Native Windows 8 on a Mac mini: first impressions
Summary: ZDNet's David Gewirtz spent the weekend installing Windows 8 on a Mac mini using Bootcamp. His observations and early impressions (along with descriptions of some of the problems he ran into) are described in this helpful article.
Last week, the old gaming laptop that my wife and I had repurposed for a media center PC decided to overheat and fry. I chose to replace it with a late 2012-edition Mac mini server I bought last week from Apple. I had highlighted the Mac mini in my recent gift guide and it does have a heck of a lot of bang for both the buck and space.
In a future article, I’ll talk more about my reasoning for the choice and steps to set the system up. For now, though, I want to share with you my first impressions (and some questions) after spending the weekend installing Windows 8 and migrating or reinstalling all my applications.
How the machine is used
Because we work from home, the PC we use in the media center is as much conference and collaboration system as it is a media center. We use it as a whiteboard when we have planning sessions, I often do my morning reading on it (sitting on the couch, while drinking my first cup of coffee). And I write a lot of articles on it, including this one.
It is not (much) used as a gaming PC, because we have Xboxen and a PS3 that do a great job. I might want to play some World of Warcraft on it (if I ever get back into the game), but that’s the extent of the gaming needs. However, we do watch a lot of video on this, especially YouTube videos (I watch a lot of technical videos and conferences), and so video performance is important.
Of particular note is that this PC supports two keyboards and two mice. My wife and I long ago figured that coordinating who had the keyboard was a royal pain, so we each keep our own personal keyboard and mouse on our own side of the couch. This also works well, because she likes different sized keyboards and mice than I do, and – apparently – there’s also “boy crud” from time-to-time on my gear.
Mac as BIOS
I’m still trying to get a handle on the relationship of the Mac environment and its Bootcamp Windows loader. I bought the Mac mini server, which comes with two drives and configured the machine to dual-boot.
I left Mac OS X Mountain Lion on one drive and dedicated the second drive to Windows 8. After installing, I set (from the Mac OS X side) the machine to use the Windows drive for startup, and so the machine boots directly into Windows on power-up.
During initial setup, I bound the Logitech K810 Bluetooth keyboard to OS X and when I installed Windows, I didn’t set up Bluetooth, but I still had access to the keyboard. This gave me the impression the keyboard (and probably a lot of what we would have once-called BIOS-level components) was being driven by either Mac OS X, or at least from the Mac’s firmware.
However, once I finished setting everything up, and I put the machine in the rack by our big screen TV, I ran into some problems. I added my wife’s keyboard and mouse, and suddenly the original keyboard wouldn’t work when I booted Windows.
Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.
Talkback
Oh
I'm actually running pure Intel video drivers
Big improvement over first iteration, using Apple's stuff. I'm thinking I might do that with Broadcom and see if the straight-from-Broadcom Bluetooth drivers beat the Bootcamp stuff.
--David
Logitech
It make a world of difference to using Windows 8 on the desktop. If you are using the PC on the sofa, it might also be more convinient than using a mouse...
To be honest, I haven't missed the Start Menu, I find the Start Screen more intuitive, but I find a lot of apps aren't suited to a large HD screen.
"baffeled"
I agree..
So, in your opinion, people aren't allowed to have
Interesting, very interesting......They name streets after some of you, and as NZ used to say.."Cue the double standards"- LOL...
TW
They do have choice
I am using Parallels 8..
Performance is OBSCENE. I have never had a machine run Windows this fast.
David... a question.. Why Use Chrome in Windows 8? I have been using IE 10 and I gotta say nothing compares to it. The IE 10 engine is super fast, and every thing works with IE. I never have sites that don't function with it...I have hit a few older ones where I had to use compatibility mode... but they still rendered so quickly, I am not sure what Chrome would accomplish.
Obviously, back when IE 6 was the only choice for years, it sucked and firefox came along and provided innovation and speed... and Chrome later did the same... but Microsoft has fixed all those issues in IE10 inside Windows 8. SUPER FAST BROWSER.
Thought about Parallels
As for Chrome, go back a few articles and you'll see my story. I haven't run IE as a primary browser since 2002 or so. I moved from Firefox to Chrome, and like it pretty well. I like Chrome (and Firefox, to some degree, before it) because all my bookmarks are available on all platforms. IE is limited in that regard.
I can sympathise, and your story highlights why PC sales are down.
When what should be a simple 30 minute job, turns into a 3 day ordeal and requires several "bodges" to get things going. (often not 100% as you'd like them to).
I've stopped taking "troubleshooting" calls from my family and friends. Often because when it comes to PC's and their issues, again, a 30 minute job because a full nights work.
You can see why tablets are taking off. For the most part, people use their PC's to consume, be that TV, games, videos, pictures, music, Facebook, Amazon, Youtube. All of which are easily achieved on a tablet.
But not any old tablet, as Microsoft is about to find out. You buy an iPad, and you're getting a dedicated tablet OS. Likewise with Android.
But with Windows 8, all you have is a very thin veneer with MetroUI, scratch away that and all the same frustrating issues with Windows reappear. Except this time, they are magnified by having to use a touch screen, often on a non-touch screen optimised control panel...
I do believe Microsoft has totally failed with Windows 8. Don't get me wrong, I've installed it. But not because it has MetroUI. But because it was £25 and I felt the features offered in the desktop were worth that. I would certainly not pay the £189 that Microsoft are now asking for it. Nor would I have bought it soley for the MetroUI. I too installed Start8.
The reason they have failed is because, they have tried to put a square peg in a round hole. It just doesn't fit properly. They have alienated a good number of desktop users by refusing to allow them to use the old start menu (for no good reason, other than they want to push their APP store on people). Their MetroUI apps are absolutely shocking compared to whats available on iOS. And I do mean abysmal. (take the music app, it doesn't show me MY music, it shows adverts for music I can buy of them. I have to navigate back to MY music each and every time, worst of all it has ADVERTS!! Seriously....)
Microsoft seriously needed to do a separate tablet/touch OS. Just as Apple has. From what I have experienced, and from the feedback from other users, Windows8 is going to be a disaster of epic proportions for Microsoft.
If I were on the board at either Android or iOS, I would not see Windows 8 as a serious competitor as it stands at the moment....
The frustration factor is still there, if not worse. And if you're going to compete in today's PC market, you have to do everything in your power to make your OS as slick and as user friendly as possible...
From your own experience, it has been a total and utter failure.
If I were you, I would simply buy a smart TV that has DLNA. Then you can stream all your media to your TV off your PC (which has no become just a server). You can watch your Youtube and Netflix directly from the TV.
And buy yourself a decent laptop for doing your word processing (given windows 8 tablet/hybrid pricing, I would have to recommend a macbook), or simply purchase a chromebook, and do your word processing on that instead.
You will have FAR less frustration than what you have just had to go to.
Microsoft have gone the wrong way. They're not "doomed", but they are going to pay heavily for it.
Good points
But, I'm not your typical user. But you are right. It is this configuration pain that makes tablets so appealing. The gotcha, for epic power users, is that if you have to do more than the basics, you definitely run afoul of configuration hassles.
--David
The stuff you have talked about doesn't seem to be
I thought about that
I do a TON of work in VMs on my laptop. I bought a 32GB RAM laptop recently just so I could run a network of VMs on my laptop for development and REST testing.
Gamling is easily achieved on a tablet ?
I sometimes play some casual stuff on the train on my lumia 920 or older iphone 4s but to say that replaces any form of dedicated gaming is just false. You just cannot "game" seriously on a Phone or tablet UNLESS all you play are toch/tilt based casual games. Yes they try to port stuff like FIFA or Call of duty to phones and tablets but it just doesn't work for multiple reasons...
A: To small screen..
When you are used to fragging people in 1920x1200 27" screen on Unreal Tournament then those tiny Phone screens and still very small tablet screens just don't give you the immersion.
B: Bad controls..
Both touch and tilt are a novelty for me in the gaming arena. Granted it has some use in controlling the device outside gaming. But ingame.. it just doesn't work very well... tilting is slow and inaccurate and touching makes sure I block part of the area with my fingers to view... neither method comes even remotely close to keyboard/mouse controls..
No, there is no way you can state that "gaming is easily achieved on a tablet" if you mean any form of serious gaming.
?
Ya
"ordeal"?
Hmmmm
720p resolution
The issue is that Metro apps will not open unless Metro ...