Can a Mac be a PC?

Prices of Mac's have drooped lately (also they have good student discounts), and knowing its superior quality I would like to get one. However, in my country nobody has Macs, so I would run fast into incompatibilities with my mates.
Anyway, my question for the experts is:
Can I have most of the HD of the Mac working with WinXP? Now, I know that's possible, but I wonder if a Mac would work with WinXP "as good" as any other PC. Or, may be Mac's "can run" WinXp, but they are not that good at it, as they are with MacOS (independently of how good is the software itself). In that case, it would be better to just get a very good PC.
Thanks a lot for the answers.

 

You can run Windows on a Mac a couple of ways.

1.) Bootcamp (installs natively, just like a PC)
2.) Parallels or other virtualization software.

I don't know what the point of getting a Mac to solely run Windows would be. =/

I'll move this into the Mac forums before I make too much of a fool of myself.

 

Thanks, the point is that with student discount I can get a Mac as cheap as a Dell. Now, Mac is way better quality than Dell (Hardware), but Dell runs WinXP. So I wonder if Mac will run XP as good as any other PC.

 

Depends on the models. I just ordered a macbook, however Dell has some great quality laptops that rival IBM's business line. There new latitude line is top notch in quality and in there ultra portable category have the M1210 12.1" laptop that has a metal case like an IBM, great quality, and has the option of a Nvidia 7400 video card which far out classes the 13" macbook from Apple.

Just saying

The main question you have to ask yourself is if you want a mac or a pc.

 

You can use a Mac to run XP primarily...but it's not the best idea, because it's not perfect. Pretty good, but not perfect.

If you do get a Mac, use OS X for everything unless you NEED to use Windows for something. You will be better off that way.

 

Yeah, I can't recommend getting a MB or MBP just to run windows.
But it's possible that you may find you enjoy using OS X more than windows. Happens to most people after they actually try OS X for more than a few minutes.
I'd go for a Sony, Dell Latitude, or Asus probably before I'd get a Mac to run solely windows.

 

The Dell Latitudes are of a very high quality as stated, but if you're looking 15.4", the Macbook Pro will have a better GPU as well as a better form factor. But don't worry about the build quality of a Latitude; it's now one of the best on the market. If you don't want OS X, you should look at something like them first. I however would look at the Macbook Pro anyways because OS X is a quite fantastic Operating System.

 

Same as some of the posters above, yes, Macs can run Windows XP (and later Vista) natively, but its final version is not released yet, its going to be found in Mac OS X Leopard (releasing anytime from March to June).

But if you're going to use Windows all day on your Mac, I don't think its worth the price you're paying for the Mac, which includes the Mac OS X operating system and the iLife suite...

As hollownail and notebook_ftw said, maybe you should try out Mac OS X first. If you don't like Mac OS X, and you're pretty sure you'll rarely run Mac OS X, then I see no purpose in buying a Mac to run Windows all day. There's lots of Windows laptops that have the design and build quality of Macs, like Asus laptops for example.

If you like Mac OS X, and you need to run Windows, then getting a Mac is right for you.

 

If I remember correctly, Bootcamp wouldn't allow me to use more than the half of my hard disk space(60GB, Total of 120GB) for Vista installation. I didn't mind because I am used to smaller hard disks. Could anybody confirm if this is the requirement of Bootcamp? Anyway, I think this is something you should take into the consideration. I hope this helps.

 

A Lenovo ThinkPad will offer the best build quality between the laptops being discussed. A T60 widescreen would be a nice choice if you're looking for a 15.4" laptop PC. I would only get a MAC if you're planning to primarily run OS X. Otherwise it's a waste of money. No brand has a better keyboard/trackpoint than a Lenovo ThinkPad. I personally can't even use a laptop without a trackpoint after getting used to one. Touchpads are mostly retarded and require more effort to do the same function as a trackpoint. The T60 widescreen also doesn't weigh much more than the MBP so it's very portable for a 15.4".

 

Thanks for the answers, I'll try to be more specific. So, unbelievably, the Mac I'm seeing has the final price of a Dell Inspiron. So I guess in this case, nobody will discuss that any Mac is way better than any Inspiron. And again, I'm certain that MacOS is better than Windows, but where I come from, really, nobody that I know has a Mac. So then, I can't get many of their files directly and I also can't use software that we might need to share (like company software).
So I might use MacOS for myself, but 80% of the time I'll have to run Windows.
So, on those conditions, should I get an Inspiron :-( or a Mac?
Thanks again.