This is pretty cool, if you have a need to run Windows on your MacBook Pro.
So far, the install has been almost uneventful.
First 2 tries failed with full lockups during the second part of the install. The third install, I told the blue screen area of the install to format the disk but not quick and this seems to have done the trick for me.
Right now, it is downloading the 98MB of patches that are required after initial install of XP SP2 and I am waiting for it to finish.
Initial impressions are good as far as running Windows on the MacBook Pro. Performance is more than acceptable (far better than my old Thinkpad T20 of old) and I haven’t had any crashing issues so far (though it has only been running about 30 minutes).
I am going to install Office Professional 2003 once the system is rebooted, and I’ll update that as well to the current patch levels.
Why am I doing this?
So I can play games, of course. CounterStrike could be quite fun and I hope it can perform well.
VISIO – OmniGraffle Professional is great and all, but sometimes I have customers ending me VISIO diagrams and it is just going to be easier to work with them ‘natively’.
Did I mention games yet?
While Apple states that things like the iSight camera will not operate (or not supported), it does show up as a USB connected video device, and tests done by Jeremy show that the microphone is already working as expected.
What sucks so far?
Mouse acceleration is missing – wow, I didn’t realize how much I would miss this!
Silly ATI driver prompting about TV output – the MBP doesn’t have a TV output :)
CPU power management must not be there at all – the system is already warm just sitting there before I started the big download/install of patches.
Having to only boot from your internal disk – though I can see why this is the case and there isn’t much we (as users of MBPs and such) can do about it.
For official information, please head off to:
Apple Boot Camp directly from the Apple website, and the relevant Knowledge Base Article.
FAQs for MBP and MacMini
Good luck to everyone who is off to play with this. Dual booting won’t be so bad, though a virtual machine would be far cooler…
Other links with info that I spent a few minutes reviewing.:
Yeah, the drivers aren’t all neat and clean completely yet, but it’s better than the original hack from Narf and Blanka for sure.
And technically, the MBP does have a tv out. You just have to use the Apple Video adapter. When you use that, it is treated as a “real” tv-out. Windows doesn’t know how to handle a DVI output that pulls double-duty, apparently.
Glad to hear that it’s working out for you though. :)
Yah, there is the DVI to SVIDEO cable, so it can be done, but is that TV out?
Me, I believe it is just an adapter and nothing more :)
Kind of fun, and very weird, to see/hear Windows XP on my MBP. I have done VPC for years to take care of my needs for the corp applications that I need to access from time to time, but this i sso much cleaner (never minding that things are native instead).
Now having the ability to play FPS games brings back the time-wasting hobby that I probably should do without.
yeah, it is technically a tv out, that’s how the OS views it because with that adapter, it does change the fact that it can’t spit out in higher resolutions that the tv can’t view. you pop that adapter on, and it’s just the same as the S-Vid/Composite output on your standard PC vid card.
So now that this is available, once I get a DVD drive that actually works again, I’ll have OS X on my PC, and when i get my new iMac, i’ll have Windows on my MacIntel.
We’ve actually been getting pretty heavy call volume regarding Boot Camp at work, a ton of people are digging this, and most of ’em are gamers or corporate people. Great mix, eh? hehe.
I bet it is busy.
The others I know that have the MacTel boxes are having a great time, and playing CounterStrike: Source is just a fun distraction I never thought I would get to see on my MBP.
Good luck with the call volume. The instructions are clear and so far I haven’t heard anyone having issues.