i have disks for XP and Vista and i just wanted to know what would be the best one for dual booting my 2011 macbook pro. i will only be using it to run office because i dont want to pay for the mac version and maybe a few other windows only programs. i dont want to take up too much of my hard drive so what one would take up the least amount of space? also what one would work better for me in the long term?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Dual boot XP or Vista?
- Thread starter parkm13
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
XP and Vista are not officially supported on mbp 2011:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4410
So you may want to invest in Windows 7.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4410
So you may want to invest in Windows 7.
XP feels slimmer but is end of lined, Vista will probably be a bit more future-proof.
I know you asked about dual booting, but if you're not going to do anything that really requires high performance you might want to consider installing XP in a virtual machine and runt Office without dual-booting. You can for example get VirtualBox for free and install Windows through that. A virtual machine will take up less space than assigning a partition for dual booting, and you can run XP/Vista that way even though Boot Camp isn't supported for them on your machine.
I know you asked about dual booting, but if you're not going to do anything that really requires high performance you might want to consider installing XP in a virtual machine and runt Office without dual-booting. You can for example get VirtualBox for free and install Windows through that. A virtual machine will take up less space than assigning a partition for dual booting, and you can run XP/Vista that way even though Boot Camp isn't supported for them on your machine.
heh.. Vista isn't future-proof. It's over. Windows 7 is fully supported by Bootcamp and recommended. It even works on older MBPs from 06.
While virtuals have gained momentum, I'd not recommend going that route. Just do bootcamp. It'll save you headaches in the long run and it'll run faster and be more compatible.
Also, Windows 7 actually runs faster than OSX on the same box. It's funny but true. I've tested cinebench and other render tests to come to that conclusion.
Ultimately it's up to you and what you need it for though. I just figured I'd give some more knowledgeable insight into dual-ing on a Mac.
I didn't call it future-proof, I called it probably a bit more future-proof than XP. It is more likely that new stuff someone may want to use is supported in Vista than in XP if it isn't supported by both.
Virtual machines work just fine for Office and many other applications of that caliber, saves you from having to reboot and takes up less space. In addition to that, a virtual machine won't give Windows complete access to the computer, so if you mess up it won't kill everything. It has some advantages and some disadvantages.
In this case it is also probably the only free way to accomplish the OP's task which is why I pointed out the option.
Not only what it is needed for, but also what one is prepared to pay. Not everyone can get 7 for free or even cheap.
Your "more knowledgeable insight" boils down to "Buy Windows 7!" and a rehash of my previous statement that virtualization isn't for stuff requiring high performance...
i will try that out. i didnt know i could do that for free. thanks for your help!