Can someone please explain Mac desktops to me!?

lindacaramoy

New Member
I am new to macs and i might be getting one soon. I would like if you could explain Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, and Boot Camp to me! Also, what exactly are those to programs? Another thing is how do i get windows 7 and pc apps & settings to work on my mac? Lastly, are macs good for gaming(like sims 3, world of warcraft, etc)?
By3lyb

Thanks
 

strollin

Well-Known Member
MAC OS X is the OS, Snow Leopard is an update of OS X. Such as Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.

Boot Camp allows the MAC to dual boot between OS X and another OS such as Win 7. Once you install Win 7 and boot to it then the MAC works just like any other PC running Win 7.

I can't answer the gaming question since I'm not a gamer and never tried to game on my MAC when I had one.
 

claptonman

New Member
Snow Leopard is now unsupported. Depending on the model of the iMac, you should be able to upgrade to 10.9 Mavericks for free.
 

PCunicorn

Active Member
If you want Windows, get (or preferably, build) a Windows PC. Especially if you want to game, because most games are not for Macs and it's quite hard to upgrade a Mac so that it can run the few games for OS X.
 

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
I watched an interesting video about Macs and gaming the other week - here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzM-ISzpkPo

Sure, you can't install half as many games on a Mac as you can on a Windows PC, but I was surprised by how many decent titles you can get on Steam on OS X. A lot more than I originally thought!

If you're into gaming and you want a Mac though I would recommend you install Windows 7 or 8 through Boot Camp to dual-boot OS X and Windows. I don't know how to do this since I don't own a Mac, but there are lots of tutorials on YouTube like this one, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lNOrfAWEhg
 
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strollin

Well-Known Member
How well a Mac runs Windows games when booted with Win 7 via Boot Camp will depend on which Mac. Higher end Macs have higher end hardware.
 

PCunicorn

Active Member
I watched an interesting video about Macs and gaming the other week - here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzM-ISzpkPo

Sure, you can't install half as many games on a Mac as you can on a Windows PC, but I was surprised by how many decent titles you can get on Steam on OS X. A lot more than I originally thought!

If you're into gaming and you want a Mac though I would recommend you install Windows 7 or 8 through Boot Camp to dual-boot OS X and Windows. I don't know how to do this since I don't own a Mac, but there are lots of tutorials on YouTube like this one, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lNOrfAWEhg

There are a lot of titles on OS X, but still nothing close to Windows. And what about the hardware side of the things? Very few Macs have decent GPUs.
 

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
There are a lot of titles on OS X, but still nothing close to Windows. And what about the hardware side of the things? Very few Macs have decent GPUs.

True - the Pro has workstation GPUs which are obviously intended for things like video editing and photo editing and not gaming and if I remember correctly the iMacs have laptop GPUs so performance may be limited.

I'm not saying that a Mac is an ideal gaming platform or has anything near the variety that Windows has. I'm just saying that you can get some good titles on a Mac, so gaming on them is possible - especially if you can dual-boot OS X with Windows and run games on Windows (but then you may as well just get a PC, mightn't you?)
 

Geoff

VIP Member
I am new to macs and i might be getting one soon. I would like if you could explain Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, and Boot Camp to me! Also, what exactly are those to programs? Another thing is how do i get windows 7 and pc apps & settings to work on my mac? Lastly, are macs good for gaming(like sims 3, world of warcraft, etc)?
By3lyb

Thanks

Mac OS X is the platform that runs on Mac laptops and desktops. Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion, Mavericks, etc. are all OS X, and are called Mac operating systems.

Boot Camp lets you dual-boot the computer, so when you turn the computer on you have a choice whether you want to boot into Windows or Mac OS X.

To get Windows 7 on your Mac, you would run boot-camp and follow the steps to dual-boot Windows 7 and OS X. You need to purchase a copy of Windows 7.

Mac's are not known to be good at gaming. Higher end MacBook Pro's and iMac's have dedicated graphics which will run games fairly well, but for the price, it's a lot more expensive than a similarly priced Windows computer.
 

Okedokey

Well-Known Member
Macs are fine, good quality, overpriced, can run windows (via boot camp) and will game within windows fine.
 
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