I Bought A Mac Book Pro - Please Don't Hurt Me

[mxleader]

So I was in the market for a new laptop and settled on a Macbook Pro 14 M1 chip because I do a lot of photography, video and I can now afford one. My question though is that I want to run two older PC games on my Mac: Thief 1,G &2 and MSTS. I've seen the new Flight Sim 2020 being ran on a Mac as well and I might give that a try too. I've seen some info on the webs about using Parallels to install the MS OS10 or 11 on the Macbook so you can run MS OS based games. Does anyone in here do this or know if Thief runs okay? I currently only have the DVD versions of the Thief series and MSTS but I run Thief using AngelLoader and FM Select, and also use Open Rails for MSTS. My old laptop is dying so I want to move all the olds stuff I still play over to the Mac but I'm not sure how easy that is or how well it'll work dual booting the Mac. Any opinions? Advice?

[David]

Dual booting an M1 Mac with the X64 version of Windows (the normal one) probably isn't going to happen - the CPU architectures are different. You can install Windows 11 using a VM, like Parallels, but performance will suffer.

In the past I used Porting Kit / Paul The Tall which is an app that has preconfigured wrappers for Wine for many apps and games. On an Intel Mac I used this app to run the GoG version of Thief Gold, Thief II and System Shock 2 with no issues, at great frame rates. While I haven't tried these on my M1 Macbook Pro, the website and forums linked above suggest it does also work on these macs too.

[heywood]

I'd try the Wine-based alternatives before VMs. If Porting Kit doesn't work, CrossOver has a good reputation but costs money. Parallels also costs money. Both have free trials.

Creating a Windows VM under Parallels installs the ARM version of Windows 11. It's not an officially supported Windows, but it has x86 emulation and most x86 Windows apps work. But x86 game compatibility is a crap shoot on Windows for ARM.

[rachel]

I'm gonna get a MBP 13 very soon, and I don't think I'll use the tower much after that. Since most of my games are on Steam, I'm thinking of getting a steam deck.

[Justice01]

Using a 2018 MBP with Win10 (free version) installed on an external 1TB HD. Boot windows using Bootcamp and all versions of thief (except 2014 which I haven't installed), the Dark Mod, and darkloader with FM's, run flawlessly. Funny thing is, Win 10 is still the same old, clunky, slow OS even running on a Mac. Boot time takes forever compared to MacOS!

[Child Of Karras]

Using a 2018 MBP with Win10 (free version) installed on an external 1TB HD. ... Funny thing is, Win 10 is still the same old, clunky, slow OS even running on a Mac. Boot time takes forever compared to MacOS!

Ever tried booting it from the internal drive? I have three Macs with both OSes and there's not much difference in booting tikes between Mac and Windows. However, whenever I boot a backup MacOS from an external drive it takes much longer. Also, is your external drive even an SSD or a classic HDD?

[ZylonBane]

Boot time takes forever compared to MacOS!

Not being able to comprehend why an OS would take longer to boot from an external drive is peak Mac user computer literacy.

[trefoilknot]

I want to run two older PC games on my Mac: Thief 1,G &2 and MSTS.... I'm not sure how easy that is or how well it'll work dual booting the Mac. Any opinions? Advice?

I have an M1 Max MBP, and I play Thief on it by using Parallels to boot Windows 11. Everything works perfectly except for one thing- you can't use the trackpad as a scroll wheel (e.g., to cycle through inventory). If you connect an external mouse, that scroll wheel will work. Otherwise, just use the keyboard for that. I think this is a bug with parallels, specifically. Crossover or another virtualizer might not have that specific issue; and parallels might fix it at some point.

But seriously, everything else works perfectly. There are a couple FMs where I've had performance issues when trying to play at max resolution, but at 1440p everything runs smoothly. Load times are quick too. Sometimes faster than my windows 11 desktop (probably owing to the crazy fast SSDs on the MBP).

[Justice01]

Ever tried booting it from the internal drive? I have three Macs with both OSes and there's not much difference in booting tikes between Mac and Windows. However, whenever I boot a backup MacOS from an external drive it takes much longer. Also, is your external drive even an SSD or a classic HDD?

No, using external drive as a cheap solution to save space on internal drive. Good to know, also it's a Seagate portable HDD. So you're saying if I installed say, macOS Monterrey, on the external drive I would get about the same boot performance?

[rachel]

Booting any OS from an external drive will always give you horrendous boot times. Win10 has its flaws but here you're creating the very situation you're complaining about.

[mxleader]

Thanks for the advise everyone. So when you dual boot would I be installing a real version of Windows? I read somewhere that when you use Parallels or Bootcamp or other programs that the MS OS isn't an actual MS OS.

[heywood]

Dual booting is only possible on x86 Macs. Boot Camp is basically a package of Windows drivers that makes it possible to run a fully supported version of Windows natively on Apple x86-based hardware. No such thing exists (yet) for Apple's ARM hardware. Parallels is virtualization software. You can run the ARM version of Windows 11 within MacOS in a Parallels virtual machine. Windows 11 for ARM includes a 64-bit x86 emulation layer that allows you to run existing Windows games. But Windows for ARM is not officially released or supported, and there will be a performance penalty from running games on an emulator within a virtual machine. A lot of people are trying it and most older games seem to run OK. But if gaming is the priority, it's probably better to get one of the last x86 models.

[rachel]

But if gaming is the priority, it's probably better to get one of the last x86 models.

Aaaand that's gone, with yesterday's update the mini is now 100% Apple silicon. The last Intel machine in the lineup is the Pro, and I don't think anyone would seriously consider it for home use let alone gaming.

As for me, after thinking it over I'll get a 14 and not a 13, but I'm still getting that steam deck at some point.

[mxleader]

I haven't installed anything to dual boot my mac yet and now I found out that I can remote into my windows laptop through my mac. Literally the only thing I would dual boot my mac is so I can play Thief.

[David]

As for me, after thinking it over I'll get a 14 and not a 13, but I'm still getting that steam deck at some point.

I've got a 14" M1 Pro - it's fantastic - you'll love it!

[Aja]

I've been going back and forth between a base model 14" MBP (2021) or a new base model M2 Air for music production. If I get a refurbished Pro, the difference is still about $550, which is significant right now. Granted it's a significant performance increase, but I'm not sure it's one I actually need.

My current laptop is a 2013 Pro, has 8GB of RAM and a dual-core processor. The CPU chokes easily with my music production workflow, but with the RAM to even put it into memory pressure requires opening way more browser tabs and Reaper projects than I ever actually would, and since the Apple silicon chips are so much more memory efficient, I feel like the 8 gigs in the Air would probably be enough. But then every reviewer is like: DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT THE FUTURE?? The bylines are always the same: Airs are good for email, web browsing, and light photo editing (they always use the word "light") but my 10-year-old laptop is fine for those things, so I can't see how the M2 Air wouldn't be a dramatic improvement at a relatively reasonable price. Once you start adding any upgrades, though, the price goes out the window, and it makes more sense to just get the model up (which is, infuriately, I'm sure exactly what Apple intended).