>In article <190720081814341316%nonone@nowhere.zzz>, > Noone <nonone@nowhere.zzz> wrote: > >> I'm considering upgrading from a Powerbook G4 to a Macbook Pro. > >You'll enjoy the upgrade immensly, I think. : ) > >> It's my understanding "Bootcamp" comes pre-installed but we have to buy >> Windows and then install ourselves? > >Boot Camp is simply a drive formatting utility that lets you create >Windows (FAT32, NTFS) file systems on hard drives inside (or connected >to) your Mac. The support needed to boot Windows is built into every >currently-shipping Intel Mac. To use it, you'll need to create a Windows > >If you wish to use Boot Camp, you should know that it will require that >you restart your Mac to boot into Windows, and restart again to boot >back into Mac OS X. With Boot Camp, Windows applications cannot run >along side Mac OS X applications. > >There are alternative solutions to Boot Camp that allow you to run >Windows applications right along side Mac OS X applications *without* >having to reboot! Another benefit is that they allow you to create >virtual hard disk files on which to install Windows, which means you >don't have bother with partitioning your Mac hard drive or buying an >eternal hard drive. The virtual hard disk files are similar to disk >images you already use on your Mac. They are simple files in the file >system. Many Mac users find these alternative solutions preferable to >dual-booting with Boot Camp. These solutions are called "virtualization" >solutions. > >Virtualization solutions have one major caveat: While they run most >Windows applications at full speed just as if you were booted into >Windows (and sometimes even faster!), neither offers much support in the >way of hardware-accelerated 3D video. This means that Windows >applications that use hardware acceleration will not perform as well as >they would if you booted directly into Windows with Boot Camp. The good >news is the two classes of Windows applications that require 3D video >acceleration are Windows games and CAD/3D modeling applications. If you >don't plan on running such applications, I highly recommend you consider >using a virtualization solution to run Windows for the obvious benefits >- mainly not having to reboot or partition hard drives. > >Parallels Desktop: > > <http://www.parallels.com/en/desktop/> > >vmWare Fusion: > > <http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/> > >Feature-wise, the two are very similar. In general, I've found that >vmWare Fusion is more no-frills and is compatible with more USB devices, >while Parallels offers more eye candy, such as the spinning cube >animation similar to what you see when you use fast user switching in >Mac OS X. > >> If this is correct, what is the best version of Windows to install? > >You'll find most will tell you Windows XP - hands down - because it >performs better and does not utilize as much of the hardware to do the >same work. But you should also consider the system requirements of >whatever Windows applications you plan to run. If one or more require >Vista, you may be stuck with running Vista. > >> I'm a student and keep getting class-related CDs to study with and of >> course they're all PC only so this is one reason I'd like to upgrade. > >It may be that some of these supposed Windows-only CDs are not actually >Windows-only. If you give us a list, we can tell you more.
There is another alternative, "CrossOver for Mac", that it has some advantages and some disadvantages. The advantages are that you don't need a MsWindows License to run Windows programs, it is faster than VMWare running Windows programs, it uses the same file system as the Mac, so there is no need to copy files from the Mac side to the Windows side, it uses the same look and feel as a Mac, and its files are automatically backuped by Apple's Time Machine.
The disadvantage is that not all the Windows Programs run under CrossOver, but *most of them* (90%?) do, including MsOffice 2003 for Windows and many others. As a matter of fact, I am posting this message using Forte Agent for Windows under CrossOver for Mac.
Because you can test CrossOver for a month without buying the program, I would suggest you to test it, and to check if your Windows Programs appear in their list of checked programs. Most probably, they will do it.
Thanks Juan I. Cahis Santiago de Chile (South America) Note: Please forgive me for my bad English, I am trying to improve it!
