If you want to run Windows 10 on a Mac there are really only two options worth considering: a native install using Boot Camp or virtualization through Parallels. Each is excellent in its own right, but which one best meets your needs?
Trying to answer that question can prove to be a daunting task for many Mac users, based on my experience. The conundrum: Boot Camp is easy to use and readily available in OS X, while Parallels is the most versatile software of its kind for OS X. It's not easy. Fortunately, this article will help you understand which one is right for you.
Fundamental Differences
To start, let's talk about what sets Boot Camp and Parallels apart.
Mar 4, 2018 - Boot Camp is an easy-enough way to bring Windows 10 to your Mac. But it's not always the best option available, so when forum user. Jun 27, 2017 - If you're looking to install Windows on your Mac, Boot Camp is the best way to go. Whether it's for a great gaming experience or you just want to.
Apple has created Boot Camp with the goal of making it easy for Mac users to natively install Windows on their device, alongside OS X. The tool, which officially supports Windows 10, will create a bootable USB installation media of the operating system, adding the necessary drivers for your Mac in the process.
It also helps you partition the drive, and, after everything's done, it will even restart your Mac so that you are taken right to the initial Windows 10 setup process. As long as you have a large-enough USB drive and a Windows 10 ISO file, Boot Camp will help you get the job done with as little effort as possible.
And since traditional PCs and more-recent Macs are very similar hardware-wise, Windows 10 will run on a Mac pretty much like it would on a, say, Dell or HP laptop or custom-made desktop. You may notice some kinks here and there, depending on how polished the drivers are and whether Windows 10 supports all the features that the Mac offers, but, for the most part, it will all work as expected.
Now, on to Parallels. But, before we dive into it, a quick note: the virtualization software has added support for Windows 10 in its 11th iteration, which is the latest available at the time of writing this article. So, for all intents and purposes, you can look at this article as a comparison between Boot Camp, in its OS X 10.11 El Capitan form, and Parallels 11.
But why Parallels? I have mentioned that it is extremely versatile, and that is because Parallels has a dual personality. It can let you run Windows 10 in a typical virtual machine, but it can also allow you to run only the Windows program that you want. Chose it from the list of available software, and it will shortly appear on the screen like an OS X app.
The latter, called Coherence mode, is what makes Parallels special. When this mode is enabled, you get the best of both worlds: the ability to experience OS X in all its glory while getting to keep all your favorite Windows programs close. And it works great.
Why You Should Choose Boot Camp
Now that you know Boot Camp and Parallels' features, let's talk about benefits. I'll start with Boot Camp, because it is what every OS X user has easy access to.
Boot Camp is best at one thing, and that is allowing you to run Windows 10 at full speed on a Mac. It will give you the best performance, and a PC-like experience, with all the benefits and drawbacks that come with it.
Since you are not using virtualization, your Mac will perform under Windows 10 just like a similar desktop or laptop. Boot Camp presents an understandable advantage when used on an entry-level Mac with a slower processor and not a lot of RAM, because the device will only have to run a single operating system and not two at once.
In my experience with Windows 10 installed via Boot Camp on my late-2013 MacBook Air I have had no noteworthy issues to speak of. Like I mentioned earlier, there are some niggles here and there but, once everything is set up as you want, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between your Mac and a traditional PC.
If you want to switch back to OS X, you can easily do so by opening Boot Camp in Windows 10 and selecting the option to boot to OS X. Or you can press the Option/Alt key on your Mac keyboard right after the device powers on or reboots.
It should be noted that the Apple drivers and software do not reveal anywhere near the same level of customization as they do in OS X. To give you an idea of what I mean, you get lots more touchpad gestures under OS X than Windows 10. Also, battery life seems to be affected by the transition to Windows 10, as Microsoft's operating system and/or Apple's drivers are not well optimized for this scenario.
Why You Should Choose Parallels
Parallels lends itself to both users who need to have Windows 10 running alongside OS X, but also to those who just want access to Windows programs alongside OS X apps. The beauty of it is that switching between these two modes is done by simply entering or exiting Coherence mode, which is an option easily accessible from the virtual machine's menu bar.
Those who want to run Windows 10 in a typical virtual machine will find that the operating system runs very well with no issues to speak of. Meanwhile, those who just want to run, say, Microsoft Edge or Cortana will only get that program and none of the Windows strings that typically have to come with it. You can't really fault Parallels for doing anything wrong. It just works, no matter what you're trying to achieve.
Parallels also makes it extremely easy to access Windows files on OS X and vice-versa. When using Windows 10, your Mac's Home, iCloud, Photo Library are mounted as network drives, which makes it extremely easy to share content between the two devices (the Mac and the virtual machine). When you're in OS X, just open Finder and you will see your Boot Camp installation listed under Devices; open it and you will see the contents of your C drive under Windows 10.
Parallels is also very flexible, as it can be configured in all sorts of ways depending on what you are trying to do. You can give priority to the virtual machine, for the best-possible performance of Windows 10 under virtualization, or the Mac, so that it runs well while powering that Windows 10 VM.
You can choose how much RAM you want to allocate, how much storage space you want to allocate, give spoken commands, add some password protection, choose what sort of access other devices have to the VM, set up shortcuts and much, much more. If you are a power user, you will love it.
Now, where Parallels and virtualization software in general does not shine is overall system performance. What I mean by this is that Windows 10 in a virtual machine will not be as fast as Windows 10 running natively on the Mac. That is an obvious downside, but it is worth pointing out based on some conversations I have had with some folks in the past.
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Also, Parallels is not free. For home users and students, Parallels 11 costs $79.99 from Parallels' site. A subscription-based version, called Pro edition, is priced at $99.99 per year, also on Parallels' site. All this convenience and versatility comes at a cost. But, I think, it is absolutely worth it.
So?
My recommendation is to get Parallels. In most cases it is the better option. Not to mention that it makes more sense to add new capabilities -- namely, to run Windows 10 in a VM and/or Windows programs straight from the OS X dock -- to your Mac than limit yourself to just a single operating system or collection of programs at a time -- why should you?
But, to play Devil's advocate, Boot Camp shouldn't be ignored if you will rarely be using Windows 10 or needing Windows programs. For instance, if you want to play a game from time to time, Boot Camp makes more sense because it gives you better performance.
So, what will you choose?
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Microsoft has made steady and significant improvements to Windows 10 which is why more and more longtime macOS owners are now switching to it. While macOS does have its own fair share of strengths, Apple’s has largely been focusing on iOS for the last few years and it shows.
While Microsoft has added some major new features to Windows 10 over the last few years, macOS has gained only some minor such improvements. Then, there’s also the fact that many applications are still only available for Windows which forces many people to use it as their primary OS. Irrespective of what the case is, if you are a MacBook owner and are looking to install Windows 10 on your Mac for work purpose — or just for educational purposes, check out the steps below to know how.
Thankfully, Apple makes it pretty straightforward to use Boot Camp and install Windows on your Mac. However, Boot Camp only supports Windows 8 or higher and only 64-bit versions of the OS. So, it is important that you get your hands on the right version of the OS. And yes, you will have to get your hands on an original Windows 10 installation ISO before jumping to the steps below.
If you don’t already have a Windows 10 ISO with you, you can download it directly from Microsoft. You will also have to ensure that you have 55GB of free storage space on your Mac and have access to 16GB or higher USB pen drive. The faster the pen drive, the faster the installation process will be. To create a bootable Windows 10 USB drive, you can use Microsoft’s own Windows USB/DVD Download tool. Most users end up getting an error during installation due to a faulty or improper USB installation media. That’s why I will strongly recommend you to create the bootable Windows 10 USB disk using Microsoft’s official tool itself.
Some of the latest Macs don’t require access to a USB pen drive as they store the installation files on the disk itself. On such Macs, you simply need to ensure that the ISO file is stored on their hard disk.
If you own any of the following Macs, you don’t need a USB pen drive:
- MacBook Pro (2015 and later)
- MacBook Air (2015 and later)
- MacBook (2015 and later)
- iMac (2015 and later)
- iMac Pro
- Mac Pro (Late 2013)
Windows 10 Compatible Macs
As per Apple, the following Macs are compatible with the 64-bit version of Windows 10:
- MacBook Pro (2012 and later)
- MacBook Air (2012 and later)
- MacBook (2015 and later)
- iMac Pro (2017)
- iMac (2012 and later)
- Mac mini (2012 and later)
- Mac mini Server (Late 2012)
- Mac Pro (Late 2013)
Things to Know
Before you jump to the installation steps below, there are a few things that you must know. While Windows 10 runs just fine on a Mac, there are some compromises that you will have to make. Firstly, the battery life of your MacBook is going to go for a toss under Windows 10. There’s not much you can do here and this is a trade-off that you will have to learn to live with. Secondly, you will not be able to access the macOS partition while running Windows 10. And to copy/paste files from the Windows 10 partition in macOS, you will first have to install an NTFS driver on your Mac.
Third, most of the keyboard shortcuts that work under macOS will not work under Windows 10. This is because the Command key will simply not work under the latter, with the OS primarily making use of the Ctrl key. You can remap the Command key to Ctrl key from settings to keep your muscle memory from tripping.
How To Install Windows 10 Using Boot Camp on your Mac
Step 1: On your Mac, open the Boot Camp Assistant app. It is located inside the Utility folder in the Applications folder.
Step 2: Proceed to the next step where you will have to point Boot Camp to the Windows 10 ISO and also partition the existing hard drive on your Mac to free up space for Windows 10. Take your time and decide the partition size since you cannot expand/shrink the partition later on.
Step 3: Boot Camp will then proceed to download Windows support software. Depending on the speed of your internet connection, this can take anywhere between 5-10 minutes. Once downloaded, the installer will go ahead and partition the hard disk of your Mac and proceed forward with the installation process.
The Boot Camp Assistant will ask your admin password after which it will restart your MacBook and you will be greeted with the Windows 10 installer. Proceed to install Windows 10 like you would on any other PC. The steps are pretty straightforward and you are unlikely to face any issues. During the process, you will be asked to select the partition where you want to install Windows 10. Select the “Boot Camp” partition and format it as NTFS to continue with the installation.
Once you are done with the Windows 10 installation, set up the OS and then proceed to update it to download the relevant driver updates for the OS.
Once you go past the initial set up phase and reach the desktop, the Boot Camp installer will automatically start installing the necessary drivers for your Mac.
How to Boot Between macOS and Windows 10
Once you are done installing Windows 10 on your Mac, you would want to know how to alternatively boot into the two operating systems. To switch between the two OSes, you will have to restart your Mac. As soon as it restarts and you hear the chime or see the Apple logo, hold down the Option key. This will bring up the boot manager from where you select the macOS or the Windows 10 partition to boot into.
Remember that by default, your Mac will automatically boot into the last OS you had booted into. So, if you primarily use Windows 10, your Mac will automatically boot into Windows.
How to Remove Windows 10 from Your Mac
If you want to uninstall Windows 10 from your Mac, the steps are pretty straightforward. Simply boot into macOS, open Boot Camp Assistant, select the ‘Remove Windows 7 or later version’ option and click Continue. Finally, click Restore so that Windows 10 is removed from your Mac and the macOS partition is restored to its original size. Do make sure that you have backed up all your data stored in the Windows 10 partition as it would be completely erased.
If you end up facing any issues while installing Windows 10 on your Mac, drop a comment and we will help you out. And if you are able to install it successfully, let our readers know how the experience of using Windows on your Mac has been going for you.