Want to install Windows XP on MBP; A noob has questions

[Swift Sketcher]

Ok, so I'm new to the Mac world (and loving it), but I'm still in need of some programs only compatible on Windows. So I'm thinking about installing, but being absolutely clueless about the process and results, I have lots of questions

My computer: Leopard, 2 gigs of RAM, 2.2 SR MBP. Purchased it Dec 07.

1) Installing windows: Easy as sticking the CD in?

2) Switching between OSs, can it be done anytime? Only while booting?

3) I'm so happy I don't need to worry about viruses and junk on a mac, but lets say a virus or something causes a disaster on the Windows side of things, will my mac be affected in anyway?

4) Will anything I do on either OS affect the other in anyway?

5) Performance: How well will XP run? The same? 20% slower?

6) How about running games, will they also preform the same?


Sorry for the overload of questions but I'd really appreciate any answers! Thanks!

 

[Me1000]

1) Assuming you want native performance, you need to run Boot Camp, it is in your utilities folder, or you can just search for it with spotlight.

2) I believe it is only while booting!

3) I suppose a virus could format a drive.

4) not really, but yeah some things could.

5) with bootcamp you will get native speeds, so whatever a PC with the same specs as your mbp does with XP, your mbp will preform the same!

6) Same as #5



hope that helps a little.

 

[Swift Sketcher]

Totally, thank you

 

[Swift Sketcher]

Oh yeah, another question: Can I delete windows at any time? Will all be restored to normal if I do that?

 

[Me1000]

Oh yeah, another question: Can I delete windows at any time? Will all be restored to normal if I do that?

Yes,

most of the time there should be no problem.If your drive if full then you might see problems repartitioning the drive back to a single volume.

I installed Vista under bootcamp on Tiger, got rid of it, and wasnt able to restore the partitions, however right after I upgraded to leopard I was able to in disk utility. so I think it might have something to do with the fragmentation of files on your disk, but I really dont know.

Bootcamp was designed so that you should have no problem restoring your disk though, to answer your question.

 

[adjei7]

You should check out parallels or VMware too. It will set up a virtual environment allowing you to run windows at the same time as the mac, which is really convenient. It will eat into your resources though compared to running from bootcamp, but with 2gig ram it shouldn't be too bad.

You can also get vmware or parallels to access your bootcamp partition so you have the best of both worlds.

I use it and it's invaluable. Sometimes I'm just too lazy to have to shut down and reboot the mac so I can use xp. having them both at the same time is much nicer. Then again I have 3gig, so am able to give 1gig to xp leaving 2gig to the mac, and it runs great, but 2gig should be ok i think.

 

[Me1000]

You should check out parallels or VMware too. It will set up a virtual environment allowing you to run windows at the same time as the mac, which is really convenient. It will eat into your resources though compared to running from bootcamp, but with 2gig ram it shouldn't be too bad.

You can also get vmware or parallels to access your bootcamp partition so you have the best of both worlds.

I use it and it's invaluable. Sometimes I'm just too lazy to have to shut down and reboot the mac so I can use xp. having them both at the same time is much nicer. Then again I have 3gig, so am able to give 1gig to xp leaving 2gig to the mac, and it runs great, but 2gig should be ok i think.

being that he is interested in gaming performance id say virtualization is not the best idea.

 

[adjei7]

I was assuming the points were in order of importance, but if not, then fair do's , Me1000 is indeed right.

 

[sulhaq]

1) Yes pretty much. Run Bootcamp from Applications > Utilities. It has detailed software manuals that you can print which will guide you through the installation process.

2) To get native speeds you have to reboot your computer to boot into Windows. However notice that you can use the same bootcamp partition you created for windows in Virtual machines like Parallels or VMware. So, for example, if you wanna play a game and need native speed you can reboot into Windows. If you just quickly want to run a windows app on the fly, fire up Parallels from within OS X and run it from there.

3) If the windows side of your HDD gets a virus then it will just be that. The windows partition will be damaged. Your Macintosh partition cannot be damaged in any way or form. Windows and hence the virus that infected said windows cannot even see your Macintosh Partition because it is formatted with the HFS+ specification. In the event your windows is infected with a virus and cannot be repaired by an anti-virus, just boot into OS X, run Disk Utility and format the partition. There, its gone.

4) Absolutely anything you do in windows can have NO EFFECT on Macintosh. Again the same reason, your mac partition is formatted as HFS+ and windows cannot even see it. Your mac however, CAN see your windows partition, if you mess something up within the windows partition while you're booted into OS X, it could damage the windows installation.

5) XP will run at 100% native speed when you boot into it. If you virtualize it using Parallels then it depends on how much memory you allocated to it, how much video memory, basically the options from within Parallels etc.

6) Since you cannot play games from within parallels, not any good ones anyway, you will have to boot into the Windows partition and hence they will run at 100% native speed.

7) Yes. You can delete windows at any time and your hard drive will be restored to its previous state.

Hope this helps you to decide.

 

[xraydoc]

4) Absolutely anything you do in windows can have NO EFFECT on Macintosh. Again the same reason, your mac partition is formatted as HFS+ and windows cannot even see it. Your mac however, CAN see your windows partition, if you mess something up within the windows partition while you're booted into OS X, it could damage the windows installation.

Unless you install MacDrive for Windows - a utility that allows Windows to read/write Mac hard drives. In that case, Windows could then go wild and begin screwing up data on your Mac partition. Just FYI...