# Windows onna Mac **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 2, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-onna-mac/627010 "2012-07-02T15:48:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-onna-mac/627010/21 "2012-07-02T19:52:21Z")
> [@Bisected8](#): > > Well, as this thread has established, even a mac can run windows and the positioning of a power button is down to the hardware, not the OS. > [@Michael63129](#): > > Why would they do that? I haven’t seen any computer in the past 10-15 years that had a real power switch (or if they did have one, it was on the back of the power supply, where you’d never see it, as does my computer; no, not a 115/230 switch but a power switch), as opposed to a software/logic controlled button. Myself, I set it so that Windows hibernates when the power button is pressed, so if it were ever accidentally pressed (of course it’s a desktop so that would only happen if you did something like bump the computer, or if you had little kids and they pressed it) unsaved data wouldn’t be lost (much less so for the on/off switch on the power supply - more likely to knock the cord out than flip it off). These issues are kind of beside the point of the OP, aren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Stilettos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Red\_Stilettos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Stilettos)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-onna-mac/627010/22 "2012-07-02T21:51:00Z")
I’ve used BootCamp on my MacBook Air and I don’t recommend it. I was constantly having to fiddle with the drivers and program settings to get it to work. The biggest problem was getting BootCamp to recognize my USB port. Without that, I had to resort to emailing files to the Mac OS. It was so glitchy that I ended up buying a cheap Windows PC to run the one program I really needed. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-onna-mac/627010/23 "2012-07-02T22:05:18Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > No need to be pedantic. Just fighting ignorance, since (draconian licence restrictions ignored) pretty much any mass produced personal computer can run any present day O/S. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-onna-mac/627010/24 "2012-07-03T01:57:27Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Next was Parallels but, as alluded above, with each version update and patch it became less and less stable. We’re in the process of slowly migrating all our machines to VMware’s Fusion which, I have to say, is much more stable than Parallels. I’ve had it on my Mac now for a little over a year and have had no problems. > > Also, VMware supports XP, at least it did when I first had it installed. I’ve since upgraded to Windows 7, and have upgraded my VMware as well. I’ve been using XP in Fusion for a while, and I’ve discovered that it is possible for a Windows app to not only hang the guest session, but the host Mac as well! I logged a support call on it with VMWare and they basically said “yeah, so?”. As far as they were concerned the game I was trying to run was not supported in a guest, so the fact it hard-hung the host was not a problem. IMO virtualisation is supposed to insulate you from exactly this kind of thing. So long story short; should I consider swapping to Parallels? And secondly, does it have better DirectX and shader model support than Fusion? ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-onna-mac/627010/25 "2012-07-03T02:16:38Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > It’s an HP. The power button is nest to the DVD drive. It does not have to be held to work. It’s just like flipping a switch. Try going into the power settings - you should be able to set to sleep, hibernate, shut down and do nothing. HP may have their own software power button settings. In which case it’s probably buried in the HP programs folders somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Niply\_Elder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-onna-mac/627010/26 "2012-07-03T02:31:46Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > So long story short; should I consider swapping to Parallels? And secondly, does it have better DirectX and shader model support than Fusion? as far as I know, there is currently no VM out there that will do GPU virtualization (yet). I believe tthat NVidia is currently working on this. In the end all OpenGL and DirectX calls are handled in software emulation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-onna-mac/627010.md?page=1)