Anybody running Bootcamp?

[J-Luv]

i'm in the market for a mac book pro and was wondering if anybody is running bootcamp and how's it working for you?

if u get a virus on the windows side will it affect your entire computer?

how much does it cost? when i go to the apple website i just find a link for a beta download - is it still in testing phase or something??

[asheep_uk]

Yes it's still in beta.

The full version will be included with Leopard, all you need is a copy of Windows.

If Windows gets a virus, then Windows will stop working, as usual. Mac OS X will live on.

I have a 24-inch iMac which is a bit hit-and-miss with Boot Camp at the moment and no spare copy of Windows, so I'm waiting until I get Leopard and have got myself a cheap version of XP. It's not worth it for anything more than £50, I just want to play Rollercoaster Tycoon.

[Jimbrowski]

I've been running bootcamp ever since i bought my 24" Intel Core 2 Duo iMac back in November....

It's quite easy to setup, as it guides you through the process of partitioning your hard drive etc.

Basically you end up with 2 computers in 1; you can switch it on and use your Mac OSX, then tell the Mac to restart, hold down "alt" and you get the option of Mac or PC....it's really just like having a PC on your Mac !!

However, i have had a couple of problems; the whole idea is solid, don't worry about that, the problems i have encountered involve the drivers.

Bootcamp contains all the drivers to make all your Mac stuff such as USB's, Mouse, Keyboard etc. work with Windows XP......all of which worked for me except for the Built-in iSight webcam, and the Bluetooth connection.....but i'm not bothered about them as i only wanted the PC to run my design software until the new Mac versions are released by Adobe !!

Apart from these problems, everything works as if i had a very fast PC. But to address your main concerns:

Viruses are as much a problem as with any PC, you'll need anti-virus software if you're going to connect to the internet. I don't bother, as i can access the internet with the OSX partiton !!

Bootcamp is free !!!.....it's just described as Beta for OSX Tiger users.....it'll be built into OSX Leopard. If you're thinking of buying a new Mac now, just hold off a little while and benefit from OSX Leopard, it's scheduled for a Spring 2007 release.

Let me know if you need more info ok.

Jimmy

[J-Luv]

Bootcamp contains all the drivers to make all your Mac stuff such as USB's, Mouse, Keyboard etc. work with Windows XP......all of which worked for me except for the Built-in iSight webcam, and the Bluetooth connection.....

yikes

so isight and bluetooth connection don't work?? my mac runs its internet connection off its built in bluetooth connection as i have a PC and a router. i also like the isight function.

were you able to get those problems fixed or should i expect the same drama once i install bootcamp?

[Jimbrowski]

I haven't attempted to fix the Blue Tooth or iSight driver problems.....

Both work fine with OSX, so it doesn't bother me. As i say, i've only been using the XP partition for my old versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark, Flash and Dreamweaver.

As i'm replacing these over time, i'm using the XP side of things less and less.

Jimmy

[J-Luv]

oh, i thought you meant your isight and bluetooth didnt work when u switch over to osx. i misread what you said above. yea, i wouldnt expect it to work on the windows side.

[SJT]

Even though the viruses may be PC only, bootcamp involves partitioning your disk, so any virus running on the windows partition essentially has access to the same hard disk that runs OS X.
It may not be able to read the file system, that doesn't stop it from trashing the MBR or the partition map and possibly fudging your whole disk.
Treat windows with caution.

[J-Luv]

that sucks.

[asheep_uk]

Running Windows XP now so I can play SimCity, and I have to say, it runs Windows better than all the "Windows-built" machines I've owned, like a Dell or even my brother's custom made PC. It's not as fast as OS X (such as the start-up time, etc), but it certainly blows my brother's AMD64 out of the water.

[ZW_Alex]

Yes it's pretty fast! I tried BootCamp for like 2 Months, it's pretty cool. Too bad I didn't find useful because I don't play much of video games or do any Movie editing inside Windows. What I use now is Window Vista on the new Parallels. It works really fast on 2GB of memory. It saves headaches when it comes to make tests using Zinc, RealBasic or Apollo. I have two monitors so I place Vista on one of the screen and set it to full screen. So now I can drag applications from one screen to the other (from Mac to Windows) and imports easily. Or using the new Coherence feature. I need to have my OSX open at all times and with Bootcamp I can't do that. ;}

[Nogol]

how do i share internet connection from bootcamp with another iBook via the LAN cable?

i have a Mac Pro which connects to the internet thru my iBook that connects to the net wirelessly. Had to do this 'cause the router is in the other room. It was easy to share internet connection with Macs, but i don't know how to share connection with windows.

[ugoDesigns]

I've got a mac book pro running bootcamp and parralles desktop. I finally made the switch to mac early this year when my last PC laptop died and I was unable to run half my programs and the new 'vista' PCs. Not only that but the said PCs were unable to xp properly due to a lack backward compatible driver.... but I won't go into that now because I'll just get angry again.

Anyway, I've been singing the prasies of macs ever since. Particuarly since running both bootcamp and parralles allows me to run windows and osx at the same time. I'd also recommend getting a second monitor giving each os its own screen. The transition has been 'almost' silky smooth for me.

[whitegolf]

bootcamp is running heaps good. very fast and efficient.

[Ipsum]

I set up bootcamp on a friend's mac a few weeks ago and it seems to work good. It was incredibly easy to set up. I did hit a glitch half of the way through the set up process, but after re-booting the computer it worked fine. It comes in handy if you are using a lot of windows applications but still want a mac.