My Experience with Windows on a Mac
I’ve been a straight up Mac user for several years now and gosh darn it, I don’t know squat about Windows Vista and my memories of Windows 2000 are fleeting. So when we had to purchase Windows XP, I was left like a bewildered moose on the highway.
Why the hell would any Mac user want to install Windows in the first place? Well, there’s that ever elusive Application that is only available for Windows. Games are the likely culprit to want to dual boot using Boot Camp. For us, it was 3D Studio Max. We shelled out $199 for a fresh copy of Windows XP Home Edition, installed it, then re-read the Minimum Requirements for 3DS Max and saw Professional Edition! I almost freaked out, after two hours of returning to the World of Microsoft, I already screwed something up! Sometimes people call me a Mac Genius, but when it comes to a PC, it’s most likely that I’ll crash and burn the thing. Why is XP still $199 when it’s five years old? A brand new copy of Leopard is only $129.99 and there’s no Home, Professional, Media, etc, it’s all one great package. I couldn’t believe that there is no way to view a .DOC straight out of the box with Windows. What a crock of… at least 3DS Max turned out to run fine under Home Edition on the Mac.
So, if you were looking for a tutorial on how to install Windows on an Intel Mac, just print the directions like Apple tells you to. It was easy, but for me it required that I back up, reformat my drive, install OS X, run Boot Camp, install Windows, install the drivers for Windows, then Migrate my Apps and User information from the backed up copy of OS X to the fresh copy.
Overall, despite running into the occasional boned headed question, “Why’d they make Windows so incompatible with everything out of the box?”, my experience with Windows on a Mac only corroborates what I’ve read on blogs that the particular MacBook Pro 15″ Intel Core Duo probably once was the fastest way to run Windows on any notebook at the time. I say notebook because a MacBook Pro isn’t a laptop. Of course that’s what Apple Geniuses are programmed to tell you when you take an Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro 15″ into the store, complaining of it overheating, running over 190 degrees F. “If you computer doesn’t shut off, it’s not overheating.” Looks like when Applecare runs out on this particular MacBook Pro, I’ll be taking it into the nearest Apple Reseller to have them install a 500GB Hard Drive and fix the overheating issue, two things Apple Inc. refuses to do to my laptop. It will void my warranty if I try to do these two things. I do not trust any hardware company any longer.
Two weeks later…
It’s already happened, Windows XP became infected with one of the most malicious viruses I’ve ever seen on one of my computers (but not on other people’s). I was locked out of Task Manager, my Internet Connection was clogged by the 362 Spy ware Apps that downloaded in less than ten minutes. I tried to cure this with AdAware and another Spy ware App, and to no avail, the virus would not be quarantined. I gave up and decided to backup the minimal amount of files I had accumulated and reinstall my copy of Windows XP.
The installation began as expected and when the installer was attempting to load, I encountered an error. the error message had a bunch of 0×00000000s in it. Just tell me in plain English! I rebooted and tried again, again, again, and then a fifth time. Discussion forums told me to copy my XP Install Disc to another burned disc and try again. The discussion pointed to an issue with the Superdrive and the Windows XP Install Disc. Why hasn’t Apple addressed this? Apple will not give support concerning the install of Windows as detailed in the Boot Camp Installation Guide. The disc wouldn’t boot (I must’ve screwed something up in the burning process). I then wanted to throw my MacBook Pro across the room, so I went for a bike ride and came back and tried again. Bingo! Windows installed fine. Now to reinstall all my programs, settings, and four hours later Windows is back to it’s crappy self.
My Experience with Windows on a Mac at iUseApple…
I’ve been a straight up Mac user for several years now and gosh darn it, I don’t know squat about Windows Vista and my memories of Windows 2000 are fleeting. So when we had to purchase Windows XP, I was left like a bewildered moose on the highway….
We have been using Windows via BootCamp and Parallels on our new Mac Pros (only because we have to for a few non-Mac programs that are used here in our office). Overall, we are happy with it. Starts and operates quickly enough. Boot Camp is log-in happy, which is annoying. And it’s still Windows. But if you have to use it, it’s better to do it this way then get a PC.
I just stumbled upon this article that explains why OS X isn’t as susceptible as Windows to viruses.
http://www.dshed.net/harvest/
Yellowliner-
What do you mean Boot Camp is “log-in happy”? You have to select the same start up disk in both the Boot Camp Control Panel in Windows and System Preferences in OS X.
“I couldn’t believe that there is no way to view a .DOC straight out of the box with Windows.”
Google Docs would do that for you.
Hey, Steve. This is Yellowliner again.
By log-in happy I mean that when I start Boot Camp, I have to enter an admin password twice, log in to Windows with my regular password and then enter the admin password again to quit Boot Camp. My IT folks insist this is the way it is supposed to be (though they aren’t Mac people). Not your experience?
Other people seem to have had the same exact problem:
http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=10095
I would love to hear that this was just set up wrong. (Though I know this is not a “help” blog, I value your opinion highly.) Thanks!
Windows is better than Mac if you know how to use it.. Mac is just for fun rather than productivity. why companies dont use mac instead of windows.?
MacPhobia,
I am an artist, and in my 7 year experience as Artist, my opinion is that Mac OS X is a far better platform for any artist to work in. Quartz provides a workspace for learning video from a programming perspective, the MIDI engine has long been used by top artists. I don’t see RADIOHEAD using a Windows laptop on stage, or any other Electronic musician for that matter. If you’re attempting to say Art is silly, fun, and unproductive, I tend to disagree. The iApps are introductory level creative Applications.
When I attempt to use Windows, my work is in danger from Windows freezing, Spyware, AdWare, Viruses, an ancient Windows Explorer that doesn’t flow as well as the Finder. Hardly anyone I know likes to use Windows Vista, so where is the future for Windows? Hell, when I first install Windows XP I can’t even read a DOC file! What sense does that make, other than Microsoft is a money grubbing corporation? I’m not saying Apple isn’t either. But at least with Apple I can see first hand where my money goes into Research and Development. Windows XP is simply a reiteration of Windows NT, with a few add-ons and plenty of “security” improvements. But hackers work around these Service Packs rather quickly, because there are plenty of sloppy security hazards in Windows. I have never seen a virus on any of my Macs, which have been connected to college campuses for several years.
The learning curve for Windows is way longer than Mac OS X. It takes an extremely left brained individual to understand how Windows works. Mac OS X is a compromise for anyone fed up with the archaic methods Windows operates in. After all, Windows is a rip off of the original Mac OS.
I use windows.. have used windows for a long time and to be honest never tried mac out.. but yeah.. windows gets infected very quickly, the registry gets screwed up very easily aswell so.. i’ll try out mac soon
I’ve tried BootCamp and Parallels Desktop, but VMWare Fusion turned out to be the best solution to run Windows on a Mac. It’s amazingly fast to switch between OS’s and it looks great in Spaces. Very easy to install and use, with much better interface than Parallels. I definitely recommend it.
If that’s the case, all you need to replace a damaged Windows XP install disc is to get an ISO image from RapidShare or any torrent site. Then burn it and use it with your original serial number.
My Windows XP is completely safe and virus free. I don’t know what you’ve been doing, folks, but you just need to turn on the native Firewall (SP2 or SP3) and keep away form suspicious email messages. I don’t even have an active antivirus (I actually have one, but it’s always disabled, and I use it only to check up downloaded files).
I’ve been attaching to Windows for more than 10 years, I have never got myself in virus troubles, and I do not have any antivirus, the virus issue is just the way you use your computer.
I’ve been using Mac for more than 2 years and I doubt that Mac is way better than Windows. Ok about the feature-copying, but Explorer works ways better than Finder.
Leopard which was released in late 2007 is equipped with ACL but through command line, gosh, it’s a “Hello, Tomorrow”? Since 2002, in XP ACL can be easily modified through Explorer.
(There are many more things I find Windows is better than Mac, I just mention here one over many, but I don’t deny that in someway Mac is better than Windows)
I’m a fairly new mac user, and I installed some stuff to just try it out.. I don’t know if that means anything, but sometimes the mac is kinda slow.. and I right click the pref icon and remove it, but i dont know if its still running in the bg… On Windows, i’ve been using it for YEARS and never used any AV software. it runs smooth and no infections to date. (I occationaly install AVG free just to see if i’m still going strong, and sure enough, still going strong!)
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