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Resale Value Of MBP With Partition

Pukey

Pukey

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 7, 2008
424
1
Gekkostate
I did some searching, but wasn't able to find exactly what I was looking for so...
I just ordered a MBP with the stock 250GB HDD. I will keep this computer for at least a year or two (we'll see what Nehalem is like). I'm planning on partitioning 50GB for XP in Bootcamp. I understand that the partition will be a physical change to the drive which cannot be undone. In light of this has anyone sold their MBP with a partition? Is the resale value as good as without a partition? I assume it may not be as most people would probably prefer a drive that is not partitioned. I may consider partitioning a bit less space for the XP side if that would make the resale value any better. Also, I can use an OEM copy of XP for the Bootcamp install correct?
Thanks.
 
What they said.

And the OEM issue has been discussed at length in the windows on mac sub forum. General answer is, yes, it will probably work, but its not strictly legal and may not. Give it a go and see :)
 
Thanks everyone for your answers and such quick responses. I guess I had the wrong idea about partitioning. Thanks for clearing that up. Also, I plan on buying the XP OEM at a local computer store as they sale them for about $95 which is much cheaper than Amazon's $191, but I suppose there must be a difference between the two?
 
Pukey said:
Thanks everyone for your answers and such quick responses. I guess I had the wrong idea about partitioning. Thanks for clearing that up. Also, I plan on buying the XP OEM at a local computer store as they sale them for about $95 which is much cheaper than Amazon's $191, but I suppose there must be a difference between the two?
Click to expand...

OEMs cannot be transfered from one computer to another like the retail version can. You also don't get all the manuals and stuff or a box. You just get the CD in a sleeve. The software is the same though.
 
I don't know where you got your information, but it is very wrong. Partitioning is not a physical unchangeable act. You can re-partition and format as you wish. If you go to sell it later on, you can restore the computer to its original condition with all of the hard drive space allocated for OS X.
 
If I found out my mac ever had windows installed on it I would knock off $200 from the asking price. You never know what germs windows carries.


I'm actually totally kidding, all of this is funnier in my own head. :)
 
matperk said:
OEMs cannot be transfered from one computer to another like the retail version can. You also don't get all the manuals and stuff or a box. You just get the CD in a sleeve. The software is the same though.
Click to expand...

Thanks matperk. This is what I needed to know. If I can install the retail version on multiple computers, I might just go with that so that when I sell my MBP I can install XP again on the next computer if I need to. I'm certainly not using VISTA.
Also I apologize everyone about the duplicate thread, that was an accident. I've already notified the folks at MacRumors about it.
 
Pukey said:
Thanks matperk. This is what I needed to know. If I can install the retail version on multiple computers, I might just go with that so that when I sell my MBP I can install XP again on the next computer if I need to. I'm certainly not using VISTA.
Also I apologize everyone about the duplicate thread, that was an accident. I've already notified the folks at MacRumors about it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you just can't install on multiple machines at the same time. The retail version allows you to transfer your license from one machine to another, provided it's not installed on the original machine. For example, with the retail version, you would be allowed to transfer your XP install from an old MacBook Pro to a new one, where the OEM version would not allow this.

I have heard rumors that some people have installed on multiple machines at the same time, but I have not tested it.
 
Partition is temporary. It's like dividers in a filing cabinet--can be moved at will.

As with resizing the partition, if you format the boot camp partition as NTFS, you will not be able resize it in disk utility, only delete and remake (and lose everything). Also OS X can't write to NTFS (only read) by default.
 
alphaod said:
Partition is temporary. It's like dividers in a filing cabinet--can be moved at will.

As with resizing the partition, if you format the boot camp partition as NTFS, you will not be able resize it in disk utility, only delete and remake (and lose everything). Also OS X can't write to NTFS (only read) by default.
Click to expand...

Thanks alphaod. This is helpful. As my Mac hasn't arrived, I'm not aware of the partitioning/formatting process. I've heard of FAT, recently HFS+ and now NTFS. Are there other options too? What do most people tend to use for a Windows partition in Bootcamp (and Fusion which I may also get)?
 
Pukey said:
Thanks alphaod. This is helpful. As my Mac hasn't arrived, I'm not aware of the partitioning/formatting process. I've heard of FAT, recently HFS+ and now NTFS. Are there other options too? What do most people tend to use for a Windows partition in Bootcamp (and Fusion which I may also get)?
Click to expand...

There are many format methods; the only ones you will probably use are HFS+ (the one that OS X uses), NTFS (Windows NT File System), FAT32.

Windows cannot read or write to HFS+, but can read and write to NTFS and FAT32. OS X cannot write (but can read) NTFS, but can read and write to HFS+ and FAT32.

For this reason, when you start boot camp and partition the Windows partition it will be formatted as FAT32. This allow boot camp to read and write to it and resize it. However it does not suppose file sizes greater than 4GB. There it is recommended when you install Windows, you format it as NTFS. However once you do this, you cannot write to it in OS X (meaning you can't just drag files into Windows from your OS X.

Finally if you are planning to run VMWare, I would recommend installing Windows into boot camp and then run it in VMWare Fusion. That way you can both run it in Fusion and boot into it separately.

Here is how to use boot camp:
http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/
 
Also if you ever plan to sell you computer, you should delete all your personal data, then go to Application --> Disk Utility --> Erase --> Erase free space.

That way people can't recover your "deleted" stuff.
 
Thanks alphaod! This is all very helpful! It sounds like FAT32 is the best way to go unless I'm working with files over 4GB.
 
alphaod said:
Finally if you are planning to run VMWare, I would recommend installing Windows into boot camp and then run it in VMWare Fusion. That way you can both run it in Fusion and boot into it separately.

Here is how to use boot camp:
http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/
Click to expand...

About the OEM, i put XP on through boot camp and activated it. All went smooth, then i put Parallels (different software i know) in it and screwed up my OEM copy and had to use a retail code lying around in my house.

In other words, Parallels screwed up my OEM code and had to use a different one to activate it.

I would be slightly more careful in activating the OEM copy
 
Thanks Zephgx. It sounds like the retail version is the safest to go with. And now I'm leaning even more towards Fusion.
 
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