Boot Camp: Windows on the MacBook
I mentioned in an earlier post that I had installed Windows on the MacBook using Parallels, a virtualisation application within OSX. Yesterday I took the plunge and installed Boot Camp. Boot Camp allows you to run Windows natively as a Dual Boot alongside OSX.
Ok, I don't know how good idea this was for Apple. They have made it bloody easy and neat to partition your hard drive and get Windows installed. It was a snap. Once partitioned the Boot Camp Assistant restarted the laptop and the Windows install started. The Assistant even burned a CD of Mac Drivers for when Windows needs to install the strange hardware.
Once all installed I customised Windows to how I like it and I have to say, it runs about 5 times better than OSX running on the same hardware. Firefox starts up in about a quarter of the time, Outlook is practically instant (compared to quite a long wait for OSX Mail). Windows Media Player loads up my entire media library in no time, searching and playing across the network without fault, while iTunes chunks and falters. Photoshop runs BRILLIANTLY in Windows, but is plodding and slow on OSX. All the neat features of the Mac are here: decent hardware, "dual touch" mouse or whatever its called, eject button, function keys and all the crap parts of OSX are gone (Finder is a poor subsitute to Explorer, and the inconsistancy between interfaces on programs).
It runs beautifully. Better than any PC I have ever used Windows on before. I guess all those years of knowing how to write for Intel Hardware really paid off for Microsoft / the rest of the PC community. For those interested the specs of my Macbook are: 2ghz Core 2 Duo, 2 gig of 667mhz RAM, 64mb Intel Onboard Graphics, 120gig 5400rpm HDD.
Will I switch back to OSX? Occasionally, but really: why would I? It offers me nothing that Windows doesn't, I know how to look after my PCs (I don't get viruses / spyware) and there is a much larger software library and better programs for Windows (uTorrent to name but one piece of software brilliance).
Suddenly my laptop is useful.
posted by simv at
Friday, February 02, 2007
4 Comments:
Prepare to be overwhelmed by the single dumbest kind of fanboy available: The Mac Fanboy. They make Linux Fanboys look socially articulate.
Remember: Not working on a Mac is a feature, not a bug.
2 February 2007 1:32 PM
I could be wrong, but I suspect OSX might be running poorly because of your shared memory video card.
I've been using a Mac for about 4 weeks now, and have noticed a _lot_ of hardware accelerated eye candy.
2 February 2007 2:17 PM
Simon Wittber said: "I could be wrong, but I suspect OSX might be running poorly because of your shared memory video card."
I have turned off most of the animations etc and it's still sluggish. Its not so much the rendering that is the issue, its general snappiness of doing anything, browsing between folders, opening applications etc etc.
In Windows it is just so much faster. One thing I have also noticed is that just general typing is more fluid. I tend to get the typing hiccuping and stop starting in OSX while in Windows it does what its supposed to: appear on screen when you hit a key.
3 February 2007 10:20 AM
You're macbook almost matches my ASUS notebook except I have a 512mg video card and an extra 1000k in the bank. :)
Adam
5 February 2007 10:42 AM
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