Parallels\Bootcamp Mac Question

To anyone who knows, is it possible to install XP on a Mac using Bootcamp but then also use that same installation with Parallels?

Jason.

Yes, that is possible and it -does- work.

However, I once ran into the problem that an OEM version of XP demanded a re-activation after booting in Parallels 2.5. Unfortunately, it demanded the re-activation while Parallels was still installing its drivers, and that in turn led to a broken XP installation. I had to format the partition and start from scratch.

I do not know if this can still happen with the current 3.0 version of Parallels, but it certainly never happened to me with a corporate version of Windows XP.

OK, cheers for the help :)

Jason.

I would keep the two seperate, if I were you.

I got to ask this since I need to know (got me a hefty college bursery, so I got extra to spend), how's the performance of WinXP via Bootcamp?

Was talking to one of the ITs and he mentioned that depending on the Mac used the performance may suffer compared to an actual WinXP platform of relatively the same components...

I plan on getting the current mid-line MacBook Pro (which ironically has better specifications than my PC gaming rig...), and just wanted to get an idea how well it would run, as I wouldn't mind running some of my more intensitive PC game titles on it.

XP in Bootcamp runs at full speed - and would be no different to a IBM-based machine with the same CPU and graphics card.

Whilst Apple nicely provide drivers for everything, you dont have to use them if you want to use the very latest set of drivers.

Are there any problems still with overheating Macbooks in bootcamp? I recalled reading that the vid cards they came with were actually underclocked via their drivers to save battery life/heat, but that information was lost in the XP drivers, causing it to run at normal speed.

I’ve recently played to completion Oblivion, Neverwinter Nights 2 and Bioshock on my relatively new MacBook Pro (XP via Bootcamp 1.4). I’ve also played Gothic 3 extensively. I experienced no overheating issues and performance was good when using medium texture settings, everything else maxed (except anti-aliasing), screen resolution 1440x900. Actually quite impressive for a notebook computer.

MrTAToad:

Are you sure? I tried installing the latest NVidia drivers for the 8600M GT chipset but it wouldn’t let me.

I don't know what those folks told you, Genexi2, but either they mistook BootCamp for Parallels or they were talking about some possible driver issues -- and you can also have severe driver problems on regular Wintel machines, so that is nothing Apple-specific.

I cannot complain about the XP-performance of my iMac, and even on Vista it runs good (as far as one can say that about Vista). Microsoft Norway showed off Vista on a 24" iMac when they launched the new OS, so the Mac performance and compatibilty cannot be that bad. ;-)

http://www.tuaw.com/2007/01/25/microsoft-norway-demos-vista-on-a-mac/

Mine overheated and burned out a RAM chip playing Raliroads! Since then, I had a check on the web and found out that in OSX the graphics card is underclocked to avoid overheating, but in XP it's not, so I got recommended to use a little program called ATITool which allows you to underclock in XP. Been fine since (fingers crossed)

Yes, you should be able to - at least with ATI.

Dont forget you need the laptop drivers instead of desktop ones.

Appears Leopard comes out somtime in October, and seems to have better support for bootcamp with pre-supplied drivers for the Mac, which may mean not having to mess about with an OS I'm not exactly familiar with, as I really would hate to fry the computer and not know how to fix it like I do on my WinXP rig here...

OT, but does Apple typically release a new line of Macs when they release an upgrade to the OS? Will wait for the new revision if so, otherwise, going to pick-up a MacBook Pro and just purchase an upgrade at a later date.

Check this: http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

The BootCamp support in Leopard won't be much different to what you find here: http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/
(Except for that it no longer will be beta, of course.)

Hopefully they'll fix one annoying problem - when returning from XP, the Mac clock is always one hour ahead. This was supposed to have been fixed, but unfortunately it hasn't been.

Dont't forget to look at VMWare Fusion as an alternative to Parallels. It much more stable and supports 3D Hardware acceleration.

So does Parallels