macbook and bootcamp

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arr4ws

Supreme [H]ardness
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Im eyeing the possibility to buy a macbook for multiple purpose. Some requires me to have windows xp (sailing software , ERP program and such). I would love to explore the Mac OSX and have the ability to use it (im a newbie in osx... well virgin if i must say).

I would like to know if XP works well with a macbook pro . Any drivers problem?

thanks!
 
Even easier than Boot Camp, get VMware Fusion, and run Windows XP at the same time as OS X, without rebooting.
 
i will google that , but any drivers problem? like can i use the ethernet with this under windows?
 
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VM Ware works great with xp. I downloaded a 30 day trial before buying it at a B&M.
 
parallels seems like a great option too and seems better integrated from some movie i saw on youtube .
 
Virtual machine software works great because it uses a combination of your macbook drivers for trackpad ect and windows drivers so that it integrates better. Xp also works very well with bootcamp though. VM ware fusion is my choice for VM software but I also hear good things about parallels.
 
The latest version of Boot Camp removed Windows XP support. If you want to use Boot Camp, you’ll need Windows Vista or 7. 7 preferred, of course.

You could always virtualize XP through Parallels, Fusion, or VirtualBox, but you take a performance hit alongside.
 
Depending on what you need to run, virtual is a good route to go. I run VMWare Fusion (nice education discount) on my MacBook Pro. It's not fast with 4GB RAM but it's definitely fine for me, I do things like testing and school work. It's nice to be able to test different things like tossing on Ubuntu to play around with. I like using Apple's Spaces feature to keep windows on different screens although VMWare (and I think Parallels?) have a feature where it peels off the program window from your Windows system and let's you use it on the Mac desktop like it's a regular program. You can even access the Start menu from the Apple application bar.

I'm in school for IT, I use VMWare for my server administration classes. (Windows and Linux) I run Server 2008 and then XP and 7 as clients simultaneously.
 
If you use your Macbook off the charger most of the time then installing Windows 7 via bootcamp is the way to go. Running Windows via a VM session in OSX uses more of the laptops resources which really affects your battery life.
 
so , basically running bootcamp is just a matter of choosing the OS to boot when i start the laptop?

ive tried checking videos of bootcamp , but most of them are not complete enough
 
arr4ws said:
so , basically running bootcamp is just a matter of choosing the OS to boot when i start the laptop?

ive tried checking videos of bootcamp , but most of them are not complete enough
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Correct. When you turn on the laptop just hold down the "option" key and you'll get to choose which OS you want to boot into. If you're already in OS X you can go into "system preferences" then "startup disk" and reboot into Windows 7. I have Windows 7 installed via boot camp on my Macbook Air and it literally takes under 20 seconds to switch between OSes (SSD has something to do with that thought).
 
StryderxX said:
Correct. When you turn on the laptop just hold down the "option" key and you'll get to choose which OS you want to boot into. If you're already in OS X you can go into "system preferences" then "startup disk" and reboot into Windows 7. I have Windows 7 installed via boot camp on my Macbook Air and it literally takes under 20 seconds to switch between OSes (SSD has something to do with that thought).
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I heard bad thing about battery life and such under Windows... what is your take on this?
 
I agree, I've also heard battery life is very poor when in Windows through Boot Camp.

When I run my VM systems my battery life goes from eight hours to four hours for a fully charged battery. A 50% drop sure but I still get four hours.
 
arr4ws said:
I heard bad thing about battery life and such under Windows... what is your take on this?
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Apple builds their hardware specifically for OS X so you won't get the best battery life while working within Windows 7. If you setup the power profile correctly you should be OK but you won't get the same results that you do in OS X. If running Windows is really critical to your daily work flow a Macbook might not be the best option.
 
StryderxX said:
Apple builds their hardware specifically for OS X so you won't get the best battery life while working within Windows 7. If you setup the power profile correctly you should be OK but you won't get the same results that you do in OS X. If running Windows is really critical to your daily work flow a Macbook might not be the best option.
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i want the hardware of a macbook ( the Hp envy wont cut it ... owned one an returned it), and the possibility to explore the OS X for the first time.

The uses of windows would be for my gps application from raymarine. Wich only support (gasp) windows XP (seriously...)
 
You can actually use bootcamp + virtual machines at the same time. It's pretty nifty.

With bootcamp, I can easily boot to a windows partition. Great.

With Parallels, I can mount my boot camp partition within OS X and use windows apps at the same time as mac apps. No real driver problems this way. It's seamless. The only gotcha is that you have to activate Windows twice (once for the bootable partition, and once for the VM), but after that it's clear sailing.
 
arr4ws said:
i want the hardware of a macbook ( the Hp envy wont cut it ... owned one an returned it), and the possibility to explore the OS X for the first time.

The uses of windows would be for my gps application from raymarine. Wich only support (gasp) windows XP (seriously...)
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Sounds like my story. I'm a PC user from way back (Radio Shack Tandy 2000 style :eek: ) but started to get interested with Apple computers once they launched OS X. My first Macbook purchase was back in 06 when Apple started using Intel processors. To tell you the truth the minute I started using OS X I found it to be a fresh and robust alternative to Windows. It was everything I always wanted from Linux but could never get since builds like Ubuntu while good still felt sloppy and broken in places. You seem to only want to dual boot for a small about of Windows XP applications so the best possible advice is for you to use something like VMWare Fusion. The newest version even supports limited hardware acceleration. Parallels 6 is another option but I feel that VMWare Fusion works best with Windows XP (just my personal opinion). Dual booting (via Boot Camp) should really only be used if you're going to play PC centric games and need the full power of the Macbooks hardware. If you have no plans on doing that then I suggest you virtualize a session of Windows XP inside OS X. Yes it'll beat up your battery life but once you're done with whatever XP app you're using just Command Q (quit) out of the VM and you're back to good old OS X in seconds. I hope this helps you make your decision.
 
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arr4ws said:
thanks for all the input stryder!

i appreciate.
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You're welcome. Come back here once you get the Macbook and let us know your impressions. I'm going to guess that the minute you open that box everything's going to change for you! ;)
 
Zinn said:
You can actually use bootcamp + virtual machines at the same time. It's pretty nifty.

With bootcamp, I can easily boot to a windows partition. Great.

With Parallels, I can mount my boot camp partition within OS X and use windows apps at the same time as mac apps. No real driver problems this way. It's seamless. The only gotcha is that you have to activate Windows twice (once for the bootable partition, and once for the VM), but after that it's clear sailing.
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VMware Fusion can do that too.

Boot Camp does have its benefits though. When you use it, you are letting Windows have access to all the computer's resources. For some applications, this is essential.
 
StryderxX said:
You're welcome. Come back here once you get the Macbook and let us know your impressions. I'm going to guess that the minute you open that box everything's going to change for you! ;)
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im seriously tempted right now. Im going to an apple store this morning to pick up an ipad for my mother . I will go check to MBP and ask some questions.
 
just got back from the apple store. Im pretty convinced about the MBP. I will buy the i5 edition with 4gig of ram , but will eventually upgrade the ram to 8gig.
 
i just bought the 2nd gen i7 quad core 15 inch MBP last night, was double the price i coulda got a pc laptop with the same specs for, but holy shit, the build quality is soooo nice and very sleek. Was worth every penny to me.
 
i wanted to buy the 13inch i5 , but its integrated graphics.

pretty weird for a 1200$ laptop.

im reading bench and test right now.
 
arr4ws said:
anyone got good source for bench of the mbp13'' i5?
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I have a 13" i5 and would be happy to bench it for you but I dont know of any programs better than Xbench? Some one know of a good free one so that I could run one for him?
 
thurstmw said:
I have a 13" i5 and would be happy to bench it for you but I dont know of any programs better than Xbench? Some one know of a good free one so that I could run one for him?
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Can you try playing minecraft and see how it goes? and i read many bench , and they used geekbench.
 
thurstmw said:
I have a 13" i5 and would be happy to bench it for you but I dont know of any programs better than Xbench? Some one know of a good free one so that I could run one for him?
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Hi! Could you let us know how the battery life is, under whatever scenario you prefer, for Windows via Bootcamp? Thanks a bunch! :)
 
arr4ws said:
Can you try playing minecraft and see how it goes? and i read many bench , and they used geekbench.
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Here are my results from geek bench.

Im not really a gamer so... yea. But minecraft looked pretty simple I think it would run fine...
 
rflcptr said:
Hi! Could you let us know how the battery life is, under whatever scenario you prefer, for Windows via Bootcamp? Thanks a bunch! :)
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Sorry I dont have my machine bootcamped right now and doing it would be a hassle since I dont have a cd drive... Other wise I would.
 
thurstmw said:
Sorry I dont have my machine bootcamped right now and doing it would be a hassle since I dont have a cd drive... Other wise I would.
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Ah, no problem. :) Did your MBP's optical drive fail? If so, sorry for the bad luck.
 
I know with VMware Fusion that if you install Win with Boot Camp that Fusion can access that partition. Played with that a bit on my GFs Macbook although she never uses it since all she does is look up webpages. Well, at least I was proud I got that working :)
 
It's very easy to run with Windows XP in bootcamp. I say don't use virtualization software though, because you lose quite a bit of performance doing that. You also have the issues with the actual Virtualization application if it crashes or etc. Boot camp allows you to overclock your GPU as well if you have a dedicated video card.
 
StryderxX said:
Sounds like my story. I'm a PC user from way back (Radio Shack Tandy 2000 style :eek: ) but started to get interested with Apple computers once they launched OS X. My first Macbook purchase was back in 06 when Apple started using Intel processors. To tell you the truth the minute I started using OS X I found it to be a fresh and robust alternative to Windows. It was everything I always wanted from Linux but could never get since builds like Ubuntu while good still felt sloppy and broken in places. You seem to only want to dual boot for a small about of Windows XP applications so the best possible advice is for you to use something like VMWare Fusion. The newest version even supports limited hardware acceleration. Parallels 6 is another option but I feel that VMWare Fusion works best with Windows XP (just my personal opinion). Dual booting (via Boot Camp) should really only be used if you're going to play PC centric games and need the full power of the Macbooks hardware. If you have no plans on doing that then I suggest you virtualize a session of Windows XP inside OS X. Yes it'll beat up your battery life but once you're done with whatever XP app you're using just Command Q (quit) out of the VM and you're back to good old OS X in seconds. I hope this helps you make your decision.
Click to expand...

Sounds exactly like my story. I can't wait until tomorrow when it finally arrives. Speaking of which, I need to shop for an 8GB upgrade kit now.
 
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