.)

Please correct me if I'm wrong though.
Click to expand...

I watched a parallels video and parallels put the start menu back in win 8. Also for 5 bucks you can get a program made by Stardock that makes win 8 look like win 7 (ie start menu, aero windows, boot to desktop, etc)

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sarakn said:
Thanks all.

I had windows 8 on my desktop and that metro crap was just annoying. I saw a couple YT vids of win8.1 and it does have the start menu - maybe they had something else installed. As long as I can get rid of it and use the standard desktop for my 100+ icons, I'm good.

I don't think I'll be running bootcamp. Since I'm getting a maxed out system, parallels should run just fine. But 64bit for sure.
Click to expand...

Yes it was either being run under parallels or they used a program. There are a couple free ones that work ok and stardock sells one for 5 bucks. I really liked the stardock one. You can configure it how you want... including bypassing all the hot spots and bypassing metro altogether.
 
Just installed Windows 8.1 and everything went well driver wise, but I had to activate inverse scrolling with autohotkey, and changed the scroll option to scroll one line at a time! It is a lot better but still very far away from the trackpad experience in OSX
 
windows 8.1 cause i could

i just remove all the metro apps (so the only thing left is desktop) and then i entirely ignore the whole start menu, i open my programs by pushing command and then start typing the name of the program i want and then hit enter
 
I'm in the same boat, the rMBP will be my first foray into the world of Mac and OSX.
Bit strange you wondered if you should be running 32bit or 64bit and your an IT manager?
32bit should be dead, they should've killed it off with windows 8 but for some stupid reason they didn't, all modern x86 architecture CISC CPUs support 64bit. Just M$ dragging us down as usual. It appeals to me that OSX is only 64bit.

I can't stand windows 8 either and I've used 8.1 as well, I felt it smoothed out a few rough areas but it's still that same, horrible experience.
Plus correct me if I'm wrong but the dpi scaling only works on the metro portion of the system?
I honestly tried to enjoy using metro, after a few days I have up and reinstalled W7. I like some of the under the hood improvements, but I'm not about to put up with that brain dead interface, it's unintuitive, uninformative, convoluted, difficult and frustrating. I'm 21 and program and build PC's, if I found it a hassle god help their enterprise and regular joe customers.

I'll just be putting W7 x64 Pro on it. I'll just be using it for some engineering tasks and gaming.
 
SCOLANATOR said:
I'm in the same boat, the rMBP will be my first foray into the world of Mac and OSX.
Bit strange you wondered if you should be running 32bit or 64bit and your an IT manager?
32bit should be dead, they should've killed it off with windows 8 but for some stupid reason they didn't, all modern x86 architecture CISC CPUs support 64bit. Just M$ dragging us down as usual. It appeals to me that OSX is only 64bit.

I can't stand windows 8 either and I've used 8.1 as well, I felt it smoothed out a few rough areas but it's still that same, horrible experience.
Plus correct me if I'm wrong but the dpi scaling only works on the metro portion of the system?
I honestly tried to enjoy using metro, after a few days I have up and reinstalled W7. I like some of the under the hood improvements, but I'm not about to put up with that brain dead interface, it's unintuitive, uninformative, convoluted, difficult and frustrating. I'm 21 and program and build PC's, if I found it a hassle god help their enterprise and regular joe customers.

I'll just be putting W7 x64 Pro on it. I'll just be using it for some engineering tasks and gaming.
Click to expand...

First off, I'm not an IT manager, but an IT consultant. IT is a very broad field - just because I design ERP systems does not mean I know everything about them. Also being a manager does not mean you know every facet of the field - do you think the ex-Burberry exec knows a whole lot about Apple? Hell, my former manager made over $250,000/yr and I don't think the guy knows how many megs in a gig and I'm not joking.

The reason I ask - might be silly - is because I recall I needed 64bit to see my full memory. When I looked at MS's info on windows 8, it was confusing because it put MAX ram for 64bit at 512 and a lot higher for 32. It did not make sense to me. Maybe it was the early morning and being up since 1am, but something did not look right which is why I asked.

I've never used a mac before - actually I believe I typed on one over 12 years ago - and my first entry in the mac world will be installing/setting up parallels. Anyway, let's go back to my question rather than worry about what I should or should not know as an IT 'manager'. :D


EDIT: Just re-read your post and you say you're 21 and you build PCs - that explains a lot. Don't take it the wrong way, but in many cases the less physical work you do, the more you make and the better your office. It's sad, but true. I lead a project and can tell you I could do a lot of the work myself in less time and less money. But that's not the way things work. Smoke and mirrors...
 
SCOLANATOR said:
I'm in the same boat, the rMBP will be my first foray into the world of Mac and OSX.
Bit strange you wondered if you should be running 32bit or 64bit and your an IT manager?
32bit should be dead, they should've killed it off with windows 8 but for some stupid reason they didn't, all modern x86 architecture CISC CPUs support 64bit. Just M$ dragging us down as usual. It appeals to me that OSX is only 64bit.

I can't stand windows 8 either and I've used 8.1 as well, I felt it smoothed out a few rough areas but it's still that same, horrible experience.
Plus correct me if I'm wrong but the dpi scaling only works on the metro portion of the system?
I honestly tried to enjoy using metro, after a few days I have up and reinstalled W7. I like some of the under the hood improvements, but I'm not about to put up with that brain dead interface, it's unintuitive, uninformative, convoluted, difficult and frustrating. I'm 21 and program and build PC's, if I found it a hassle god help their enterprise and regular joe customers.

I'll just be putting W7 x64 Pro on it. I'll just be using it for some engineering tasks and gaming.
Click to expand...

I agree with you for the most part. I hate win 8. Its a big reason that I moved to Mac. However, I will say that metro is great on a touchscreen. Its what it was built for really. I don't like touchscreen laptops though. Why would I want to get fingerprints all over my beautiful screen. Save the touch for the iPads.
 
8.1 in Bootcamp here.
I had to upgrade the Nvidia driver to the latest non-beta and I had to do that in safe mode as anything else wouldn't work.
It's running fine on my 15" rMBP.

Try right-clicking the Start button for a list of stuff - left click just goes to the "charm" menu.
You can also get it to start up to the normal desktop now rather than the charm garbage.
 
sarakn said:
First off, I'm not an IT manager, but an IT consultant. IT is a very broad field - just because I design ERP systems does not mean I know everything about them. Also being a manager does not mean you know every facet of the field - do you think the ex-Burberry exec knows a whole lot about Apple? Hell, my former manager made over $250,000/yr and I don't think the guy knows how many megs in a gig and I'm not joking.

The reason I ask - might be silly - is because I recall I needed 64bit to see my full memory. When I looked at MS's info on windows 8, it was confusing because it put MAX ram for 64bit at 512 and a lot higher for 32. It did not make sense to me. Maybe it was the early morning and being up since 1am, but something did not look right which is why I asked.

I've never used a mac before - actually I believe I typed on one over 12 years ago - and my first entry in the mac world will be installing/setting up parallels. Anyway, let's go back to my question rather than worry about what I should or should not know as an IT 'manager'. :D


EDIT: Just re-read your post and you say you're 21 and you build PCs - that explains a lot. Don't take it the wrong way, but in many cases the less physical work you do, the more you make and the better your office. It's sad, but true. I lead a project and can tell you I could do a lot of the work myself in less time and less money. But that's not the way things work. Smoke and mirrors...
Click to expand...

I apologise, I didn't mean to offend. Building and programming systems is not my job. I'm a student at university, I do it because it's what I enjoy doing. I'm currently doing a Masters in EEE, I don't plan on doing physical work as, like you, I realise there's not much money there, playing rugby is enough ;).

Go for 64bit, there is zero reason to go with a 32bit OS these days. We'll be using 64bit OS's for a very long time as it allows us to theoretically access something like 16 exbibytes.
 
i don't understand why anyone would want to run windows exclusively over parallels on a mac. You'll only ever get the best possible experience through bootcamp.....
 
DGPMaluco said:
Just installed Windows 8.1 and everything went well driver wise, but I had to activate inverse scrolling with autohotkey, and changed the scroll option to scroll one line at a time! It is a lot better but still very far away from the trackpad experience in OSX
Click to expand...

could you please explaing how to do the inverted scrolling? that's one thing i would like on the windows side, and i'd rather not install a third party app to do so. thanks
 
Windows 7 x64. I am fortunate enough to have an older Mac that can still use it.

I'd stay away from Windows 8, the 8.1 update bricked Microsoft's flagship tablet. Sure, I have a Macbook Pro and not a Surface tablet, but what does it say about the company that designed the update?
 
Last edited:
I still don't know how to fix it, I'm looking into it! If you find something let me know, it's because your are scrolling too many times in a short period of time
 
DGPMaluco said:
I still don't know how to fix it, I'm looking into it! If you find something let me know, it's because your are scrolling too many times in a short period of time
Click to expand...

fixed it! ok.. if you launch the ReverseScrolling.ahk, it should show up on your taskbar.. right click on it - Edit Script - place this line right above "WheelUp": #MaxHotKeysPerInterval 900000000000000

finally click Reload This Script

that should let you scroll all day without getting that nag.

off topic: anyone know how i can have the Back / Fwd two finger swipe gesture for Chrome?
 
Last edited:
OK for the guys running Windows in Bootcamp: I'm a bit scared to buy a 13 inch rMBP as I also need to run Windows and the text might be too small to read... can you guys confirm that it is well readable or it's just too small?

Tnx!
 
Stino said:
OK for the guys running Windows in Bootcamp: I'm a bit scared to buy a 13 inch rMBP as I also need to run Windows and the text might be too small to read... can you guys confirm that it is well readable or it's just too small?

Tnx!
Click to expand...

i found it difficult to find a balance on 7.. but 8.1 does a bit better. since you pretty much have to scale the texts to large.. some menus and Chrome have ugly fuzzy texts. i'm still trying to find any solution for this.. and here i thought 8.1 would alleviate this issue.
 
can you see this on a screenshot or only when looking to the screen? Can you upload a screenshot? Tnx!
 
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