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Albic

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 15, 2019
7
0
Hi everyone, I never used a Mac, I am thinking about to buy a second hand Macbook pro in the next few days.

I am just wondering how are the experience in running windows 10 on a Mac? it's works good the same as a normal pc or there may be problems with it?

Also how much would be the minumum of SSD drive that I may required for it? 256GB could be enough? or better go for 500GB?
 

TopherMan12

macrumors 6502a
Oct 10, 2019
786
898
Atlanta, GA
Hi everyone, I never used a Mac, I am thinking about to buy a second hand Macbook pro in the next few days.

I am just wondering how are the experience in running windows 10 on a Mac? it's works good the same as a normal pc or there may be problems with it?

Also how much would be the minumum of SSD drive that I may required for it? 256GB could be enough? or better go for 500GB?

I've not had any issues running Windows 10 on my MacBook Pro. Runs very smoothly in bootcamp for me. Are you planning on running Windows 10 in bootcamp or in a virtual machine? Either way, I would opt for the larger hard drive as you will have two different operating systems installed. Unless, of course, you don't mind offloading a lot of files to cloud storage or external drives.
 

Albic

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 15, 2019
7
0
I Am not sure of the differences between bootcamp or virtual machine, I will need to research a little. I actually would like to keep windows to play to some game as Pro evolution soccer. I am currently considering a Macbook pro 15" Late 2013 , Intel Core i7 a 2.3 GHz, 16 GB di RAM, Unità SSD 512 GB Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB. That could works?

Otherwise I am thinking to keep my windows laptop, which is a powerfull dell xps 15, and buy a cheapper Mac 13"...
 

TopherMan12

macrumors 6502a
Oct 10, 2019
786
898
Atlanta, GA
I Am not sure of the differences between bootcamp or virtual machine, I will need to research a little. I actually would like to keep windows to play to some game as Pro evolution soccer. I am currently considering a Macbook pro 15" Late 2013 , Intel Core i7 a 2.3 GHz, 16 GB di RAM, Unità SSD 512 GB Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB. That could works?

Otherwise I am thinking to keep my windows laptop, which is a powerfull dell xps 15, and buy a cheapper Mac 13"...

Virtual machine is basically using a program to run Windows (or other OSs) within Mac OS. It is fine for a lot of simple tasks and undemanding apps, but you wouldn't want to do that for gaming.

I would consider just gaming on the Dell XPS 15 or maybe try to find a Mac that has dedicated graphics (costs more though). I don't think you are going to be happy in the difference in gaming between your Dell and that Mac (Intel Iris is not that great for gaming) especially as newer versions of games come out and demand more and more resources.
 

Albic

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 15, 2019
7
0
Virtual machine is basically using a program to run Windows (or other OSs) within Mac OS. It is fine for a lot of simple tasks and undemanding apps, but you wouldn't want to do that for gaming.

I would consider just gaming on the Dell XPS 15 or maybe try to find a Mac that has dedicated graphics (costs more though). I don't think you are going to be happy in the difference in gaming between your Dell and that Mac (Intel Iris is not that great for gaming) especially as newer versions of games come out and demand more and more resources.
Thank you so much for your info.

So perhaps I will just go for the 13" and will keep 2 laptop, also if I am a bit concerned I may get a bit mess to manage 2 different laptop
 

TopherMan12

macrumors 6502a
Oct 10, 2019
786
898
Atlanta, GA
Thank you so much for your info.

So perhaps I will just go for the 13" and will keep 2 laptop, also if I am a bit concerned I may get a bit mess to manage 2 different laptop

Yeah, it is a bit of a hassle. Although, running Windows 10 on Mac requires you to shutdown and boot into Windows and then do the same to return to Mac. So you don't have to do that with 2 laptops. There are trade-offs either way.

Hope this has helped. Good luck.
 

mmomega

macrumors demi-god
Dec 30, 2009
3,879
2,089
DFW, TX
Hi everyone, I never used a Mac, I am thinking about to buy a second hand Macbook pro in the next few days.

I am just wondering how are the experience in running windows 10 on a Mac? it's works good the same as a normal pc or there may be problems with it?

Also how much would be the minumum of SSD drive that I may required for it? 256GB could be enough? or better go for 500GB?
I have 30+ Macs running Windows 10 natively for years, from 2009 models up.
For the minimum SSD, that all depends on the space you want. I have some with 120GB drives, some with 2TB.
Many were taken straight out of the box, swap in an SSD and then powered up with a Windows 10 USB and never saw macOS.
 

Albic

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 15, 2019
7
0
Virtual machine is basically using a program to run Windows (or other OSs) within Mac OS. It is fine for a lot of simple tasks and undemanding apps, but you wouldn't want to do that for gaming.

I would consider just gaming on the Dell XPS 15 or maybe try to find a Mac that has dedicated graphics (costs more though). I don't think you are going to be happy in the difference in gaming between your Dell and that Mac (Intel Iris is not that great for gaming) especially as newer versions of games come out and demand more and more resources.

Actually the Macbook pro I am considering got a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M, it's a Late 2013 , Intel Core i7 a 2.3 GHz, 16 GB di RAM, Unità SSD 512 GB. Do you think this would allow me for gaming if I will install windows on it?
 

TopherMan12

macrumors 6502a
Oct 10, 2019
786
898
Atlanta, GA
Actually the Macbook pro I am considering got a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M, it's a Late 2013 , Intel Core i7 a 2.3 GHz, 16 GB di RAM, Unità SSD 512 GB. Do you think this would allow me for gaming if I will install windows on it?

Can you tell me what GPU is in your Dell XPS 15? I think you are probably still going to take a performance hit, but that is certainly a better option than the integrated Iris.
 

Albic

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 15, 2019
7
0
Can you tell me what GPU is in your Dell XPS 15? I think you are probably still going to take a performance hit, but that is certainly a better option than the integrated Iris.
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
 

TopherMan12

macrumors 6502a
Oct 10, 2019
786
898
Atlanta, GA
Sorry I don't understeand, what does it mean "lateral move"?

I asked what GPU your Dell XPS 15 had. You said Nvidia 750M which is also what you said is in the Macbook you are considering. A "lateral move" means they are the same as in your not moving forward or back. In this case, exactly the same.
 

Albic

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 15, 2019
7
0
opsss I am sorry, I made some confusion!! ?

The GPU I have on my Dell XPS 15 is a Nvidia Geforce GTX 960M.
For what I have researched I think it's is just slightly better than from the one on the Mac I am considering too
 

TopherMan12

macrumors 6502a
Oct 10, 2019
786
898
Atlanta, GA
opsss I am sorry, I made some confusion!! ?

The GPU I have on my Dell XPS 15 is a Nvidia Geforce GTX 960M.
For what I have researched I think it's is just slightly better than from the one on the Mac I am considering too

Ah....ok. So games like PES 2019 require a GTX 670, but recommends GTX 760. Not a tremendously demanding game, but your Dell is still the better option for gaming.

Bottom line is gaming is best on Windows and, unfortunately, as an Apple fan, there isn’t a way around that. Even with boot camp, you will see degraded performance, I’m afraid.
 

slomojoe

macrumors regular
Sep 10, 2018
178
132
Canada
i have a tiny amount of files so i just bought a 128gb air

i don't really need windows but own a copy so considering buying parallels 15

can anyone tell me the absolute minimum drive space needed to put win/10 on parallels 15 ?

also i though there was a way to run bootcamped windows on an external drive, is that still a thing ?
 

TopherMan12

macrumors 6502a
Oct 10, 2019
786
898
Atlanta, GA
i have a tiny amount of files so i just bought a 128gb air

i don't really need windows but own a copy so considering buying parallels 15

can anyone tell me the absolute minimum drive space needed to put win/10 on parallels 15 ?

also i though there was a way to run bootcamped windows on an external drive, is that still a thing ?

I believe 16GB is required. Yes, you can run Windows 10 bootcamp on an external drive.

This is very good guide:

 

komatsu

macrumors 6502a
Sep 19, 2010
547
45
I have 30+ Macs running Windows 10 natively for years, from 2009 models up.
For the minimum SSD, that all depends on the space you want. I have some with 120GB drives, some with 2TB.
Many were taken straight out of the box, swap in an SSD and then powered up with a Windows 10 USB and never saw macOS.

If you don't mind me asking, was there some specific Apple hardware you wanted to use i.e. if you were only running Win 10 why not just use a Dell or Lenovo box?
 

mmomega

macrumors demi-god
Dec 30, 2009
3,879
2,089
DFW, TX
If you don't mind me asking, was there some specific Apple hardware you wanted to use i.e. if you were only running Win 10 why not just use a Dell or Lenovo box?
Primarily it started out as I took my older iMac and put at my office instead of the other desktop I had.
When I started transitioning to Mini's in 2010-2011 it was because I was wanting a very small form factor with very low power consumption and not be seen. I could hide mini's on the back of most monitors with vesa mac mini mounts.
I had 2-3 Minis. Then they started going on the refurb store and I could get an entry level mini for just over $400. Used RAM from eBay or other mac resellers, and best buy was selling 120GB SSD's for about $60. So for $500 I had a workstation that has lasted some of them 9 years now with zero maintenance so my total cost of ownership is quite low. $500 over 9 year period with zero maintenance cost isn't too bad.
If a machine goes down, I have an employee that is getting paid but not producing, then I have to pay someone else to order a part, go get a part and then the time to repair. All of it costs $$$, multiply that out times 30-40x and that can potentially significantly increase the cost of operating.
But yes I have done the Dell's twice at one location. Almost all required replacing in some form over 5 years.
Another location I did Lenovos and they are still being used now, 8 years later.

So I don't force a Mac into a spot that doesn't make sense, if it works I use that. If something else works, I use that.
So out of 5 locations, 1 of them has primarily Mac Mini hardware because it was a cheap computer that never gave me problems. Another has a mix of mac and DIY PC's, another has all Lenovos, another has a mix of pawn shop computers, just throw away the drive that comes with it and replace with a cheap SSD and go.

It works for us.
 
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StellarVixen

macrumors 68040
Mar 1, 2018
3,177
5,637
Somewhere between 0 and 1
They say Windoze can run pretty hot on newer MBPs, especially i9.


Reason is that macOS keeps the CPU temperature in acceptable range while not taking a big hit on performance by undervolting the CPU. Unfortunately, this approach doesn't work in Windows, as Apple hasn't implemented this to work in Windows (at least for now).
 
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komatsu

macrumors 6502a
Sep 19, 2010
547
45
mmomega, thanks for that comprehensive answer.

So why aren't you running OS X on them?
 
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