People's views on running Bootcamp & Bootcamp gaming.

domcole said:

1/ Are they just running the games via Windows on Bootcamp?

2/ Do you have to permanently set a bit of the hard drive for boot camp?

3/ Is Windows expensive to put onto the Macbook?

4/ What are people's views on running Bootcamp? I planned to get a Macbook to get away from Windows however, I know loads of people than run Windows XP/Vista on their Mac.

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1. Most of the games are running on window via bootcamp.

2. You create a new partition and install windows on it (you can change which OS boots up by pressing the option key when you boot up)

3. Windows costs as much as windows costs. So anywhere from 0$ for the less scrupulous or those attending an academic institution with a home licensing agreement, 90$ for vista home basic/xp sp3, 179 for vista ultimate etc.

4. As a primarily windows user making a first foray into the mac world. I find that I boot up into mac OS on my laptop almost all the time and boot to windows for gaming. I have most of the HD (220gb out of 320gb) partitioned for windows and 90GB for mac OS. This is because mac os can see and use the windows partition also (with some additional drivers) while the windows partition can only see itself. (I like having access to all my files in both OSes)

I hope that helps.

domcole said:

Hi all,

I'm getting my Macbook pretty soon and I was wondering about gaming. I've seen loads of videos on YouTube where people have been playing FarCry, Crysis, COD:4 etc.

I know Call Of Duty 4 is available on the Macbook but I'm not sure on the other games.

1/ Are they just running the games via Windows on Bootcamp?

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Yes, thru BootCamp, or some people use a virtual machine to also run the game; however, at a cost of performance.

2/ Do you have to permanently set a bit of the hard drive for boot camp?

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Not permanently, you set it aside for Windows, when you no longer need Windows Boot Camp reincorporates that partition back to the main partition.

3/ Is Windows expensive to put onto the Macbook?

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Windows itself is over priced, $160 is a good price, but start pricing at $250 is nuts for a bare basic version. Boot Camp is free as it comes with every new Mac. So your only expense ends up being Windows itself (unless you virtualize it, then you have to add the cost of virtualization software)

4/ What are people's views on running Bootcamp? I planned to get a Macbook to get away from Windows however, I know loads of people than run Windows XP/Vista on their Mac.

Any advice would be appreciated.
Dominic.

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Better than running parallels or Fusion. In Boot camp, Windows uses the full force of your hardware and you get better performance. Some people need Windows because of their work space, while others can do away with Windows forever.

For you, it will depend. If a school is hardcore Windows only, then you will need a Windows copy in your Mac, else you will be fine with OS X alone.

Other than, that nothing else to say.

domcole said:

Hi all,

I'm getting my Macbook pretty soon and I was wondering about gaming. I've seen loads of videos on YouTube where people have been playing FarCry, Crysis, COD:4 etc.

I know Call Of Duty 4 is available on the Macbook but I'm not sure on the other games.

1/ Are they just running the games via Windows on Bootcamp?

2/ Do you have to permanently set a bit of the hard drive for boot camp?

3/ Is Windows expensive to put onto the Macbook?

4/ What are people's views on running Bootcamp? I planned to get a Macbook to get away from Windows however, I know loads of people than run Windows XP/Vista on their Mac.

Any advice would be appreciated.
Dominic.

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Although already answered, here are my 2cents.

1) I only use bootcamp for gaming, for apps (SAS) I have VMWare 2

2) I have set up a partition for boot camp, since games use a lot of space, I ahve 80GB from my 250GB HDD set for it.

3) Windows costs the same as Windows for a PC. I am using Tiny Vista 64, which is a bare installation made for gaming w/o extra crap to slow down the system. Works awesome for me and my MB. For legal purposes you'll want a valid Windows License... it works fine, I have Steam w/ all the VALVe games, Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, etc running well.

4) My opinion is, windows owns for gaming, I don't WANT to boot into it all the time, but I have to. I have crossover games running Orange Box games fine which I prefer, but it's still not perfect, which Windows does for me, but I like having a HL2 open in OS X to play and do whatever else I need in it. But Left 4 Dead I have to boot into Windows to play and by using Windows I do not have ANY issues w/ hardware or software.. like my gaming mouse doesn't work in OSX but no issues in Windows.. so yeah windows is fine, don't hate it but prefer to run in OSX if I can.

BootCamp is nice for games. I would just recommend getting a big drive that way you can have decent sized partitions for both. The only time I boot up my Windows 7 partition is for games... Left 4 Dead is soooo good.

i found the apple keyboard for gaming as the ctrl button to be an awkward position thanks to the function key over where the windows ctrl key position would be. I would suggest a windows keyboard if you find it uncomfortable like me.


You shouldn't try and get away from windows. After getting macbook i learn to coexist in a world with both OS. Each OS has its own benefits depending on the applications. now for linux..

crazyxzer0 said:

i found the apple keyboard for gaming as the ctrl button to be an awkward position thanks to the function key over where the windows ctrl key position would be. I would suggest a windows keyboard if you find it uncomfortable like me.


You shouldn't try and get away from windows. After getting macbook i learn to coexist in a world with both OS. Each OS has its own benefits depending on the applications. now for linux..

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man so true, Ic annot crouch w/ ctrl anymore but my button mappings are different now, I use C to crouch now and right click to move forward

I use bootcamp manly to play CS (the few odd times) and use CAD software. The only thing that is missing in the equation is a way to use a bootcamp partition in fusion/parallels. There are times where using both os at once but having 3 operating system installs on a laptop is ridiculous... Well having 3 os installs if two are essentially the same.

paolo- said:

I use bootcamp manly to play CS (the few odd times) and use CAD software. The only thing that is missing in the equation is a way to use a bootcamp partition in fusion/parallels. There are times where using both os at once but having 3 operating system installs on a laptop is ridiculous... Well having 3 os installs if two are essentially the same.

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Fusion 2 lets you open BootCamp partitions

Be careful with Windows on a Boot Camp partition and booting it with an emulator. Most likely it will think the hardware it's running on changed and want to reactivate.

this may be a bit of a stupid question, but i want to install vista ultimate on my macbook but im struggling for hdd space so i dont really want to partition it. would it be possible to install vista on an external hard drive and save things like games on the external hard drive too?

cod games

just so you know vista and most call of duty is a no go area so maybe bootcamp xp that would be my advice
i only play world of warcraft on my mac and leave serious fragging to my ps3 this is the better option lol
best of luck

utrinque said:

just so you know vista and most call of duty is a no go area so maybe bootcamp xp that would be my advice
i only play world of warcraft on my mac and leave serious fragging to my ps3 this is the better option lol
best of luck

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Lol your mac probably has a better gfx card than your ps3 now...

CptBucky said:

Lol your mac probably has a better gfx card than your ps3 now...

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uh what