Well, I installed Windows XP on my MacBook Pro. The installation was fairly straightforward. I will say that my Mac is now much faster at Windows than my Windows laptop.

Why do this? There are a few reasons. Until Universal binaries come out for some programs they will actually be slower on the MacBook Pro than on a Powerbook. There are also some utilities/filters etc. that were never ported to the Mac. So, now it is possible to have the best of both worlds on one machine.

As of now you have to boot into one OS or the other. There is a program coming out that will allow both to be open at the same time (although I would think there would a performance hit there).

Hello Jeff,
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
Will you be able to access the same files in both environments? Like when you output something from a Mac program as input to a Windows program or vice versa?
How is this made? (I heard they live on separate partitions of the disk.)
Should be interesting to know if it is easy to work with both platforms.
Best regards / Johan

It all depends on how big the files are (obviously a problem with video). If you format the Windows partition as FAT32 then either OS can access (read/write) on either partition. The catch is that FAT32 is limited to a 32 gb partition. If the partition is NTFS then the Mac OS can read the file on that partition but not write to it.

When the software is installed on the Mac it creates a partition to house Windows and all the Windows programs. You can select the size of the partition and the format type.

Thank you Jeff,
This seems workable to me even with NTFS. Let Windows read from the Mac partition to pickup something. Copy it to Windows while working more on it. Then Mac could read the output from Windows if you need the Mac to continue the work. Don't think this should cause any great trouble.

See the following article in MacWorld which benchmarks the iMac and MacBook Pro against several Windows machines.

As you can see, the Macs running Windows gave these PCs a run for their money, with the 2.16GHz MacBook Pro turning in the fastest scores on three of the five individual tests. The build-to-order MacBook configuration also tied the 2.16GHz HP Compaq in the sixth test, involving Roxio VideoWave.

http://www.macworld.com/2006/04/firstlooks/xpbenchmarks/index.php

have you tried any HDv on it...does it work well. I know HDV is processor intensive.

Also does the screen look wide or traditional 2x3 windows look.

Does the bluetooth work with pc too?

ALso if you burn a dvd in pc does it write for pc or mac?

I really am thinking of replacing my two laptops with one if it seems stable.

thanks.

Also if you have itunes in both do you think you can access the same library or do you think one library should work for both. if partitioned correctly.

I'm concerned that there is not enough hard drive space for both systems.

Sorry for all the questions but I really want to get one and know what I'm getting.

Does an external mac screen work for windows or do you need a windows compatible monitor.

Thanks!!!!

Much of this is guesswork based on what I've read and the little playing about I have done.

It is unclear whether you could use iTunes on both. Several of the iTunes websites have recommended just switching over to Windows for that. The reason is that there are apparently some much nicer utilities on the Windows side that aren't available on the Mac side. You could place your iTunes folder in the Windows partition (if FAT32) and point iTunes towards it and the Mac could read and write there as well. You could set up sharing. The catch will be the iPod.

I have no idea on HDV as I don't have it.

There should be no problem with a DVD depending on how you choose to format it/burn it.

People have figured out how to boot/put Win on an external drive so that takes care of the space issue.

An external monitor SHOULD work in that the ATI drivers are installed but I think I'd ask on one of the MacIntel groups about that. I'm sure someone has tried it.

The screen looks fine once you get all of the Apple drivers installed, funky until that happens. Bluetooth does work, airport may work better in Windows. The most difficult thing apparently is getting a right button mapped to the touchpad but there are utilities that will do that. Keep in mind that as time goes by it should just get better in terms of many of these issues. I'd be willing to bet that some of the outside Mac vendors will start selling systems with Win preinstalled at some time.

Very helpful thanks!

Is it possible to edit in FCP and then import the file into a PC version of After Effects?
Apparently, After Effects won't be available as a universal binary for quite some time so it would be a great workaround.

That's a good point. Will photoshop and the other program staples have universal upgrades in the next year?

Adobe has claimed that the next updates in their series will be Universal binaries. Apple is pushing them not to wait (which would be next year).

Benchmarks on Photoshop CS show that running Photoshop in Win XP on the Mac is MUCH faster than on OS X. I see no reasons why this would not be the case for AE as well. As long as the file is stored in a place accessible to both systems (external?) then it should work. The catch may be the 2GB file limit size restriction in FAT32 (not present in NTFS but OSX can't write to NTFS, only to FAT32. A network drive (there are many available and they aren't that much more expensive) MIGHT be an option - I don't know I have never tried.

Apple has a tech support forum dedicated to Boot Camp, and it seems to have a lot of good info: http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=213

Anyone know when the mactel g5's will be out?

I also installed Windows xp on my MacBookPro. So far no problems. I only gave xp the default 5 GB partition because there is only 1 Windows-only program that I want to run.

I would love to hear more info about the booting xp from an external drive. I could use that 5 GB of space back on the Mac side!!

Anyone know when the mactel g5's will be out?

I think you mean Intel PowerMacs?.... the G5 is the IBM/Motorola/Freescale chip which is being replaced. But the answer is that no, nobody knows. Apple is very tight lipped about future products and doesn't hesitate to prosecute anyone who leaks inside information. But they are on record as saying the transition will be completed this year I believe.

There are plenty of rumor sites that speculate about this sort of thing, but we generally avoid it here, with the except of our "area 51" forum: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?f=68

My MBP 2.0 is running FCP 5.1 VERY well! I am more than happy with the performance. Capturing footage, building the timeline (scrubbing, trimming, placing, etc.) and previewing are all as snappy as my dual 2.5 G5 system. I've only rendered one piece so far, but compressor took a 4.5 minute HDV timeline to DVD in about 12 minutes. Not sure how that compares to the G5 yet, but it seems pretty good so far. Need to try out Motion...

I did the Boot camp thing and have XP running perfectly. Still missing a few drivers (iSight, Expresscard, IR port) but that will come. I can bluetooth sync my WM5 phone/PDA to Outlook over Bluetooth. Seems pretty solid so far!

My only gripe is the heat. Boy this thing runs pretty hot! I plan on taking it to an Apple store to get an opinion, but it seems like the fan doesn't run-at least as much- since the firmware upgrade for boot camp. Its mostly a problem when charging the battery while using it. Battery only operation isn't so bad.

A bit off topic, but how fast would xp run on a g5 2ghz with some pc emulating software. Does anyone know is it usable or too slow?

Slow to the point of unusable for anything like video editing. I have a dual core G5 and have run XP with Virtual PC. While you can use it for basic stuff (Slowly) you really wouldn't even bother for anything serious. Of course, if they release Virtual PC for Intel, well you'd be home and hosed I'd say, it'd be pretty awesome.


A bit off topic, but how fast would xp run on a g5 2ghz with some pc emulating software. Does anyone know is it usable or too slow?

If I remember correctly VPC emulates a Pentium 3 processor, pretty slow by todays standards.

Benchmarks on Photoshop CS show that running Photoshop in Win XP on the Mac is MUCH faster than on OS X. I see no reasons why this would not be the case for AE as well.

Did you mean CS2? Current test involving PS running on a MacIntel machine mean that the processor is emulated my Rosetta and of course will be slower on the MacIntel. A fair comparison can only be made after the Adobe products are released in Universal Binary and do not run in emulation.

Yes, CS2. The point I was making was that until the Universal binary is released (late 2006 or 2007) then if speed is an issue it may make sense to run PS on the MacIntel in Windows mode. I suspect that once it is no longer running in Rosetta is will be as fast or faster than in Windows. Until then it is nice to have a choice.