Apple Macs run Windows rather well. Roland Waddilove ponders the pros and cons of buying one for running Microsoft’s OS
Apple Macs and Windows PCs are seen are rivals, but PC is short for personal computer and therefore Macs are a type of PC. They can also be persuaded to run Windows, including Windows 10, and there are several ways of doing this. In fact, they make pretty good Windows computers. So, would you consider buying a Mac and running Windows on it?
It is true that there are some expensive Macs, and that not everyone can afford to buy a top of the range model. However, down at the bottom of the range are some cheaper models, and you can buy a brand new Mac for under £400. There is also a way to get them even cheaper. Go to apple.com/uk website, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the ‘Refurbished’ link. When we looked there were Macs from £330.
There are lots of secondhand Macs for sale too and they are easy to find on eBay. Some models are priced as low as £125. They are used, but they do last well. There are even Macs offered for sale in classifieds occasionally too. You won’t find one every week, but it’s worth checking.
Running Windows On A Mac
Before looking at the hardware, let’s first take a look at what is required to run Windows on an Apple Mac. There are two methods of doing it: Windows can be run as a virtual machine or it can be installed in a partition on the disk drive to create a dual boot system. This second method is the best because Windows runs natively on the hardware and the Mac becomes a Windows PC. You can even set it to boot into Windows by default, instead of OS X.
Installing Windows in a partition is easy, and Apple provides a very simple utility that does the job for you. To begin you must download Windows 10 as a .iso file from the Microsoft website (bit.ly/1PEJ90k). It needs to be a full copy with a license code, which is £100 from Microsoft, but it is available a lot cheaper than that elsewhere.
Run Boot Camp Assistant in the Applications > Utilities folder of the Mac. It asks you how much disk space to allocate to Windows and then it downloads the drivers needed, such as for the video card, mouse, keyboard, and so on. Plug in a USB flash memory drive of 4 or 8GB and it is turned into a bootable device containing Windows installation files. Boot Camp Assistant then reboots the Mac and Windows installs in the new partition that is created.
The other way to run Windows requires VirtualBox, which is free or Parallels Desktop (parallels.com) costing £65. On top of that, you need a licensed copy of Windows to install. Although Parallels is better, VirtualBox does a good job for a free tool.
Run VirtualBox, click the New button in the toolbar, select the version of Windows to use and follow the prompts. There aren’t many and you just need to set the size of the virtual disk, and one or two other settings. A .iso image of a Windows DVD can be attached or a real DVD can be used to install the OS into the virtual machine. It will run Windows 10, but Windows 7 performs better. If you have enough RAM to give it 4GB, allocate a couple of CPU cores, and switch to full screen mode, Windows runs very well.
Mac Mini For Windows
Everyone knows that Apple computers are really expensive, which is true for most of the models the company sells, but there is one Mac that is cheap and is perfect for PC users. This is the Mac Mini, which is a tiny computer no bigger than a book. The price of the base model is just £399, which is in the middle of the desktop PC price range. There are cheaper Windows PCs, but there are also more expensive ones too.
The cheapest Mac Mini has a 1.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz, but a Core i7 processor is available as an option. The minimum memory is 8GB and for people that need more, there is a 16GB option. Storage is provided by a 500GB traditional disk drive, but 1TB and 2TB fusion drives are available. An Apple fusion drive is a traditional mechanical disk drive with a small SSD. The idea is that the SSD holds the operating system and applications, but other files are stored on the disk. It enables the system to boot and start programs faster, but you have lots of storage for your media libraries and other files.
Although the price starts at £399 and the specification is reasonably good, if you max out a Mac Mini – with a 3GHz Core i7, 16GB of RAM and 2TB fusion drive – the price rises to £1,224 and it begins to look expensive. Not everyone wants to spend that much on a computer, but the base mode is actually fine for running OS X and applications, and for installing and running Windows.
One reason why the Mac Mini is perfect for PC is because there is no screen, keyboard or mouse. It is designed to be used with third party peripherals and what’s important for PC users is that they do not have to be made by Apple.
There is an HDMI socket at the back, which enables it to be connected to any monitor or television that also has an HDMI socket. This has become the standard for modern monitors, but if you have an old one you can use an HDMI to DVI adapter or even DisplayPort to VGA. Surely no one still uses a VGA monitor, though? The Mac Mini supports 1080p displays at 60Hz, 3840 x 2160 pixels at 30Hz and 4096 x 2160 at 24Hz.
If you want to hook up a 4K monitor to the Mac Mini then it is certainly possible and the price of these super high resolution screens are steadily falling to affordable levels. The AOC U2868PQU is amazingly cheap at just £384. This 28” 4K Ultra HD monitor offers full HD, 1ms response times and 60Hz refresh rates. It is one of the least expensive 4K monitors and is best suited to budget computers like the Mac Mini. You could pay up to £1,000 for a top of the range 4K display, of course, but you really don’t have to.
Another reason why the Mac Mini is good for PC users is because you can add any keyboard and mouse. It has four USB sockets, so you could plug in standard wired devices, but it also has Bluetooth, so you can go wireless. The cheapest Apple keyboard costs £40, is very slim and compact and looks great. It is also unlike most Windows keyboards in terms of layout, so if you plan to use Windows a lot on your Mac Mini then you will find that there are cheaper and more suitable alternatives.
There are many wireless keyboards and a typical one is the Logitech K380 Multi-Device Bluetooth Keyboard. It has the slightly cheaper price of £35, but what makes it so good for the Mac Mini is that it has both Mac and Windows logos on the keys. Most of the keys on Mac and Windows keyboards are the same, but there are a few special keys. For example, PC keyboards have a Windows key, but Macs have a Command key. PC’s have an Alt key, but Macs have one called Option. Macs also have special function keys to adjust the screen brightness and audio volume, and a few others. The Logitech K380 has dual logos on some keys to show the PC and Mac functions.
The keyboard runs on two AAA batteries that have an expected life of two years. It can connect to three devices simultaneously, such as a PC, a Mac and an Android or iOS device, and Function keys 1, 2 and 3 switch between them as you type. That is a clever trick and it is useful to pair a mobile phone or tablet with it and use it to enter emails, text messages, notes and so on.
The Apple mouse costs £40 and it is not loved by everyone, not even all Mac users. In fact, Apple has a history of making strange mice for Macs and there have been some weird ones. Some Apple mice are touch sensitive and have no left or right buttons, which makes them a bit awkward to use.
There are alternatives, though, and plenty of them. The Logitech M535 Bluetooth mouse can connect to almost any device, which includes Windows, Apple Macs, Chrome OS, and Android phones and tablets. It costs £35 and it will run on a single AA battery for around 10 months. It is perfect for running Windows and OS X on a Mac Mini.
Small Form Factor PCs
Apple does not have an exclusive on small form factor PCs and HP, Dell and others have them too. The Dell Inspiron 3050 Micro Desktop is a bit underpowered, though. It looks like a black Mac Mini and it is powered by an Intel Celeron processor J1800 that runs at up to 2.8GHz. It has just 2GB of memory and only a 32GB solid state disk drive. but one of the three USB ports is USB 3, so you could plug in an external disk to store your music, photos, videos and other files. It’s low price of £199 makes it tempting and, like a Mac Mini, you add your own keyboard, mouse and monitor. HDMI and DisplayPort are supported and there are Gigabit LAN and Wi-Fi connectivity.
The HP Pavilion 300-235na Mini PC is much closer in specification and price to the Mac Mini and this £378 computer is tiny, measuring just two inches tall. It comes with 64-bit Windows 10 and is powered by a Intel Core i3-5005U CPU with Intel HD Graphics 5500. It has 4GB of RAM and a 1TB hard disk drive. It has four USB 3 ports, HDMI and DisplayPort sockets for powering a monitor or TV, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Gigabit LAN.
Apple MacBook Vs. Dell XPS
The popularity of laptop computers has increased enormously over the last few years and they are cheaper than they used to be, more powerful, and they are convenient. You can use them anywhere and you are not tied to a desk or table.
Apple has a range of laptops that are a popular purchase for many Mac users. The smallest of these is the MacBook, which it notable for its extreme thinness and low weight. It has a 12” screen, but the bezel around the edge is narrower than many rival laptops and so the overall size is smaller than you might expect. At its thickest point the case is only 13mm and the MacBook weighs significantly less than a kilogram. It has 8MB of memory and the base model has a 256GB solid state disk. The processor is a 1.1 GHz dual-core M processor that turbos up to 2.4 GHz.
The price of this base MacBook model is £1,049, which might at first seem expensive compared to some Windows laptops, but the Dell XPS 12 2-in-1 Laptop is actually £100 more. It could be argued that the Dell is more innovative and the clue is in the 2-in-1 in the name. This laptop has a tear-off screen that enables it to be used as a tablet too..
The device runs Windows 10 and has a touchscreen, so you can sit on the sofa in front of the TV and use it on your lap. At 1.2kg it is just a little bit too heavy to comfortably hold in one hand. It has a processor that should offer more power than the MacBook’s too, and it has a Core m5 processor that turbos to 2.8 GHz. The 4K screen with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 is higher resolution than the MacBook’s.
Where Apple laptops really excel is when running on batteries. The company has some very power-efficient laptops and the MacBook will run for nine hours browsing the web, 10 hours watching movies on iTunes and will last for 30 days on standby. That is when running OS X and if you install Windows in Boot Camp on a MacBook and run Windows from startup, it does not last quite as long. The long battery life is partly due to clever hardware, but it is also helped by an operating system and applications that all work together to conserve power.
If you want a powerful and flexible innovative laptop computer that doubles up as a tablet, then there are Windows devices that beat the MacBook one way or another. If you need a laptop that runs all day on a single battery charge then the MacBook is a better option. You also have the choice of two operating systems to run.
The Verdict
You can always find a Windows PC that is similarly priced to a Mac and has similar specifications. Where the PC is limited to running Windows, the Mac can run Windows and OS X. When Windows is installed on the disk using Boot Camp you have a dual-boot system and can choose the operating system you want to run. It gives you the best of both worlds.
The Mac Mini enables you to continue using existing PC hardware or buy new non-Apple kit that could be be useful if you decided to switch back to PCs at a later date, too. Macs are not for everyone and even a Mac Mini might seem expensive to people on a limited budget, but it is an option worth considering.