Windows on Mac

dudewth

[H]|G Minecraft Division Leader
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Jul 13, 2002
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I know this will sound stupid and everyone will hate me...but is it possible to just install Windows XP on a Macbook Pro 13" and not have OSX at all? I know that I can get a similarly spec'd laptop for less and that the drivers aren't perfect in windows but I'm just curious.
 
Yes, but the windows drivers for the mac hardware, while good, aren't something I'd want to use all day,
 
Id just get parallels or fusion
Its way easier, and better
 
short answer - yes

depending on what you are wanting to do, also worth while to check out crossover. I find it to be faster than parallels or fusion, but it only works with certain programs.

Also know that all new macs come with boot camp pre-installed and it is super easy to dual boot on the machine.
 
What drives me nuts is that Bootcamp is faster (of course), but that Parallels has better drivers for the trackpad (like two-finger tap and two-finger scroll). In Bootcamp I have to tap/hold and press the trackpad to double-click. PITA.
 
Yeah, the bootcamp trackpad drivers from a few revisions ago, downloadable from the Apple site as a bootcamp update, worked much better for me than the ones provided on the leopard dvd.

Of course YMMV depending on how you like to work with it.

You'd be much better off, with a laptop company that supports the hardware in windows exclusively or at least very well, Apple has done a good job for that 'once in a while windows program' but it's not daily-usage friendly, trackpad drivers aren't quite there, they include an archaic video driver, and while you can upgrade that particular driver, it'd be quite a pain to keep up with the rest of the systems drivers, as many of them are mac specific, or at least, two of the most important, keyboard and trackpad, are.
 
I'm probably going to wait for a better windows laptop to come out. I just like the size and capabilities of the macbook pro 13" and there really aren't many laptops that can compete in terms of the features that I like.

I know a few things more along the lines of an air but with removable battery are coming in a few months so I might just wait for those. I really don't need a built in dvd drive. I'm going to buy a netbook to hold me over until then.

Thanks all.
 
What exactly is it about the MacBook that you like so much?

The only thing that makes it a Mac is the software. Of course you don't care that it's a Mac, you just care about it's hardware, is there no other manufacturer that packages these together?

-Intel Core 2 Duo
-nVidia 9400M/MCP79
-DDR3

The display, burner, keyboard and such are different among all manufacturers, but LED backlit displays and backlit keyboards are making their way into other makes and models (Apple certainly wasn't the first with LED displays, but has always used backlit keyboards on the Pro designated models).

And here is something totally off topic, but I really dislike that Apple has gone and called the 13" model a 'Pro', the 'Pro' has always meant a discreet graphics solution and generally better or at least upgraded components, which was also paired with a bigger, higher resolution screen.

Now what makes it 'Pro' is the enclosure alone, oh, and purchase date. The only *real* difference between the previous unibody MacBook and the current 13" MacBook 'Pro' is the SD card slot, and the lack of a seperate audio input on the newer model, otherwise, besides a minor CPU speed bump and the new battery, it's the same machine as before.
 
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