Something very strange happened to me today.

Three unrelated people I know just told me they want to buy their first Mac.
They are asking my opinion on what they should buy (iMac).
All three used to be VERY anti-Mac and VERY pro-Windows.
But they all see what I have been doing for the last several years, and they hate Vista and are fed up with patches.

My only hesitation is that they all play games.
What games? I don't know, I'm not a gamer.

QUESTION: Are you gaming people happy using Windows games through virtualization?
I thought there was something like DirectX or whatever, that couldn't be emulated.
Is it safe to tell these people they can play their games through Windows on a Mac?

Good question! I have wondered about this myself.

Probably the BEST way to play Windows games on a Mac would be through BootCamp.

But I too wonder how Emulation would be and which emulator would be best.

BootCamp is the answer for them. No limitations.

So, emulation is not good with gaming?

OK, COOL!
Does BootCamp require a separate partition to run Windows?

I'm sure I'll be setting everything up for them.
That's my only hesitation about recommending Macs to people.
Tech support for life!

Ah well. That's what I have you guys for!


Thanks for the replies!

Yeah, a separate partition is needed I think.

Zwei, can you install bootcamp on a external HD?

Yes, it requires a separate partition (unless you are on a Mac Pro ...then you can designate a separate HD)

The bootcamp assistant sets everything up for you. It's easy peasy.

You're making this too easy for me.

Like John asked, howz about a separate hard drive?
Do they need virus protection (especially when connecting to the internet)?

One last question.
Why doesn't everyone own a Mac???

The hard drive has to be on an internal bus ...not usb/firewire. If they are getting an iMac the only option is to partition.

Thanks, Dude!

And yes ..they need antivirus. I suggest AVG Free

I would add Spybot to the system also. I use the free version of it and AVG free at work.

First I would ask them if they can find those PC games for the Mac , if not then their stuck with Windows again which kinda defeats the purpose of getting a Mac in the first place

How does it defeat the purpose?

There are games available for the PC only if I recall..it has been awhile since I have even looked.

And let's say I get one, install Windows on mine to play it, how does that defeat the purpose of me getting an iMac? I would still do everything else on my mac.

Heres what they said - so putting Vista back on a Mac , defeats the purpose does it not

Then they should put XP on it instead of Vista.

Well even with XP they still have to keep up with the patches and run anti virus - our IT likes to run 2 anti virus and 1 anti spy , so 3 programs

Yeah, I agree, windows is a pain, but there are some programs/games that don't run on a Mac, like my work's charting. It's all web-based that only runs in IE7.

There are thousands more games on the Windows-side! And it seems only the top sellers will eventually make it to the Mac-platform. And that in spite of the gradually increasing market share of the Mac. Also, some game developers (e.g.: EA) indicated that they would release games on the Windows and Mac platform simultaneously. That has happened a few times but is still rare.
The best solution -IMHO- to play Windows-only games on the Mac is 'Bootcamp', even though you may be hampered by the crappy video cards in some of them.

Yeah here too our web base work app is PC and IE only witch pissed me off , so I did some digging and found out the company did not want to pay the extra 600 bucks to make the site platform independent . Cheap bastasges

the reason everyone doesn't own a mac is because we're all raised on windows. myself i only made the conversion a little over a year ago, but i've since branched to linux as well. the only reason i use windows nowadays is to play some old games.

Except old farts like me who started with an Apple IIc and IIe and moved to Macs. My first encounter with Windows was 3.1 and it was a WTF moment.

My first encounter with Windows was Windows 2.0! You could run 2 apps, but not at the same time - you had to sleep one to wake the other.

I`m running XP on bootcamp works fine ,there are very limited games for mac plus I don`t have to throw away all my old pc games ,having said that not all pc games will work have had some probs (but that may just be my inexperience not knowing my way around)getting some to work properly .
I run AVG free and yet to have any spyware/virus issue.
Plus the one time the mac went belly up on me I could still access windows and get online to sort out the problem. So I`m definitely a fan of bootcamp.

Most games come out on pc 1st and for mac months later.

Same here. Bootcamp is the way to go with most Windows games.

Lol! Isn't it still? My first Mac -a Performa 640 "DOS" Compatible" - ran Windows 3.1. One of those computers only Apple could come up with. If I clicked a certain key combination on the keyboard, it would switch to Windows 3.1. That Performa is still in working condition, just needs a new battery.

If they play some of the more popular games like CoD4.. well I play it on a Mac Pro and it plays just fine. Excellent even.