Using MacBook Pro as a Windows machine at 100% Windows office

Hello everyone,
Sorry, it might be well discussed, but I cannot find a topic.
I use AutoCAD, Adobe Web premium, MS Office, etc. on a Dell workstation. I also use a Mac G4 (10.4) for FC pro and fonts (I have thousands). I only use Mac after work or when I need unique fonts to make outline (fonts) design file.
I'm thinking to consolidate them to a McBook Pro (latest). I probably use it as Windows machine (either Vista or XP) 95% during a day.
My questions are:
1) Is it practical (I will connect it 24” monitor)?
2) Any problem to use it at the 100% Windows office (Exchange server, etc.).
3) Is it powerful enough?
Thank you for your help!!

I have been using Windows on my Mac for work since the release of Leopard.
It works better than any Windows machine that I have ever used. I have run current notebooks from ThinkPad and HP, and my Mac runs the best. I have found Windows to work exceptionally better on my Mac than on any PC machine. The main reason is that PC machines are bogged down with so much trial software, spy software, and pointless software from the manufacturer. On a Mac, it is nice and clean.
I would suggest setting it up with Boot Camp, which makes your computer a fully featured Windows machine.
The only thing that I had experienced had been when I had formatted the Windows hard drive as FAT 32. FAT 32 cannot handle file sizes of 3.5 GB or higher.
Therefore, the best way to format it is as NTSF, the new Windows standard.
To access your Mac hard drive from Windows, you would want to check out MacDrive 7, which is really good. http://www.mediafour.com
Under NTSF, you will be able to read your Windows drive from your Mac drive. However, if you want to write to it, you will need the following software from Paragon.
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/
As for partition size, I would recommend the following.
XP 32 GB
Vista 40 GB (minimum)

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    Launch Disk Utility and select the icon of the internal drive—not any of the volume icons nested beneath it. In the  Partition tab, select the default options: a GUID partition table with one data volume in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. This operation will permanently remove all existing data on the drive.
    After partitioning, quit Disk Utility and run the OS X Installer. If you're installing a version of OS X acquired from the App Store, you will need the Apple ID and password that you used. When the installation is done, the system will automatically restart into the Setup Assistant, which will prompt you to transfer the data from another Mac, its backups, or from a Windows computer. If you have any data to transfer, this is usually the best time to do it.
    Then run Software Update and install all available system updates from Apple. To upgrade to a major version of OS X newer than 10.6, get it from the Mac App Store. Note that you can't keep an upgraded version that was installed by the original owner. He or she can't legally transfer it to you, and without the Apple ID you won't be able to update it in Software Update or reinstall, if that becomes necessary. The same goes for any App Store products that the previous owner installed—you have to repurchase them.
    3. Other issues
    If the original owner "accepted" the bundled iLife applications (iPhoto, iMovie, and Garage Band) in the App Store so that he or she could update them, then they're irrevocably linked to that Apple ID and you won't be able to download them without buying them. Reportedly, Mac App Store Customer Service has sometimes issued redemption codes for these apps to second owners who asked.
    If the previous owner didn't deauthorize the computer in the iTunes Store under his Apple ID, you wont be able to  authorize it immediately under your ID. In that case, you'll either have to wait up to 90 days or contact iTunes Support.
    When trying to create a new iCloud account, you might get a failure message: "Account limit reached." Apple imposes a lifetime limit of three iCloud account setups per device. Erasing the device does not reset the limit. You can still use an iCloud account that was created on another device, but you won't be able to create a new one. Contact iCloud Support for more information. The setup limit doesn't apply to Apple ID accounts used for other services, such as the iTunes and Mac App Stores, or iMessage. You can create as many of those accounts as you like.

  • I restored a Macbook Pro from a Time Machine backup and now none of my passwords are working (and I know they are the correct passwords).  What can I do?

    I restored a Macbook Pro from a Time Machine backup and now none of my passwords are working (and I know they are the correct passwords).  What can I do?

    First, make sure caps lock is not on.
    Another reason why the password might not be recognized is that the keyboard layout (input source) has been switched without your realizing it. You can select one of the available layouts by choosing from the flag menu in the upper right corner, if it's showing, or cycle through them by pressing the key combination command-space or command-option-space. See also this support article.
    If the user account is associated with an Apple ID, and you know the Apple ID password, then maybe the Apple ID can be used to reset your user account password. In OS X 10.10 and later, this option also works with FileVault, but only if you enabled it when you activated FileVault. It's not retroactive. Otherwise, see below.
    Note: If you've activated FileVault, this procedure doesn't apply. Follow instead these instructions.
    Start up in Recovery mode. When the OS X Utilities window appears, select
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    In the window that opens, type this:
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    Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:
    resetpassword
    Press return. A Reset Password window opens. Close the Terminal window to get it out of the way.
    Select the startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected. You won't be able to do this if FileVault is active.
    Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.
    Follow the prompts to reset the password. It's safest to choose a password that includes only the characters a-z, A-Z, and 0-9.
    Select
               ▹ Restart
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    You should now be able to log in with the new password, but the Keychain will be reset (empty.) If you've forgotten the Keychain password (which is ordinarily the same as the login password), there's no way to recover it.

  • I bought a used macbook pro from a friend. Software updates are available, but when I try to update, the computer asks for apple id and will only accept the former owner´s. How can I connect my macbook to my apple id?

    I bought a used macbook pro from a friend. Software updates are available, but when I try to update, the computer asks for apple id and will only accept the former owner´s. How can I connect my macbook to my apple id?

    The first thing you should do after acquiring a used computer is to erase the internal drive and install a clean copy of OS X. How you do that depends on the model. Look it up on this page to see what version was originally installed.
    If the machine shipped with OS X 10.4 or 10.5, you need a boxed and shrink-wrapped retail Snow Leopard installation disc, which you can get from the Apple Store or a reputable reseller — not from eBay or anything of the kind.
    If the machine shipped with OS X 10.6, you need the gray installation discs that came with it. If you don't have the discs, order replacements from Apple. A retail disc, or the gray discs from another model, will not work.
    To boot from an optical disc, insert it, then reboot and hold down the C key at the startup chime. Release the key when you see the gray Apple logo on the screen.
    If the machine shipped with OS X 10.7 or later, it should boot into Internet Recovery mode when you hold down the key combination option-command-R at the startup chime. Release the keys when you see a spinning globe.
    Once booted from the disc or in Internet Recovery, launch Disk Utility and select the icon of the internal drive — not any of the volume icons nested beneath it. In the Partition tab, select the default options: a GUID partition table with one data volume in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. This operation will permanently remove all existing data on the drive, which is what you should do.
    After partitioning, quit Disk Utility and run the OS X Installer. When the installation is done, the system will automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant, which will prompt you to transfer the data from another Mac, its backups, or from a Windows computer. If you have any data to transfer, this is usually the best time to do it.
    You should then run Software Update and install all available system updates from Apple. If you want to upgrade to a major version of OS X newer than 10.6, buy it from the Mac App Store. Note that you can't keep an upgraded version that was installed by the previous owner. He or she can't legally transfer it to you, and without the Apple ID you won't be able to update it in Software Update or reinstall, if that becomes necessary. The same goes for any App Store products that the previous owner installed — you have to repurchase them.

  • Dear CCC, Hi, I bought a refurbished Macbook 4,1 at present it is running Lion 10.7.5( although it is an older machine circa 2008) I would like to transfer everything from my old machine( early intel Macbook Pro) to the newer machine. My older machine run

    Dear Friends,
    Hi, I bought a refurbished Macbook 4,1 at present it is running Lion 10.7.5( although it is an older machine circa 2008) I would like to transfer everything from my old machine( early intel Macbook Pro) to the newer machine. My older machine runs Mac OS x 10.6.8 and that allows me run some very old software. Should I make a time machine back up?and restore from that or use Carbon Copy Cloner? to transfer everything, the system, applications and data.
    Thanks for your help
    -Walt

    Here you go:
    Connect the two using a Firewire cable. Boot the newer machine in Target Disk Mode. Boot the older one normally. The disk for the newer machine will appear on the older machines's Desktop.
    Drive Partition and Format
    1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
    2. After DU loads select newer machine's hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
    Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
      1. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
      2. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
      3. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag
           it to the Destination entry field.
      4. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
          the Source entry field.
      5. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
    Destination means the newer machine's drive. Source means the internal startup drive.

  • MacBook Pro crashes when closing lid while in windows 8.1

    I use a late-2011 MacBook Pro with Mavericks for work and run Windows 8.1 as my daily driver via Boot Camp. I've been running this setup for about a month without incident, but within the past week whenever I close the laptop it starts acting really weird. Normally it has alway just gone into sleep mode with the white LED on the front of the base pulsing slowly, and when I open it back up (even after a day or two) it snaps right back to action.
    When I got home from work one day about a week ago I noticed that the computer was completely turned off, and when I booted it back up it went to OSX (I have it set to boot into Windows by default). I didn't initially think anything of it, but I soon realized that every time I closed the lid it was crashing. After closer examination I saw that the white LED wasn't flashing after closing the lid and that I could hear the fans still running. Oddly enough everytime I open it immediately after seeing this occur, the LED starts blinking when the lid is open yet the screen is black, the computer is unresponsive, and yet the fans are still humming. Eventually the computer just turns itself off completely. I've tested the same sequence of events while in OSX, yet everything works as it should: the LED illuminates immediately after closing the lid and the computer is fully operational the moment I open the lid.
    I haven't made any major changes or performed any sort of updates since setting everything up initially, so I'm completely baffled as to why this is occuring. I've tried to reinstall/repair the Boot Camp drivers while in Windows, but to no avail. I'm at a total loss... I defintely am hoping to avoid having to wipe my fully configured windows installation and starting from scratch. Has anyone experienced anything like this and hopefully have any suggestions? Thanks!

    I would be looking at the Quad core MBP for Parallels. A Quad-core vs Dual-Core is not a fair comparison.
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