I get this question far too often…

Dear Chris, I’m in the market for a new computer and I can’t seem to decide between Mac and Windows. I myself am gamer and I’m kinda leaning towards Windows because I know PC’s can run waaaaaaaayy more games than Mac can. I know that Mac can run other OS’s, although I heard a rumor that the emulator software used to do this somewhat limits the Mac’s hardware while running Windows. Is this True? If I were doing this, would these limitations effect higher-end games? Is there any other way to run Windows on a Mac that does not involve an emulator (or erasing OS 10 altogether)?

Let’s try to clarify a few things here, Edward – you’re not the only person who is beyond confused with a situation that’s only getting more confusing:

• Your computer needs two things to be functional: hardware and software.
• PC stands for “personal computer,” but has become interchangeable / synonymous with “Computer that comes with Microsoft Windows.”
• Microsoft licenses its operating system software (Windows) to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers, like Dell or HP). Microsoft has been doing this since the dawn of DOS. Microsoft doesn’t actually build computer hardware, and likely never will.
• Unlike Microsoft, Apple designs both the computer hardware and the software experience (operating system). They control the entire ecosystem.
• Apple doesn’t license its operating system software (OS X) to anybody, nor does it allow OEMs to build computers with OS X. You can only run OS X is on a Mac computer.
• Newer Macs can run Microsoft Windows natively, outside of OS X, thanks to Apple’s “Boot Camp” product and recent shift to Intel hardware. Boot Camp is NOT emulation software – it turns a Mac into a full-on “Windows computer.”
• Virtual machine software will let you run a full-blown installation of Windows on either Windows itself or OS X. This is how I fixed my problems in Windows Vista with VMware. While you can run virtual machines on OS X, you can’t run OS X inside a virtual machine.
• Emulation software is NOT virtual machine software. Emulation software merely imitates hardware in a software layer (so it can be EXTREMELY slow). Virtual machine software taps directly into your hardware (though performance varies from vendor to vendor, it’s largely faster than emulation software).
• You should be able to play your “Windows games” fine on a Mac, so long as you’ve installed Windows through Boot Camp. Playing “Windows games” through virtual machine software is going to be hit-or-miss.
• You can buy a Mac and never run OS X at all (as many of my friends have done, choosing instead to use it as a Vista machine).

Start thinking of Macs as PCs – because they pretty much already are, and then some.