Is there any way to play PC games on Mac computers?

PowerPC (PPC) Macs

If you own a PowerPC-based Mac (G3, G4, or G5 processor), the only option available for running Windows is VirtualPC, which was last published by Microsoft (since discontinued). VirtualPC and a copy of Windows are required in order to install and run Windows on a PPC Mac. VirtualPC is emulation software, which means that it recreates the 'hardware' for the 'PC' using software, which is a significant drain on system resources. Count on Windows in VirtualPC to run at about 20%-30% of the native system's speed (for example, a VirtualPC Windows installation on a 1GHz G4 would run at about 200MHz - 300MHz).

Intel-based Macs

It is possible to install Windows on an Intel-based Mac without an emulator using Boot Camp, which until recently was a Public Beta from Apple, and is built in to the newest version of Mac OS X (version 10.5, code name 'Leopard'). Boot Camp allows you to restart into either Mac or Windows.

There are two current virtualization solutions for Intel-based Macs, as well. Virtualization differs from emulation in that virtualization is more of a 'translation' layer, rather than a full software implementation, and as such, virtualization is much more robust than emulation, running at about 90% of the native hardware speed (for example, a 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo Mac will run Windows in virtualization at about 1.8GHz). The current virtualization titles for Intel-based Macs are Parallels Desktop for Mac and VMWare Fusion, both of which cost around $80US each. In addition to the virtualization software, you'll also need a valid, licensed copy of Windows XP or Vista (note that all but the most expensive version of Vista prohibits installation in a virtual machine).

Parallels Desktop for Mac enables you to run Windows side by side with Mac OS X on any Intel-powered Mac. This makes it possible to run Mac OS X and your favorite Windows applications at the same time. You can even drag and drop files between desktops. For more details goto: http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/

A new, experimental method of using games and other Windows applications on Intel Macs is offered by CodeWeavers. The software is called CrossOver Mac.

Boot Camp is included with Mac OS X 10.5 'Leopard,' and was previously available as a Public Beta from Apple. Parallels Desktop, VMWare Fusion, and CrossOver Mac free trial versions from their respective websites.

Note that no virtualization solution will work on PPC-based Macs. To find out if your Mac is PPC or Intel, click on the Apple menu in the upper left hand corner of your Mac's display, and click "About this Mac."

Answer

Or you can do what I did: buy a Windows box for games, and reserve my Mac for work. Use a USB KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) switch so you only need one set of each of those.

This has one HUGE advantage over running Windows games on the Mac: one of the categories of software that is far more available on Windows than Macs is malware--viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, adware, that kind of thing. If you pick up a piece of Windows malware on your PC-emulating Mac, and it's the kind of program that destroys data, it's not going to stop after it trashed all the Windows data. But if you have a PC for games and just play games on it, a virus can come in, wipe out your whole Windows box, and not harm your business activities any.

First answer by ID1206084198. Last edit by Jmowreader. Contributor trust: 95 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 52 [recommend question]