Damn I may need to buy windows....using windows bootcamp for work (16in MacBook); plus gaming

[1rottenapple]

Can a bootcamp windows 16 in MacBook Pro work in the long term as my work station?

At work I have to use Remote Desktop. Ive been using my MacBook 16in and a m1 MacBook Air. However, there's a website I have to use at work that always doesn't load when I use my Mac. Its mainly for e-forms, time off request, approving time off request. A workaround I used was logging into the myapps which simulates a windows desktop on my safari browser. But recently things such as pdf dont work or load using myapps, or through the vpn we use. It stopped working when I use my Mac. Mind you I have never been able to approve time off request using this method while working from home.

By chance I tried bootcamp. I installed windows 11 on my 16 in to play PC games. It works 100%. The question is work flow is interrupted because I would use Mac for most of my job but will use bootcamp for the 10% of the time.

My question then is I kinda wonder if I should just use bootcamp 100% for work. And two are there compromises for me when I use bootcamp long term? My work computer needs are simple, outlook, excel, work, chrome. Would those work for me to use my bootcamp 16 permanently for work. Obviously I'm stuck to Mac OS that allows bootcamp and I can never go to Big Sur. Another consideration is I'm beginning to like gaming on my 16 in with PC games mainly xbox. So I wonder if I should ditch the 16 in and sell it for a gaming windows laptop I can use 100% for work and also occasional PC gaming. My only caveat is the keyboard, track pad, and screen on the 16in MacBook is top notch! I tried a few gaming laptop and the keyboard keys on some doesn't have the same feel or the sizes are different. The the track pad isn't the same as the Mac.

Thoughts and feedback are welcome.

 

[russell_314]

Can a bootcamp windows 16 in MacBook Pro work in the long term as my work station?

At work I have to use Remote Desktop. Ive been using my MacBook 16in and a m1 MacBook Air. However, there's a website I have to use at work that always doesn't load when I use my Mac. Its mainly for e-forms, time off request, approving time off request. A workaround I used was logging into the myapps which simulates a windows desktop on my safari browser. But recently things such as pdf dont work or load using myapps, or through the vpn we use. It stopped working when I use my Mac. Mind you I have never been able to approve time off request using this method while working from home.

By chance I tried bootcamp. I installed windows 11 on my 16 in to play PC games. It works 100%. The question is work flow is interrupted because I would use Mac for most of my job but will use bootcamp for the 10% of the time.

My question then is I kinda wonder if I should just use bootcamp 100% for work. And two are there compromises for me when I use bootcamp long term? My work computer needs are simple, outlook, excel, work, chrome. Would those work for me to use my bootcamp 16 permanently for work. Obviously I'm stuck to Mac OS that allows bootcamp and I can never go to Big Sur. Another consideration is I'm beginning to like gaming on my 16 in with PC games mainly xbox. So I wonder if I should ditch the 16 in and sell it for a gaming windows laptop I can use 100% for work and also occasional PC gaming. My only caveat is the keyboard, track pad, and screen on the 16in MacBook is top notch! I tried a few gaming laptop and the keyboard keys on some doesn't have the same feel or the sizes are different. The the track pad isn't the same as the Mac.

Thoughts and feedback are welcome.

Just a couple of thoughts

Have you tried a different browser like Firefox?

Also why can’t you upgrade to Big Sur if you use Boot Camp? It’s my understanding that Boot Camp isn’t on the newer M1 Macs but is still available on Intel Macs.

 

[1rottenapple]

I cant update the 16in because Big Sur stops support for boot camp but correct me if I am wrong. I’ll try Firefox tomorrow but I don’t know it it’ll work. But I’ll give it a try.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

I cant update the 16in because Big Sur stops support for boot camp but correct me if I am wrong. I’ll try Firefox tomorrow but I don’t know it it’ll work. But I’ll give it a try.

Boot Camp is still apart of Big Sur. It's even loaded on M1 macs, but just won't run. Should run as usual on any intel mac.

 

[1rottenapple]

Boot Camp is still apart of Big Sur. It's even loaded on M1 macs, but just won't run. Should run as usual on any intel mac.

really? Ok nice.

Ok Anyway my real issue is whether to stick with the mac or go windows. I’ll still keep my m1 air but sell the 16in. Am I missing anything by keeping boot camping and using the boot camp windows os as my main work machine.

 

[ian87w]

Can a bootcamp windows 16 in MacBook Pro work in the long term as my work station?

At work I have to use Remote Desktop. Ive been using my MacBook 16in and a m1 MacBook Air. However, there's a website I have to use at work that always doesn't load when I use my Mac. Its mainly for e-forms, time off request, approving time off request. A workaround I used was logging into the myapps which simulates a windows desktop on my safari browser. But recently things such as pdf dont work or load using myapps, or through the vpn we use. It stopped working when I use my Mac. Mind you I have never been able to approve time off request using this method while working from home.

By chance I tried bootcamp. I installed windows 11 on my 16 in to play PC games. It works 100%. The question is work flow is interrupted because I would use Mac for most of my job but will use bootcamp for the 10% of the time.

My question then is I kinda wonder if I should just use bootcamp 100% for work. And two are there compromises for me when I use bootcamp long term? My work computer needs are simple, outlook, excel, work, chrome. Would those work for me to use my bootcamp 16 permanently for work. Obviously I'm stuck to Mac OS that allows bootcamp and I can never go to Big Sur. Another consideration is I'm beginning to like gaming on my 16 in with PC games mainly xbox. So I wonder if I should ditch the 16 in and sell it for a gaming windows laptop I can use 100% for work and also occasional PC gaming. My only caveat is the keyboard, track pad, and screen on the 16in MacBook is top notch! I tried a few gaming laptop and the keyboard keys on some doesn't have the same feel or the sizes are different. The the track pad isn't the same as the Mac.

Thoughts and feedback are welcome.

There you go, you answered your question. If you are interested in gaming, forget about mac. Also, sounds like you are not too concerned with Apple integrations like iCloud, iMessage, handoff, etc.

You can get a nice gaming laptop that will have better GPU and cooling than the Macbook Pro. If you have no macOS specific apps/use, then just sell the mac (while the value is still good since there's no Apple Silicon replacement yet for the 16") and get something like the RAZR Blade series. As for intel vs AMD, there are more brands and models with intel, so more selections to choose from. However, AMD Ryzen will give you a better performing laptop than intel for the money.

As for keyboard and trackpad, you can adjust, or just get a mouse. Premium Windows laptops at the Macbook level prices are quite good nowadays, and their trackpads, although still not as good as Macbook's, are perfectly usable. Of course, it's better if you can get into a store and play with the keyboards. Some OEM's keyboard arrangements might be "off" for some people (eg. how they align with the trackpad, how the arrow and punctuation keys are laid out, etc)

This is what I would do if I want 1 device to do everything.

 

[ian87w]

Ok Anyway my real issue is whether to stick with the mac or go windows. I’ll still keep my m1 air but sell the 16in. Am I missing anything by keeping boot camping and using the boot camp windows os as my main work machine.

Running Windows on a Mac means you won't be getting many of the benefits of macOS. The Macbook Pro on Windows will use more battery as well (I believe Macbook Pros on bootcamp will only use the discrete GPU, thus using more power). Your trackpad experience will be hobbled as well, simply due to Windows OS. So might as well use a Windows laptop.

 

[iHorseHead]

I cant update the 16in because Big Sur stops support for boot camp but correct me if I am wrong. I’ll try Firefox tomorrow but I don’t know it it’ll work. But I’ll give it a try.

If you have an Intel Mac you can use Windows

 

[iHorseHead]

Just a couple of thoughts

Have you tried a different browser like Firefox?

Also why can’t you upgrade to Big Sur if you use Boot Camp? It’s my understanding that Boot Camp isn’t on the newer M1 Macs but is still available on Intel Macs.

I don't know his exact situation but a lot of people in my company can't upgrade to Big Sur because the apps that we use stop working.

 

[casperes1996]

I cant update the 16in because Big Sur stops support for boot camp but correct me if I am wrong. I’ll try Firefox tomorrow but I don’t know it it’ll work. But I’ll give it a try.

I'll put forward another option; You can use Windows virtualisation. Run VMWare to run Windows inside macOS. It'll effectively allow you to run Windows stuff as if it were just another Mac app (to some degree). Not great for games since the performance hit isn't ideal there, but what's nice about VMWare is that it can use your Bootcamp drive. So you can set yourself up for Bootcamp, and boot into it when you need the games, otherwise just run Windows stuff within macOS, booting your Bootcamp disk inside macOS through VMWare. Parallels might have the same feature.

And can say through experience it works perfectly fine on Big Sur

Though the Mac laptop experience running pure windows isn't great with constant heat/fan noise and reduced battery. - That's not a problem with virtualising it, but if you run it pure, it ain't great

 

[Steve Adams]

really? Ok nice.

Ok Anyway my real issue is whether to stick with the mac or go windows. I’ll still keep my m1 air but sell the 16in. Am I missing anything by keeping boot camping and using the boot camp windows os as my main work machine.

I went through this during my last foray into macbook/mac desktops. I was running bootcamp on my Mini for my work. We used a proprietary peice of software for pricing commercial steel buildings. It would not run in windows on boot camp. But on my native windows notebooks it would run fine. There was something in bootcamp/windows restricting it from running. I called apple and of course got the "you are the problem" answer. So I moved out my apple systems. I need to make a living. So, long story long.....If you can do everything you need to do using bootcamp, go for it. Save your money. If you want to go to windows based systems it would be the better route to go. I just think boot camp is a stop gap just as running a hackintosh is a stop gap. Each system just runs better on its proper hardware.

 

[Shirasaki]

There’s a very tech savvy solution if you are interested. That is to install KVM (kernel mode virtual machine) and install macOS on top of that and windows. You can split physical hardware and keep macOS and windows running side by side. Dunno how M1 support it would be but if KVM supports M1 well, that can be a much better solution than boot camp. I never tried that before so really have no idea if it will work at all. Just a thought.