Hi, all. This is my first post here, so don't rip into me too hard, but I've got an unusual question.
I love the Macbook Pro laptops, but I don't like OSX. I'm a technically-inclined Linux junkie, and I need Windows for ease of gaming, but OSX just isn't my thing. I would like to get a new Macbook Pro 13", and I would like to dual-boot Windows and Linux and remove OSX entirely. I'm looking for a little technical detail regarding this.
As I understand it, and correct me if I'm wrong:
Macbooks have an EFI instead of a BIOS.
Macbooks' hard drives do not have a conventional partition table, but a different type (the acronym for which I forget)
If you format a Mac's boot sector/partition table to a conventional MBR format, the EFI will still read it and boot to it.
SO, is it safe to conclude that one could change the boot sector/partition table to MBR format, then boot off a Windows or Linux disk and install those OS's in the same manner one would with a conventional PC? Can anyone shine some more light on the issues here? I've also read up on a few other forums, but nobody seems to want to get rid of OSX, so there's almost no info other than how to use Boot Camp.
Oh, and one last question. A "genius" at my local Apple store informed me rather snobbishly, that installing Linux will void my warranty. Is this true?
I love the Macbook Pro laptops, but I don't like OSX. I'm a technically-inclined Linux junkie, and I need Windows for ease of gaming, but OSX just isn't my thing. I would like to get a new Macbook Pro 13", and I would like to dual-boot Windows and Linux and remove OSX entirely. I'm looking for a little technical detail regarding this.
As I understand it, and correct me if I'm wrong:
Macbooks have an EFI instead of a BIOS.
Macbooks' hard drives do not have a conventional partition table, but a different type (the acronym for which I forget)
If you format a Mac's boot sector/partition table to a conventional MBR format, the EFI will still read it and boot to it.
SO, is it safe to conclude that one could change the boot sector/partition table to MBR format, then boot off a Windows or Linux disk and install those OS's in the same manner one would with a conventional PC? Can anyone shine some more light on the issues here? I've also read up on a few other forums, but nobody seems to want to get rid of OSX, so there's almost no info other than how to use Boot Camp.
Oh, and one last question. A "genius" at my local Apple store informed me rather snobbishly, that installing Linux will void my warranty. Is this true?