I have heard there is software that allows a mac to operate like a PC? Is this true and if so does that mean I can load regular pc programs? need to know!!

http://www.apple.com/ca/macosx/compatibility/

To run Windows along-side OS X, you can use something like ($$$) Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion. There is also VirtualBox (free), which it is not as feature-rich as the others.

Alternatively, you can use Apple's Bootcamp -- http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/ -- to dual-boot your Intel mac with Windows.

You can dual boot the system using Apples BootCamp that will split the disk into two partitions and allow you to install windows.

You can then boot the system and install windows as if it was a regular PC running Windows but you need to use the driver disk created by BootCamp to see the apple hardware.

Note that Apple uses EFI rather than BIOS as the hardware interface layer software so don't expect to see a PC bios.


Alternatively, you can leave the Mac untouched physically and then install software such as VMWare Fusion or Parallels in order to run Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, etc with a virtual machine full screen and close it down when you don't want to to use it.

Also, you can use the Unity feature (in VMWare, there is a similar function in parallels) to split the application windows off from the Windows shell (Explorer) and treat the windows apps as semi-native windows on the Mac.

Most Mac users (geeks that are experts (Linux/UNIX Engineers), not novices in computers but prefer Macs over Windows PCs) I talk to seem to favour the VMware method and see the only real reason for running the native hardware implementation is for games, etc but the perforamance of 3D and so forth seems fairly reasonable within VMWare.

If you could run Mac OS on a pc then it would be interesting...but unfortunately Apple insists that all the hardware they spec works.
Steve Jobs is right about it ....putting OS 10 on a pc would be like gilding a turd.
Of course what you are trying to do is the opposite, the lily will be brown in colour instead of gold!

If you could run Mac OS on a pc then it would be interesting...I suggest one Google or Bing the term "hackintosh". ;)

I've tried all three mentioned above, and my favourite has been VMware Fusion. With Win7, it's had some issues, but with WinXP, it was as good as any Thinkpad I've ever owned.

Yes you can run Windows on a Mac, I run Vista on my Mac Book Pro.

The most important thing to remember is that as soon as you start to run Windows, you will need Anti Virus and Anti Spyware as well, without it you are just asking for trouble.

I only run 1 program on Vista and it does not require the Internet, so I just ensure that there is no internet connection, no Virus's etc.....