Will Vista ruin my mac? [Archive]

StrokeMidnight

Jun 22, 2007, 09:38 PM

Hey, I just joined this forum and would like to ask a few questions about Vista on Macs.

Today I decided that I would get Vista on my Mac so I could play a few games, but couldn't I get viruses and problems with Windows effect OSX? For example, on XP, there has been a problem where this program takes up 100% of memory room and decreases speed drastically. That wasn't even a virus, so could something like that happen and decrease the speed of the Mac portion also? And what about viruses? I was going to use the Windows part strictly for games and some programs that aren't on Macs. So would that mean that I wouldn't get any viruses since I'm not browsing the web?

Also, if I did get Vista, which version would be the best for games, and does it really make a difference? I'm planning to get Home Premium. Will that be good?

Sorry for all the questions! And thanks in advance!

ravenvii

Jun 22, 2007, 09:57 PM

Home Premium is really the best you ought to get. Ultimate is way overpriced, and Home Basic is way too crippled.

What happens in Vista stays in Vista. It will not affect your OS X partition. If Vista crashes and burns, you can erase and reinstall on that partition without touching your OS X installation at all.

So happy Boot Camping!

flopticalcube

Jun 22, 2007, 10:04 PM

The only time Vista could affect your OSX experience is if you are running in a virtualised environment like Parallels or VMware Fusion. If you want to do that, you won't be able to use Vista Home as the license specifically excludes virtual environments. If you stick to bootcamped Vista, any version should be OK for games.

amd4me

Jun 22, 2007, 10:08 PM

if I were you I would skip vista.

66217

Jun 22, 2007, 10:13 PM

if I were you I would skip vista.

Yeah, only 5 years for the next update.:D You can certainly wait for it to come.

Seriously, get XP. More stable, and for me quite more easy to understand.

StrokeMidnight

Jun 22, 2007, 10:19 PM

Yeah, only 5 years for the next update.:D You can certainly wait for it to come.

Seriously, get XP. More stable, and for me quite more easy to understand.

Yeah, but when more games come out in the future for Vista I'll have to upgrade. So if Vista crashes and I can't start up Vista I will still be able to start up the Mac?

StrokeMidnight

Jun 22, 2007, 10:24 PM

Oh yeah, and what would be a good amount of space for Windows and say..five games?

66217

Jun 23, 2007, 01:39 AM

So if Vista crashes and I can't start up Vista I will still be able to start up the Mac?

Yes.:)

Oh yeah, and what would be a good amount of space for Windows and say..five games?

I have a MB with 120GB HD, and I gave Windows 40GB. I have about 3-4 games installed and all my music there. So if you have a big HD, I think 40GB would be enough.

nichos

Jun 23, 2007, 01:55 AM

if I were you I would skip vista.

Another vote for XP - i was using vista on my office machine, i had to go back to XP. The vista experience was nothing but slow - and I wasn't even using aero.

Bern

Jun 23, 2007, 04:51 AM

I have Vista Home Premium on my MBP using Bootcamp and it runs really well. I have all the bells and whistles operating and have experienced no issues at all with it. In fact it feels snappier and more responsive than XP Pro did.

Osarkon

Jun 23, 2007, 05:33 AM

Vista doesn't ruin Macs. People using Vista ruins Macs ;)

StrokeMidnight

Jun 23, 2007, 08:31 AM

Yes.:)

I have a MB with 120GB HD, and I gave Windows 40GB. I have about 3-4 games installed and all my music there. So if you have a big HD, I think 40GB would be enough.

I have a 250 GB hard drive, but I only have 77 GB left. I'm gonna clean that up in the next few days though (there are a lot of old useless downloads on it). Do you think an external hard drive might be a good thing to get?

StrokeMidnight

Jun 23, 2007, 08:33 AM

Vista doesn't ruin Macs. People using Vista ruins Macs ;)

In what way?

And also, to the person who said vista runs to slow, do you think that these specs will make it run fast?

Machine Name: iMac
Machine Model: iMac4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed: 1.83 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per processor): 2 MB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: IM41.0039.B00

Chipset Model: ATY,RadeonX1600
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
VRAM (Total): 128 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x71c5
Revision ID: 0x0000
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.063

StrokeMidnight

Jun 23, 2007, 08:39 AM

Ugh. I forgot one more. Vista will be able to play games that came out on XP right?

StrokeMidnight

Jun 23, 2007, 08:49 AM

Just one more question. I'm using wireless airport to connect to the internet. Will I have a problem getting on the internet from the windows side since airport isn't supported?

seanf

Jun 23, 2007, 09:49 AM

Home Premium is really the best you ought to get. Ultimate is way overpriced, and Home Basic is way too crippled.An OEM version of Ultimate is the sweet spot, giving you all the features for less than the cost of the retail Home Premium version.

Sean :)

gkarris

Jun 23, 2007, 11:06 AM

Vista doesn't ruin Macs. People using Vista ruins Macs ;)

Actually, Vista doesn't ruin Macs -it ruins lives...

66217

Jun 23, 2007, 11:09 AM

Ugh. I forgot one more. Vista will be able to play games that came out on XP right?

Yes. Most of them should work.;)

StrokeMidnight

Jun 23, 2007, 02:55 PM

Ok so today I went to Circuit City and tried to pickup XP Home Edition. They didn't have it so and they offered me Vista. Would getting Vista really be a mistake? Wouldn't it be fine just for games?

amd4me

Jun 23, 2007, 05:06 PM

Ok so today I went to Circuit City and tried to pickup XP Home Edition. They didn't have it so and they offered me Vista. Would getting Vista really be a mistake? Wouldn't it be fine just for games?
It is a resource hog and it errors and crashes all the time. GET XP!

synth3tik

Jun 23, 2007, 05:08 PM

It will but referencing a conversation I had not even 30 seconds ago it's pointless.

SDAVE

Jun 23, 2007, 11:15 PM

Vista's not bad at all...by Service Pack 1 or 2 it should be at the same level as XP.

For "business" use, stick to XP SP2 with all the latest patches and use FireFox2 instead of IE7. You'll do fine.

StrokeMidnight

Jun 24, 2007, 10:02 AM

SDAVE

Jun 25, 2007, 03:26 AM

Ok, I finally got Vista because I went to a store and they really convinced me. They spent 30 minutes going on the web and checking out all the problems I've been worried about. But, then I found something that said when you install Vista you wipe out OS X, and that an Apple employee said that Vista won't run. Is any of this true?

No, they're just stupid. Use Bootcamp to have both OSX and Vista...all you do is hold down ALT right after your computer starts, and you pick which OS you want to boot into from the list.

Killyp

Jun 25, 2007, 07:01 AM

Technically it should work, although I think you'll get sick of it fairly quickly (like I did) and you'll end up with a partitioned drive (like I did) which you'll have to then completely wipe to get rid of the partition.

reflex

Jun 25, 2007, 07:07 AM

It is a resource hog and it errors and crashes all the time. GET XP!

The resource hog part is correct. But I've been running it for about 7 months now (on a MBP) and I haven't experienced those errors and crashes. Especially with BootCamp 1.2 and newer, since there are now Vista-specific drivers.

reflex

Jun 25, 2007, 07:08 AM

and you'll end up with a partitioned drive (like I did) which you'll have to then completely wipe to get rid of the partition.

Bootcamp can restore the hd to one partition.

Maui

Jun 25, 2007, 10:37 AM

Ok, I finally got Vista because I went to a store and they really convinced me. They spent 30 minutes going on the web and checking out all the problems I've been worried about.

I'm shocked they didn't try to sell you something they no longer sell -- XP. ;)

There are endless XP vs. Vista threads and reviews and blog entries. A lot of people prefer XP, because it is more "mature" -- meaning it has been around longer so MS has had more time to find and fix its problems, compared to Vista. And, the activation/privacy "features" in Vista really irk a lot of people.

SP1 for Vista is coming in the 2H of 2007. That will help to catch it up to XP in maturity, and by SP2 (late 2008?) it will probably pass XP, in terms of maturity.

Vista will run your XP games just fine, even if you have to use the compatibility mode here and there.

So, load up the Vista you bought and have fun. For most users, it really doesn't make a huge difference whether you use XP or Vista.

amd4me

Jun 26, 2007, 10:07 PM

DarthTreydor

Jun 26, 2007, 10:47 PM

ivnds

Jun 26, 2007, 11:13 PM

i have a boot camp question:

can you access files on the partition you aren't using? for example, could you have your music be on your osx partition but still be able to play it while running vista/xp?

As far as i know, you will have to use an app like Macdrive (http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive6/) to be able to see your files. The other way around is far easier, since the windows partition will appear on finder.

Wells

Jun 28, 2007, 10:52 AM

Does anybody know if Vista runs games any slower than XP? That's just something I've heard.

Kia

Jun 30, 2007, 09:44 PM

And also, to the person who said vista runs to slow, do you think that these specs will make it run fast?

Processor Name: Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed: 1.83 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per processor): 2 MB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz

Chipset Model: ATY,RadeonX1600
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
VRAM (Total): 128 MB

I've used a number of PCs with similar specs runnig Vista and XP, and I'd say there is no comparison. XP is lightning speen against Vista. Also due to the huge change in OS structure, most of the old hardware drivers no longer work and many manufacturers still haven't developed a new driver for Vista. That may not be such a problem for Macs.

But vista will run just OK on those specs. I'd say 2Gb ram is really minimum for comfortable use.

Kia

Tallest Skil

Jun 30, 2007, 10:27 PM

One gig of RAM, 10 GB of space, Vista Ultimate: runs fine on my iMac. None of this "40 GB recommended" crap. I use it for MapleStory and Half Life 1&2 (summarily, games :D) Only problem... um... one time I had to reinstall because it would restart my iMac as soon as I logged into Ultimate, but other than that it works well*.

*the usage of the word 'well' here refers, of course, to the constant state of near-usability that all Microsoft products fail to achieve.

ivnds

Jun 30, 2007, 10:49 PM

Does anybody know if Vista runs games any slower than XP? That's just something I've heard.

Just running vista will make your system slower, since it demands much more than XP, so if your system is not super new or fast, you might notice a difference. turning of aero while you play will help some.