Vista Experiences On A MacBook?

[benzslrpee]

hey all, my gf wants to get a MacBook to replace her aging Compaq laptop (thank God her taste in hardware is getting better ) but she wants to be able to run Vista on it as well. some of her Business courses have required software that is only compatible with XP/Vista...hence my question. did some searches here and couldn't really find many people that have posted anything related to that...found a lot of XP related ones though.

so is it do-able? or will it be rather taxing? i'm running Vista now on Bootcamp with MBP C2D 2.33ghz and 2 gigs of ram and the processor NEVER idles (for example in OSX the cpu hovers around 3% when i'm not doing anything) it's always spiking to 35% and drops down to 3% and so on...

any opinions or experiences good/bad is greatly appreciated.

[DoFoT9]

if u think about it.. a 2ghz MB is only 0.3GHZ elsser power than ur MBP.... its really not that much worser.the MB is a powerhouse!! it will easily run vista.

what i would also suggest is that if your gf's programs arent that taxing graphically she could run parallels. its the awsomesst program in the world for basic programs that arent 3D based.

[motulist]

Originally Posted by DoFoT9

a 2ghz MB is only 0.3GHZ elsser power than ur MBP.... its really not that much worser.the MB is a powerhouse!!

While the MB will probably run Vista just fine, what you wrote is extremely misleading. The 0.3 mhz difference is FAR from the only difference affecting the speed between a MB and a MBP. These 2 computers have different graphics cards, different logic boards, different system bus speeds, and lots more.

Please don't perpetuate the megahertz myth.

[DoFoT9]

Originally Posted by motulist

While the MB will probably run Vista just fine, what you wrote is extremely misleading. The 0.3 mhz difference is FAR from the only difference affecting speed between these 2 machines. These 2 computers have different graphics cards, different logic boards, different system bus speeds, and lots more.

Please don't perpetuate the megahertz myth.

all logical stuff aside, i was talking raw power. pointing out the obvious, there is only 0.3GHZ difference in RAW power... sure one has ded gpu, sure one has 800mhz speed bus instead of 667. but really what is the difference going to be to someone who is only using basic programs for uni... if it was 3D modelling or something, then i would argue a different side.

OP:what programs will be used anyway>?>?

[jf0517]

you can always turn off features in vista if the comp is having trouble. from my experiences i would say it should be fine, but if it has trouble just turn off things like the sidebar and aero. That will allow it to run faster and with the new features off it will just be like xp except newer and so forth. Also i would say memory is more of an issue than the processor, i have a pretty old comp that has an older pentium 4, but it runs vista fine with 1.5 gigs or ram. hope ive actually answered some of the question, lol.

[WannaGoMac]

Get VMware. Most agree it is turning out to be better than parallels...

[gnasher729]

Originally Posted by benzslrpee

hey all, my gf wants to get a MacBook to replace her aging Compaq laptop (thank God her taste in hardware is getting better ) but she wants to be able to run Vista on it as well. some of her Business courses have required software that is only compatible with XP/Vista...hence my question. did some searches here and couldn't really find many people that have posted anything related to that...found a lot of XP related ones though.

Do both of you a favour and install Windows XP, not Vista. So far everybody I know who installed Vista got rid of it. And are you sure her business courses are compatible with Vista? There are lots of compatibility problems everywhere.

Parallels is more practical IMO because you don't have to reboot to switch between MacOS X and XP; you can have both running at the same time. Just buy 2GB of memory (if you are handy with a screwdriver you can save some money by buying the RAM not from Apple).

[Zer0]

to OP. Vista is working great on my 2Ghz MB. Aero n all
I'm running on 2GB ram tho.

[Iamtherealwoody]

With a 2 gig c2d, 1 gig ram MB i got a 3.1 vista experience score. It ran fine, seemed smooth and quite, not hot. The only thing was my ram usage was pinned at 56%, never went lower than that, though I do only have 1 gig ram. My processor wasnt taxed at all. My MB runs Vista better than my friends $1400 HP Compaq, HAHAHAH.

Matt

[andrewt1187]

Idle RAM usage in Vista is high. However, it will allocate memory fairly well when it needs too.

Vista's thoughts = If you have RAM, you should use it!

[tigerphilosophy]

My son-in-law is to attend UCLA Anderson and they want all students to use Windows Vista!!! Help, we just bought him a new macbook pro so the Windows for Mac wont be sufficient for the college.


What software is needed?
Does the install work well?
Does the Vista install void or interfere with Apple care or aple protection plan?
Where can I get help (since often Apple support reps often say Microsoft is not their product hence, they cannot help me).

[DoFoT9]

download the latest bootcamp from apples site. get a 32-bit (64-bit if u reaaly want) version of vista in either home basic, home premium, ultimate, or business. bootcamp is the program tht will install vista onto the mbp. that is really all u need.

the install works PERFECTLY!!

no applecare is voided, as apple provides the program on their own site.

this apple site is fairly informative for absic info, not technical http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/