If you like the look and feel of the Mac, but your company only uses software that runs in Windows, you can still be one of those smart folks who insist on having your Mac. You can have the best of both worlds and use your Apple for work.
Actually, you can make your Mac a total Windows clone by using the Mac OSX Boot Camp tool. The term “Boot” in Boot Camp has nothing to do with military training. Actually, when you install Windows 8 your Mac’s hard drive becomes partitioned and boots into Windows or your Mac operating system.
If you are currently using the Mac Mavericks operating system, you’re ready to go, but make sure your have installed all the latest software updates for Mac. (Click on your Apple drop-down menu and select “Software Update…”) You’ll also need the Windows 64-bit installation disc, which must be a full-installation version — not an upgrade.
PC World on line has published an illustrated step-by-step guide for installing BootCamp. Before beginning the steps, it would be a good idea to read the detailed Boot Camp Help book. Read the first topic “Install Windows on your Mac” thoroughly to get an idea of what you’ll be doing.
What you’ll be doing is essentially this:
- using the Mac BootCamp Assistant in your Applications/Utilities file to start the process
- partitioning your Mac hard drive to install the Windows operating system on your Mac — Caution: If you select the wrong partition, you could wipe out your Mac OSX installation. Follow the instructions very carefully at this stage.
- installing and configuring Windows and its support software
- rebooting your system and choosing whether to make your Mac “dual-bootable” or select a default boot-up (see the Boot Camp Help Book topic, “Set the default operating system”)
You’ll also be dedicating the majority of your time in this process installing your Windows operating system and support software. You’ll need at least 90 minutes of free time — or more depending on your processor speed. When you’re finished you can boot into Windows, which takes over your Mac, or vice versa. (Of course, you’ll also need to install whatever productivity software to run your preferred applications.)
On the other hand, you might not like the inconvenience of rebooting each time you want to switch between Mac and Windows. If you’re willing to spend a little more money, you might want to go “virtual” with Parallels or VMWare Fusion. With either of those third-party products you can boot into your Mac OSX operating system and run Windows side-by-side and fully integrated.
If everything discussed above is rather confusing, but you still want a Mac that can use Windows, contact us, we’ll handle all that installation and configuration for you.