Windows on a Mac

[Dougal Short]

I am considering buying a Macbook for business use. I will need to run some proprietary Windows apps. Is anyone running Windows under Leopard? How does it run? Did you need to buy a fresh copy of Windows or could you use the OS disks from your PC?

These things always sound great in theory... I would prefer not to have to operate two computers though, I need to have the Mac for some file compatibility issues with clients...

Thanks!

 

[Dougal Short]

Thanks Rub... The dealer told me the same thing, but I was a titch sceptical!

 

[Goomer]

You can either use Bootcamp to boot up in Windows, or run Windows through virtualization software (ie.. Parallels), running Windows and Mac OSX side by side!

http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/

You still need Windows install discs with virtualization, but your existing discs should work fine!

 

[Dougal Short]

I think my Windows disks are all OEM disks... not sure they would work from scratch. The Mac guy said they would install Windows on the Macbook for $269 which seemed pretty reasonable, and I get the disk.

 

[canucklehead]

I am considering buying a Macbook for business use. I will need to run some proprietary Windows apps. Is anyone running Windows under Leopard? How does it run? Did you need to buy a fresh copy of Windows or could you use the OS disks from your PC?

These things always sound great in theory... I would prefer not to have to operate two computers though, I need to have the Mac for some file compatibility issues with clients...

Thanks!

get a macbook pro .. get ram use either parallels or vm.
or just office 2008.... what file types are u worried about?

 

[ROCKnROLLA]

This is correct.

I will add that I have field tested both Parallels and Fusion and Fusion is hands down way better. It's more stable and takes advantage of multi-core architecture, not to mention a cleaner GUI interface with better integration.

There is also another way of loading mulit-OS configurations on an Intel based Mac. rEFit, is a small app that loads in the boot sector of your drive and allows you the option of selecting which OS you want to boot into natively.

I currently have my Macbook Pro configured with rEFit and select from OS X, VISTA, XP, LINUX. Also, note that OS X is running Fusion and will load VISTA. In all cases native install disks were used and windows will require activation - bloody Microsoft.

Try that with a PC!!

Incredibly, Windows runs better on a Mac than on most PC's!

You can use your existing install disks and go through the standard update/patch routine.

Once booted through Bootcamp your machine behaves just like a PC.

 

[danibbler]

Definitely go for Fusion! I've heard only bad things about Parallels with their latest release.