Is there a downside to creating a windows partition on macbook pro? My gut says run away!

Instead of create a Boot Camp Partition for Windows, it is possible to run Windows in a virtual environment using software such as Parallels Desktop.

No real downside, other than it will take up space on your hard drive. Anything that happens on Windows is confined to Windows. It cannot affect the Mac side in any way.

With that said, what type of hardware are we talking about that is Windows only? I'm pretty sure Mac can setup any hardware you throw at it, unless its something extremely specific. That requires some very specific windows only drivers or software.

There is really no downside as long as you are careful with regards to virus/malware on the PC side. I run windows via Parallels and have no AV running as I only the websites and never browse the internet/receive emails – so there is very little change of anything getting through. So if you only us the PC when you need access to said hardware, and do all other internet related tasks via the mac side, you should be fine.

What are your concerns?

I've been running Boot Camped Windows for years without any incident. Computer runs well with either OSX or Windows booted.

I second Allan Eckert if you don't need to get 3d power from the video card to play 3d games then running windows in a virtual machine is much much less hassle,

these days more and more windows users really do the same when they just connect to a windows terminal server or citrix system that is just across the network so an added remote desktop to the mix

Try Virtualbox instead, its free. Though you will need a valid Windows License and installer from Microsoft.

I'm a little surprised apple recommend you use someone elses software instead of theirs. Not very comforting.

Otherwise the partition itself is media formatted to run Windows, it's as safe or as unsafe as windows but it's limited to that partition, so while a virus could erase the partition it will have no effect on your OS X partitions and Journaled format drives unless you use some 3rd party app to make them readable by Windows and the nature of the virus would one deleting ALL the connected media, otherwise it would not be able to infect Mac OS X.

Unless you are booting to windows you could be virtualizing Mac OS and Windows at the same time which splits up CPU, GPU, and RAM so on some systems you are just running everything slower, I prefer the Bootcamp and I have for years but its a personal choice, i work in 3D heavy 2D and games so virtualizing is like molasses uphill in the cold for that need. I've had no real problems with Bootcamp in a decade.

robertssm wrote:

I switched to macbook pro to get away from windows as much as possible; I have no idea why any business is still running windows. Unfortunately I have hardware that is "windows only"

Did you just answer your question? 😉

my gut says RUN and simply operate a second computer (cheap windows version) when I need to work with the hardware.

This is the better solution.