Is installing windows on a mac straightforward?

Castroman

I am thinking of getting a mac but would like to use windows also. I would like to install windows 7 using boot camp. Is this process seamless or do people often encounter problems - devices not recognized, programs not working, drivers missing etc. Are you left with a fully functional windows machine in the end? Does it require much effort tweaking/effort? For example, how does the trackpad on a macbook pro work under windows? I would be interested to hear other peoples experiences.

philiporeilly

Boot camp is just as easy to setup as installing Windows on a new PC. I've used the beta of 7 without problems but I dont think Apple will officially be supporting 7 until Dec. (Last I heard was before end of year)

Tips installing Windows 7:
http://www.simplehelp.net/2009/01/15/using-boot-camp-to-install-windows-7-on-your-mac-the-complete-walkthrough/

After you install Windows in the usual fashion you insert the Snow Leopard disk to install all your device drivers to use them as normal.

coldwood92

No

aidan_walsh

Windows 7 isn't yet officially supported by Boot Camp, but there should be an update by the end of the year.

Rulmeq

Parallels and VMWare Fusion both support windows 7 with their latest releases.

Matt Bauer

Yes. Except the part where you have to use Windows.

Red Alert

I would honestly recommend purchasing VMWare or Parallels - much easier, cut and paste between windows and mac apps, and easy backup/restore of your windows files. And also you don't need to repartition your disk.

A-Trak

Is it possible to get bootcamp on 10.4 at all?

I'm starting to gravitate towards my oldish macbook more and more, and would love to bring a game or two over with me.

10.4 meets all my needs and really don't fancy shelling €200+ out for leopard or snow leopard.

Edit - as I'm running tiger, would I need a full Leopard install or could I opt for the €29 leopard upgrade? (Or am I right in thinking that's exclusively for 10.5 users.)

J-blk

A-Trak wrote: »

Is it possible to get bootcamp on 10.4 at all?

Not really. There were in fact beta versions of BootCamp that work on 10.4 but they were discontinued when Leopard was released so you'd have a hard time even finding it in the first place, it would be completely unsupported and would definitely not support Windows 7.

A-Trak wrote: »

Edit - as I'm running tiger, would I need a full Leopard install or could I opt for the €29 leopard upgrade? (Or am I right in thinking that's exclusively for 10.5 users.)

Yes and no. There is no technical limitation in place. You can buy the €29 Snow Leopard retail disc and install it over a 10.4 install (as an upgrade) or a clean installation - I've tried both. The EULA does however specifically state that you should not be doing this and you are meant to be installing it if you already have 10.5...

Hobbes

Macmini no issues installing in the following methods.

1. Bootcamp. If you want to play windows games at full speed at high res.
2. Straight out replacing the OS on the machine. If you don't want OSX.
3. Parallels. Don't want to dual boot. Most games will work (that are not graphic intensive).

Personally I use parallels in Coherence mode (windows apps run on OSX desktop).

Only thing haven't tried is a VMWare in Windows on Mini.

Rulmeq

If you do opt to go for Snow Leopard, just make sure that you have an intel chip in that machine.

Earthhorse

I installed it on my iMac over the weekend and was surprised at how straightforward it was. Really quite simple. Haven't had a chance to play with it much.

Did try installing some games last night and they installed but wouldn't load (just came up with a generic message about the application not working). Not sure if that's a driver issue or because I installed the 32bit edition.

Also had problems getting XP Compatability mode working. I downloaded both it and Windows VM (or whatever it's called) and Windows VM is showing up in my Programs but no XP Compatability option.

ApathyMonger

I really need to get around to installing Windows 7. I'll probably get Parallels, I'm just procrastinating because I don't want to spend the money...

deevey

Sun Virtualbox is free has 99% of the features of parallels or Fusion (duplicating machines can be a pain but there are scripts out there).

Free + Supports windows 7 = no more excuses to procrastinate !