Why do people buy a Mac to run Windows?

[kkelly122]

i have bootcamp so i can run software that is required for my engineering major. if i didn't have to, trust me it wouldn't be on there, but you have to compromise in the real world. not everything can be perfect.

 

[boberonicus]

I use Parallels to run Windows XP so that I can run:

New York Times Reader
Mileage Tracker
Visio
Quicken
Quickbooks
American Heritage Dictionary
PC Anywhere

 

[JohnTheMacGeek]

It's rants like this that make people call Mac users elitist.

If you can't read my "over the top" sarcasm in there, I don't know what to tell you other than have a Coke and a smile ...

 

[Dipwind]

I hate windows with a passion, just wondered what the reasoning was for people using it on a Mac if they have no real need to.

And ever has it been known that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.;D

 

[Thunder82]

I use windows almost entirely on my mac. I have a VPN that requires Windows XP (& only WinXP) for work, and I game often in the evenings. Love Mac hardware, love OSX too.. but the OS just isn't a realistic option for me.

 

[PerryLynch]

I support various Operating Systems, so the Mac became the easiest choice for me. I don't need to carry multiple systems with me, and I can use whichever OS-specific tools are needed without much effort.

To me, it's really a matter of best tool for the job. Sometimes it's OS-X, sometimes its BSD or Linux, and sometimes it's Windows. You need to be able to use each of those tools effectively and securely, and if you can support them all on a single hardware platform, you'd almost be foolish not to.

 

[Natsu-S]

I need to use XP for some of my classes at school, so... that's probably why.

 

[Discerptor]

Wasn't it the case for a while that MacBook Pros ran Windows Vista better than any comparably priced "PC notebooks" on the market? Apparently, Apple's doing something right with the hardware.

 

[Freddy]

For gaming and a lot of companies work with windows and almost every school uses windows also.

I've been working with windows my whole life and i have a mac since a few months and i will never go back to windows.

 

[Jumblemo]

Why?

 

[louishen]

I use it mostly for little things like watching "My Boys" on TBS.com. It will only play on Windows.

I would only use windows to use TVs (especially the BBC) watch again downloads, all of which use windows media drm

 

[SVTfangs]

Just In Case

I run XP in Boot Camp just to have it. There are those rare occasions where its useful for one reason or another. For one, I have a Sony Handycam that I bought earlier this year, and (Thanks, SONY! ) there is no Mac support for the camera. I did some research and there are other people frustrated for the same reason. So, when I need to get my videos from it I do it in XP. I would say that 96% of the time I am running OS X, though.

 

[Discerptor]

Having had a Powerbook a few years ago, when that packed up I foolishly went back to windows and have only just gone back to Mac. I have also managed to convert my wife and persuaded her to return her recently purchased Toshiba notebook and get a Macbook instead, and she loves it.

So, the question is, why do people buy a Mac and then run windows on it? I understand some people probably have no choice due to work issues, but for the home user I really can't understand it. I will never buy a PC again and have learned from my mistakes to stick with Mac from now on.

I hate windows with a passion, just wondered what the reasoning was for people using it on a Mac if they have no real need to.

Some people genuinely want to run Windows, and pricing on Apple hardware tends to actually be quite competitive the first month it comes out. The only reason Macs are often perceived as being more expensive than the norm is because Apple doesn't bother to lower prices or release upgrades before the next revision half a year later.

Of course, I'm assuming you were asking why people might buy a Mac to primarily run Windows. If the question was just why they put Windows on there at all (even as a secondary-use OS), then the answer is as simple as application support. Games are all but non-existent on Mac, as are many niche programs people need for whatever it is they do. AutoCAD comes to mind in particular. For less niche use, there is currently nothing on the Mac that can handle macro-laden Microsoft Excel files made in Office 2007. Personally, I run Windows for the Unreal Tournament 3 Demo... and I didn't find out until relatively recently how to make my Penryn MacBook Pro work with Diablo 2 in Mac OS X, so that was a bonus as well.

 

[Bman]

No idea...to qoute a great slogan "The world may never know"-tootsie roll pop commercial...lol...anyway im just using MS office for school otherwise i wouldnt even use that i would use iWork

 

[walkerj]

Personally, I run Windows for the Unreal Tournament 3 Demo... and I didn't find out until relatively recently how to make my Penryn MacBook Pro work with Diablo 2 in Mac OS X, so that was a bonus as well.

My Macbook runs Unreal Tournament 2004 perfectly well thank you very much. Especially now that I have the Universal Binary version for Intel. Back when I had a PPC Mini it ran the Mac version of UT2004 fairly decently as well, and that was with only 512MB of RAM.

Granted, that isn't exactly the latest and greatest of games, but then I'm not much of a gamer. I just run UT24K to occasionally blow off a little steam from time to time.

My Parallels VM I used to use when I needed to run corporate Windows apps that had no Mac equivalent (like Outlook, Lotus stuff, and some other things) when I didn't want to lug around two computers. Also my wife has this Olympus digital voice recorder which doesn't work with a Mac. Works fine with a Mac that has a Parallels VM running XP, however, to get the voice recordings off of it. Then I drag them over to the "Mac side" where I can use all of the brilliant audio editors to consolidate/catalog them for future reference.

 

[burnsy-boy]

I totally agree with the first post in this thread, and I will never go back to Windows!
2 years and 4 months of being a Mac-head and in that time Ive convinced (nt difficult to do!) around 10 people to use/buy Mac, and they too have never looked back, but its not just for home use that people can use Mac, my father even decided to replace his entire office of 6 desktops and servers with Apple products, and for a work purpose, he says they are 10x better.
Some of my Uni friends use Windows to run particular progams like ProEngineer etc tho.

 

[Sawday]

Bacause MS Money is still the best personal finance program for us Brits; Because the LDS church don't make a mac version of their excellent Personal Ancestral File program; Because my Canon D660U scanner won't work under OSX; Because sometimes I just have to use MS Word and Excel even though I have NeoOffice and Pages; Because I just love all the hassle with Anti-virus software, the joy of editing the registry, the excitement of getting unwanted ads, etc, etc. OK, I lied about the last bit, but, in short, I run windows because I have to. I'd rather I didn't but until someone brings out a half decent finance program that knows how to spell cheque, that will enable me to organise my family tree without a lot of extraneous (US market) information, until Canon bring out a driver for my scanner and until Pages/Neoffice can process labels, tables, formatting etc interchangeably with Word (or I buy Office for mac), I'm stuck.

Good question BTW.

 

[harryb2448]

That, my friend, is one of the great mysteries of life.

When it was absolutely necessary to run marketing statistics which were available in PC format only found it far better to use a cheap Dell Latitude notebook with XP Pro than the problems emulating Windows software.

And things do not seem to have changed judging by the number of help questions regarding XP, Vista, Boot Camp etc etc!

 

[Discerptor]

My Macbook runs Unreal Tournament 2004 perfectly well thank you very much. Especially now that I have the Universal Binary version for Intel. Back when I had a PPC Mini it ran the Mac version of UT2004 fairly decently as well, and that was with only 512MB of RAM.

Granted, that isn't exactly the latest and greatest of games, but then I'm not much of a gamer. I just run UT24K to occasionally blow off a little steam from time to time.

My Parallels VM I used to use when I needed to run corporate Windows apps that had no Mac equivalent (like Outlook, Lotus stuff, and some other things) when I didn't want to lug around two computers. Also my wife has this Olympus digital voice recorder which doesn't work with a Mac. Works fine with a Mac that has a Parallels VM running XP, however, to get the voice recordings off of it. Then I drag them over to the "Mac side" where I can use all of the brilliant audio editors to consolidate/catalog them for future reference.

Not UT 2K4... I said UT3. Sir, behold the glory that hardware encased in the anodised aluminium is capable of but not allowed to do by Mac OS X:

http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/images/2008/108/928117_20080418_screen002.jpg

As for VMWare/Parallels, my viewpoint is... why pay for something that gives me only a fraction of my computer's power when Boot Camp gives Windows full access to the hardware and is free?

Ahem, a bit more seriously now...
Different people have different things they want out of their computers, and Boot Camp happens to be the best way to get Windows working on Apple hardware natively instead of through an incomplete Wine-like framework that only guarantees compatibility for an elite selection of programs. There's no need to be questioning other people's motives in what they want to do with their computers... unless it results in bringing harm to others or something, I suppose.

EDIT: That screenshot stretched the page quite a bit!

 

[forgot2panic]

Been a windows user all my life for a number of reasons, though I dabbled with mac in film school. Finally making the switch, just ordered my imac today, and I can't wait! I have no intention to install windows. Don't see the point. I know there are still PC gaming enthusiasts out there, but I've got my gaming console for those purposes, and my 2 year old thinkpad for backup (or at least until Netflix streaming works with mac).