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GraphicLounge.co.uk · Dec 20, 2006, 09:38 AM

Greetings!

I was wondering how many of you guys have got bootcamp on your Intel based Macs?
I bought my first ever Mac last month (MBP 17") and I can't decide If I should put windows on my system. I have a desktop PC which I use for gaming and to test my websites but other than that I don't use it for anything else.

Can someone please tell me what the gaming experience is like on the Mac with bootcamp?

Cheers.

solofx7 · Dec 20, 2006, 10:33 AM

the gaming exp is good...
to me it saves me from having to buy a windows pc...
waste o money for windows...
vista is questionable, but functional for games. i can only assume XP is better because of driver support.

Zeeb · Dec 20, 2006, 10:36 AM

I have bootcamp on my 15" MBP and for gaming it works just as well as a PC with similar hardware. no problems and all my games run.

If you've already got a PC though I don't know why you would bother really. Aside from gaming and the rare windows only webiste or app I never boot into it.

ghporter · Dec 20, 2006, 11:10 AM

Boot Camp itself is free, and you can find XP for reasonable prices if you look in the right places-I can get it for around $20US through my school. The real issue is, "does it run Windows like a PC." No. Better than a PC because the Mac hardware is superior. (The superiority has more to do with better integration and design than "this chip is better than that chip" sorts of things; a PC can be a great machine or a mishmash of crap components, but whatever else holds true, a Mac NEVER is a mishmash.)

I am preparing to install Boot Camp on the MBP I'm typing on right now-probably tomorrow. I think it's worthwhile.

Lava Lamp Freak · Dec 20, 2006, 11:16 AM

I'm preparing to install Boot Camp on my new MBP I bought last night. I'm actually slipstreaming a CD on my PC right now. My PC is old and not a gamer. So my new MBP purchase replaces two computers. Lineage II, Guild Wars, and Half Life 2 are the reasons I need Boot Camp. I can do all of my web site testing for work through the Parallels software. Now I'm just hoping I can get both installations to activate without issue.

Gossamer · Dec 20, 2006, 01:24 PM

I have both Boot Camp and Parallels on my CD 2.0 iMac. Parallels in wonderful for everything except gaming (and the new Coherence is amazing). Gaming under boot camp is great, I just played through the F.E.A.R. demo under XP yesterday and it looked really nice!

CollinG3G4 · Dec 20, 2006, 02:25 PM

So, has anyone figured out how to install boot camp on a partition without having to erase the entire multi partitioned drive?

ghporter · Dec 20, 2006, 06:07 PM

Originally Posted by CollinG3G4

So, has anyone figured out how to install boot camp on a partition without having to erase the entire multi partitioned drive?

Nope. Boot Camp will quit if it sees more than one partition.

On the other hand, if you already have your drive partitioned, AND ONE OF THOSE PARTITIONS IS OF A TYPE WINDOWS CAN SEE, you can probably just boot from the Windows install disc and install it that way. No guarantee or representation of suitability or functionality is made either by me or by MacNN for this post-it's all a supposition. But it couldn't hurt to see what happens. Of course, BACK UP YOUR ENTIRE DRIVE VERY THOROUGHLY BEFORE YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT TRYING THIS.

Briareus · Dec 20, 2006, 09:22 PM

Boot Camp 1.12/XP sp2 is on a 20GB partition on my new MB Pro for never-ported-to-Mac games and running very well. Being a complete newbie with Windows, I had a friend do a trimmed-down install with the knowledge that this only for a couple games, & only going online for OS, antivirus updates, and game patches. No general surfing or email, etc., so I'm comfy with it - just dipping my toes in the water at this point & happy/amazed that it's been a problem-free experiment so far.

Sadly, the big Half-Life 2 Holiday DVD (with HL1, Counterstrike, etc) has left little room on the partition for Elder Scrolls Oblivion

Considering a nuke & pave op for a little bigger partition...

Welnic · Dec 21, 2006, 03:38 PM

I don't think that you have to nuke what you already have to increase the partition size. I think that you can go into to bootcamp and increase the partition size dynamically.

Gossamer · Dec 21, 2006, 04:05 PM

Originally Posted by Welnic

I don't think that you have to nuke what you already have to increase the partition size. I think that you can go into to bootcamp and increase the partition size dynamically.

That might be possible, you can google search for how to do it, but the most important thing is to BACK UP.

ghporter · Dec 21, 2006, 06:17 PM

As far as I know, BOOT CAMP DOES NOT RESIZE PARTITIONS DYNAMICALLY. If any of you want to be a test case to check this out, be my guest.

Edit: Oh, and this has gone way beyond "Boot Camp on the MacBook Pro" so I'm moving the thread to the Alternative OS forum.