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General discussion

Switching to mac

Jan 2, 2008 2:53AM PST

Hello everybody, I bought the vista home premium upgrade recently(it was on sale), and the thing won't work, I called tech support and all they did was jerk me around. So now I want to switch to a leopard(did I spell that right?). I was just wondering what kind of hardware changes I would have to make. I have sata seagate drives, my processor is an AMD 6000+, my video card is an ati x1950 pro with 256mb ddr3(i think its ddr3), my ram totals 2 gig, they are ocz dual channel 800 speed ddr2, and finaly my motherboard is an asus M2R32-MVP. I don't think I forgot anything, any help would be appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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(NT) That looks like a PC. What Apple computer do you have?
Jan 2, 2008 3:00AM PST
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Hardware changes
Jan 2, 2008 5:32AM PST

We'll start with the case, gotta go!
The Processor, gotta go!
Sata drives can stay, they will work either in, or attached to, your new Mac.
Video card, gotta go!
RAM, may have to go! (Depends on what replacement Motherboard you get.)
Motherboard, gotta go!

You will find all the replacements for the above, neatly bundled into one package, at the Apple Store.

Seriously, you will not be able to run Mac OS X 10.5(Leopard) on that machine. It will only run, legally, on an Apple manufactured machine.

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Well that blows
Jan 3, 2008 3:00AM PST

I did not realize that I would have to make that many changes, I kind of expected a few, but oh well. A few more questions, does bootcamp work well? I am mostly a gamer, I've been wanting to start moding but other than that all I ever do is game. Does bootcamp run windows at the same speed as It would normally run, also, what is a good place to buy Mac hardware, and is the pricing about the same as PC hardware, also, mrmacfixit, what did you mean by legally? Oh and one more thing, do I have to buy it ready made from apple or can I build it myself?

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I'm not sure you understood all the answers
Jan 3, 2008 3:25AM PST

You have to buy a Mac, from Apple, to be able to run the Mac OS. Your machine will not run it so it is not a question of changing out a load of parts, it's a question of having an entirely different machine.

BootCamp works very well. Some reports say that Windows runs better on a Mac than on most WinBoxes.
Once Windows is installed on the BootCamp created partition and the Mac is booted from that partition, the machine is no longer a Mac. It is just another Windows machine, albeit a good one. It is still prone to all the viruses and stuff that makes life miserable for a lot of Windows users.

From what you have been saying, you seem to want to purchase a Mac so that you can run Windows on it and nothing else. My advice to you. Stick with what you have and upgrade it to XP SP2. It does not make sense to lay out the cash to buy a Mac and then use it exclusively as a Windows machine. You gained nothing and spent good money getting there.

Legally: Without a software hack on the Mac OS, it is not possible to run OS X on a machine that does not have an Apple motherboard. Messing with the Mac OS is not strictly legal.


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Gamer == obvious answer
Jan 25, 2008 9:30PM PST

You said that all you ever do is play games. If so, then don't switch to a Mac, don't switch to Linux; stay with Windows or replace your PC with a Playstation 3.

Most games that are released only work on Windows. They will not run on a Macintosh when it is booted into Mac OS X. They *will* work when the Mac is booted to Windows, but then all you've done is bought a Windows computer. Macintoshes come with their own operating system and as a result they don't come with Windows, so you'd need to buy a full copy of Windows to load onto it. The full copy is expensive.

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Yeah, you'll have to buy a Mac
Jan 2, 2008 6:37AM PST

You can't switch to Mac without having one to use. You can run both Windows and OS X on a Mac (even Linux), but not the other way around. It doesn't matter how fast and capable your PC is for it.

You'll need to make a trip to the closest Apple Store and have a look at what they have. If you want a desktop, you'll probably want to look at the iMacs, which will blow the socks off of many PCs.

-BMF

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Or....
Jan 29, 2008 3:37AM PST

...you could hop over to the Vista forum and provide some details about your problems -- something more than "the thing won't work." You may be able to resolve them without spending any money and/or making a knee-jerk decision to switch to another platform entirely.

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How about just getting a mac computer?
Jan 6, 2008 11:57AM PST

I think you should just buy a new mac computer. I mean if you really want to run Leopard, i think that's your best option.

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My 2c.
Jan 11, 2008 6:45AM PST

I know I'm a little late, I just checked in this forum, so I read what others said. I played with the RC1 of Vista, then I purchased an XP from newegg that said I could get free Vista upgrade, then Microsoft would not honor the promise, they wanted me to buy/build a new computer, I felt that they had treated me shabby, so I bought an iMac. Mine has Tiger, the OS just before Leopard. I had my ram upgraded to 2g. It cost more than enough to build a super PC. It does what it was made for real well. It does not crash! I have no AntiVirus program, right now it is not needed. As someone else said, if you put windows on any apple, the windows will still have the malware vulnerabilities.
Apple is not a gamer's machine.
The iMac just isn't made for modding, they don't expect the user to open it up. Apple is great for graphics, and they have some great programs for music, but this iMac has internal speakers, and they sound like internal speakers. There is an audio out port for headphones that will run external powered speakers, I have not tried that.
Just my experience with the "Switch" Ol Rod

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RE: My 2c.
Jan 26, 2008 7:49AM PST

Plug in a pair of good speakers, and the sound you'll get is worth the money you spent on the iMac. Also, get a good virus protection app. With the proliferation of Macs out there, Mac viruses ARE out there, no matter what the Apple reps tell you. There have been definitions added to accomodate Macs that are well worth your while to have.

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I wonder if you could tell us all
Jan 26, 2008 8:14AM PST

just what "Mac viruses Are out there"

We keep hearing about them from posters but we never seem to get a response to this question and we never seem to hear from anyone who actually got a virus and passed it on. Remember that viruses are supposed to infect your and then go on to infect others, all by themselves.

Just the names of the viruses that are in the wild and that affect the OS X operating system would go a long way in helping us to decide what AV product to buy.

Which one would you recommend?

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I wonder if you could tell us all
Jan 26, 2008 8:07PM PST

I currently run VirusBarrier albeit there are many other quality AntiVirus applications for Apple products currently on the market. Virus "names" and their definitions are generally listed on each company's respective website typically in a "security alert" area of these sites, as would be on the Symantec. All vendors should have a similar link. There are MANY viruses out there, but it's doutful that there as many that are currently targeted for Apple as there are for Windows. I wouldn't count on that for long, however, as MacIntosh is one of the hottest selling systems out there giving "those with too time on their hands" lots virgin turf to reap havoc with. Protect ANY machine.

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Just curious
Jan 26, 2008 8:40PM PST

Can you tell us which OS you are running?

Thank you.

Angeline (not a moderator here)

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I thought so,
Jan 26, 2008 11:36PM PST

While I agree that there are MANY viruses out there, many thousands in fact, NONE of them attack the OS X.

Although company's like Symantec, McAfee & Intego will preach gloom and doom about Mac viruses and tell you that their product will protect you, they are in the business of selling their product.
When pushed, they cannot name the viruses that their definition files protect you against.
A trip to their sites, as you suggested, does not reveal any named Mac virus. Just the statement that the product will detect any "known" Mac virus.

The fact remains that there are currently, NO viruses in the wild that operate against OS X. Note that I say, currently, nobody here will tell you that there will never be a virus that successfully attacks OS X.
So, when the first successful virus is developed, NONE of the AV products, from ANY of the vendors, will do any good. They will have no idea how to detect it.

The main reason for running AV on a Mac is to prevent you from passing along any virus that will attack a Windows machine and for that, ClamXAV does a great job.

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I thought so...
Jan 27, 2008 12:18AM PST

I agree with you that every vendor will indeed push to sell every product on earth...be it software or otherwise. That's the underlying premise of every business in our society. However, I cleared my first virus that my Mac AV detected. I work systems professionally. No machine that we deploy on any enterprise nor that I build, run or maintain has been or will be without AV. You are always welcome to disagree. However, from my technical perspective, I'm always more confident being safer now than sorrier later. Thanks.

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Agree to disagree,
Jan 27, 2008 2:29AM PST

just as a matter of interest, what was the first virus that your Mac AV detected?

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Virus..
Jan 29, 2008 12:48AM PST

The MacAV picked up W32.Doly.11 and W32.Dumador.
Both came in through from Windows running on Parallels. I've since migrated over to VMWare Fusion and will need to upgrade my AV on the Windows side. Both viruses were picked up through the MacAV. Hence, this is a loophole for viruses to make it to the Mac world.

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Close but no cigar
Jan 29, 2008 1:24AM PST

Those two miscreants are Windows viruses, more accurately Trojans, that only run on Windows, they do not run on OS X.

When you run Windows on your Mac, no matter whether it is by using a Virtual Machine or BootCamp, the running copy of Windows is as open to viruses as any other WinBox. The viruses that attack Windows do not run on Mac OS X. You could have a copy of Windows that was totally bogged down with viruses, the Mac side would be unaffected.

This is not a loophole for viruses to make it in, those viruses do not work.

You load up your Mac HD with those viruses and all they would do is take up space. We used to put infected Windows hard drives into a Mac and run AV software on them, knowing that the Mac would be unaffected by whatever was on the Windows HD.

As I said before, running AV on a Mac will alert you to Windows viruses and possibly prevent you from sending them on to those who run an OS that would be damaged by them.

Currently there are NO viruses, in the wild, that work on OS X. If you have real evidence to the contrary, please post.

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Either Way...
Jan 29, 2008 2:27AM PST

Trojans, Viruses or whatever...no computer goes unprotected. Thanks.

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Nice one
Jan 29, 2008 5:17AM PST

A fine rebuttal

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Switching to a MAC
Jan 26, 2008 10:39AM PST

First of all, if you truly switched to a MAC the only way you can add a Microsoft operating system is to add the Parallel program to the MAC. That allows you to have two O/S on your MAC. After installing the Parallel program you then install the MS O/S accordingly. As for RAM, be sure to put RaM into the MAC that is compatible. Depending on which MAC you bought, all the items you mentioned may not be able to be installed on the MAC. For instance, I have an IMAC with all hardware and software built in. To use a hard drive from another computer (pc) for instance, buy an external case and put the drive into that. These cases usually run from $20 on up. Once that is done, you then simply plug the external drive into the USB/Firewire socket and you now have another drive for use with the MAC. Leopard is the latest O/S for the MAC and can only be installed on a MAC.

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Many other ways to run Windows of course
Jan 26, 2008 4:15PM PST

Besides Apples's own Boot Camp there are 4 other ways to run Window's programs on a Mac. From an August 2007 CNET blog:

"With VMware's official release of Fusion 1.0 less than two weeks ago, there are now no less than four different ways to run Windows applications on Intel-based Macs. Fusion, as well as SWsoft's Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac use virtualization technology to allow you to simultaneously run the Windows operating system as a virtual machine alongside the Mac OS. CrossOver Mac 6.0 from CodeWeavers uses a different virtualization approach by building on the open-source API, Wine, which allows you to run individual Windows applications in the Mac OS without needing to install or run the Windows operating system."

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Not what he asked
Jan 26, 2008 11:17PM PST

The poster wanted to know what hardware changes he would have to make on his PC so that he could run OS X.
He did not actually switch to a Mac, he still has a PC.

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