How much space does a MAC OSX user use?

I'm a PC user who is getting a mac for the first time. I have tons of windows apps that I'm gonna install on the windows partition of my new mac book pro when it comes in. My hard drive will be 120 gigs. I also have an external hard drive in windows ntfs format.

So my question is how much space should I dedicate to my mac os x partition?

I'm new to mac so I don't really know about any mac programs to buy, so I don't know whether I'll really need to dedicate a lot of space to mac os x or not?

I'm gonna install cs3 (windows) painter (windows) and 4 or 5 games and Visual studio 2005 on the windows partition.

Right now I'm thinking about 80 gigs for windows and 40 gigs for mac os X. Is 40 gigs enough for the average mac os x user?

Thanks in advance.

why do you want to buy a mac when you clearly only want to use windblows apps?

Excellent point, sLux! I personally really don't understand people buying a Mac to run mainly Windoze on it. Makes no sense to me at all. You should get a Dell TheStranger55, that would be best IMO.

What's an average Mac user into? The question has no answer, really.

Honestly, except for the few games you say you want to run, why not use something like Parallels or VMware Fusion to run your Windows applications like cs3, painter, and Visual Studio? It seems really strange to partition it with so much dedicated to Windows. You could use Boot Camp with say, a 20GB partition to take care of the games you want to play, and then do everything else in a VM so that way you wouldn't be limiting yourself so much. Give OSX a fair shot - you'll be surprised, I guarantee it. If you start looking at OSX apps, you will not want to use your Windows apps anymore.

digitalscrap that is a really good solution, the question is, does he want to just TRY out OS X, and then use windows for the rest? If so, go to ebay and buy a cheap iBook or iMac with os x on and try it out. It can be a real bummer if you buy the Macbook Pro and then wont use the OS X side really.

Maybe it's just the cool factor? I dunno, I don't understand this move at all...

Go buy a freaking Dell XPS, that would be better really.

I bought my Macs to run OSX. That is what a Mac was really designed to do. Bootcamp was brought out for the people who need a couple of Windows apps say at work but wanted OSX for the rest. If your primary use is Windows and Windows Apps, get a PC.

sLux said:

why do you want to buy a mac when you clearly only want to use windblows apps?

Click to expand...

Well here are my reasons.

1) I'm a student and thus got a $200 student discount with a free ipod so it came down to $1999(Canadian) The only computer with similar specs as the macbook Pro was the asus G1, I believe and that costed ($2100) and no free IPod.

2) I'm a software developer and wanted to develop cross platform apps. So I want a mac to test my programs on the mac platform.

3) I like learning new things and hence I wouldn't mind trying out mac os X, but I wanted to keep my primary computing experience Windows.

I agree, why even get a Macbook Pro if Windows is still going to be your primary OS? I only use my VM when I absolutely have to for work, which is not that frequently, since I have a work Thinkpad (ugh) that I bring home most of the time. The only time I use ever use Boot Camp is to play an odd game here or there, and that's not very often at all. I have only have a 10GB partition dedicated for Boot Camp. That's it.

Hopefully he will see the light once (if) he gets the Mac.

EDIT: TheStranger55, you posted while I was typing my response. It still seems like a strange way to go considering that you have two great solutions in VMware Fusion and Parallels. Rebooting is going to get to be very annoying. You could run Visual Studio while you are in OSX, and with features like VMware's unity and Parallels Coherence, you won't even need to reboot to test your programs on the mac platform.

Well I'm a new Mac user. So maybe over time I will use mac OS X as my primary OS.

Just for a free iPod? That is a bogus reason that will make you hate your Mac. No, really go with a Winbox/Asus. It will be better I think. You never know, you can scrape up the $ for an iPod later and be happy with your computer at the same time.

TheStranger55 said:

Well I'm a new Mac user. So maybe over time I will use mac OS X as my primary OS.

Click to expand...

Then limit yourself, force yourself to use OS X, 80 GB Mac, 40 GB Winblows

MacHeadCase said:

Just for a free iPod? That is a bogus reason that will make you hate your Mac. No, really go with a Winbox. It will be better I think.

Click to expand...

Alright here is my main reason again.

I bought my mac book pro from the education store where I get a $200 discount so it only costs $1999 (Canadian) for me with the free IPod.

Now here is a PC with the similar specs

http://www.anitec.ca/product/9030/a...uo_t7500_2.2ghz_gaming_notebook_*santa_rosa*/

As you can see the only difference is the video card is 256 MB instead of 128 MB and the hard drive is 40 gigs more. But I don't need a huge hd cause I got a 250 gb external.

But it is $2199 (Canadian) and no free IPod.

So to me the macbook pro made more economic sense.

Gee...The stranger 55 copped some crap from you guys. Play nice. I would answer the question if I could but I don't know the answer. The poor guy asked a simple question....I'm suprised at you. tsk tsk tsk.
Having come across from the darkside (or is that the blue screen of death side) recently I can see no problems in his questions. There are heaps of you on this forum that run windows and OSX.

All I can say is you need to use the search menu....you will most likely find what you want in there somewhere.

BTW, I know people who bought a mac because "oh, they are so pretty and white", DANG persons could not get use to the OS and installed Winblows and Ubuntu on them. I can't believe i actuelly helped them with Boot Camp >_<
The same persons came to me one month ago and said "Dont buy the mac!", and i was like "I will buy the mac, stupid windows user", "No!!!! you will regret it". And i can say now, i enjoy every second of my Mac! <3

Dont do anything you will regret!

I think the people in this thread have to take a second and look at this objectively, without letting your personal opinions about Windows clouding your judgment.

Yes, I know pretty much everyone in this forum consider Mac OS X as the superior OS, myself included.

But this is not the issue here.


We need to remember that Macs are now the only machines on which we can run both Mac OS X and Windows.

That's why certain people, like TheStranger55, want to buy a Mac: because they want to run both OSs.

However, the Mac OS X-Windows usage ratio should completely be their prerogative.

If they want to run OS X 90% / Windows 10%, then that's up to them.
If they want to run OS X 50% / Windows 50%, then that's up to them.
If they want to run OS X 10% / Windows 90%, then that's up to them.

There's no rule saying, "You must use Mac OS X on a Mac more than other OSs!"

The only case where one should not buy a Mac is if one plans to run Windows 100% of the time and OS X 0%.
In such a case, yes, one should buy a PC instead.


But other than this case,
we should not tell other people what to do simply because we like OS X more.
(And please remain mature and civil about this, instead of resorting to saying things like "hah hah Winblows lololo!")

remain said:

I think the people in this thread have to take a second and look at this objectively, without letting your personal opinions about Windows clouding your judgment.

Yes, I know pretty much everyone in this forum consider Mac OS X as the superior OS, myself included.

But this is not the issue here.


We need to remember that Macs are now the only machines on which we can run both Mac OS X and Windows.

That's why certain people, like TheStranger55, want to buy a Mac: because they want to run both OSs.

However, the Mac OS X-Windows usage ratio should completely be their prerogative.

Whether they want to use it OS X 90% / Windows 10%, 50% / 50%, or OS X 10% / Windows 90%, it doesn't matter, this should be completely up to them.

There's no rule saying, "You must use Mac OS X on a Mac more than other OSs!"

The only case where one should not buy a Mac is if one plans to run Windows 100% of the time and OS X 0%.
In such a case, yes, one should buy a PC instead.


But other than this case,
we should not tell other people what to do simply because we like OS X more.
(And please remain mature and civil about this, instead of resorting to saying things like "hah hah Winblows lololo!")

Click to expand...

Not correct, windows can run OS X, just not legal!

MDDG, we're not being harsh here. It's just logical.

remain why would you buy a Mac to mainly run Windoze? Look at the ratio allocated for the Windoze partition vs. the Mac OS X partition. The Mac was made to run Mac OS X and Windoze as a temporary, intermittent OS. It's not the other way around.

This is just a decision on getting free iPod. Good thing if it shows TheStranger55 that Mac OS X is better but if not? This is just to get a free iPod, it seems like to me.