Windows on Mac at DVinfo.net

Jeff Price · April 7th, 2006, 10:22 AM

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).

Johan Forssblad · April 9th, 2006, 12:37 PM

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

Jeff Price · April 9th, 2006, 02:10 PM

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.

Johan Forssblad · April 9th, 2006, 02:49 PM

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.

Boyd Ostroff · April 12th, 2006, 03:58 PM

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

Quote:

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/firs...arks/index.php

Jeff Morrissette · April 12th, 2006, 04:02 PM

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.

Jeff Morrissette · April 12th, 2006, 04:04 PM

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.

Jeff Morrissette · April 12th, 2006, 04:07 PM

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!!!!

Jeff Price · April 13th, 2006, 07:11 AM

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.

Jeff Morrissette · April 13th, 2006, 11:30 AM

Very helpful thanks!

Max Hertz · April 13th, 2006, 03:44 PM

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.

Jeff Morrissette · April 13th, 2006, 03:51 PM

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

Jeff Price · April 14th, 2006, 07:16 AM

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.

Boyd Ostroff · April 14th, 2006, 07:47 AM

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

Jeff Morrissette · April 14th, 2006, 09:35 AM

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

April 7th, 2006, 10:22 AM	#1
Jeff Price Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Chico, California Posts: 357	Windows on Mac 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). __________________ Jeff Price Flickerflix Nature Videos flickerflix@yahoo.com

April 9th, 2006, 02:10 PM	#3
Jeff Price Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Chico, California Posts: 357	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. __________________ Jeff Price Flickerflix Nature Videos flickerflix@yahoo.com

April 13th, 2006, 07:11 AM	#9
Jeff Price Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Chico, California Posts: 357	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. __________________ Jeff Price Flickerflix Nature Videos flickerflix@yahoo.com

April 14th, 2006, 07:16 AM	#13
Jeff Price Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Chico, California Posts: 357	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. __________________ Jeff Price Flickerflix Nature Videos flickerflix@yahoo.com

April 9th, 2006, 12:37 PM	#2
Johan Forssblad Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Vittsjö, SKÅNE, SWEDEN Posts: 266	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

April 9th, 2006, 02:49 PM	#4
Johan Forssblad Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Vittsjö, SKÅNE, SWEDEN Posts: 266	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.

April 12th, 2006, 04:02 PM	#6
Jeff Morrissette Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: venice, ca Posts: 83	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.

April 12th, 2006, 04:04 PM	#7
Jeff Morrissette Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: venice, ca Posts: 83	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.

April 12th, 2006, 04:07 PM	#8
Jeff Morrissette Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: venice, ca Posts: 83	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!!!!

April 13th, 2006, 11:30 AM	#10
Jeff Morrissette Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: venice, ca Posts: 83	Very helpful thanks!

April 13th, 2006, 03:44 PM	#11
Max Hertz New Boot Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: London Posts: 16	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.

April 13th, 2006, 03:51 PM	#12
Jeff Morrissette Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: venice, ca Posts: 83	That's a good point. Will photoshop and the other program staples have universal upgrades in the next year?

April 14th, 2006, 07:47 AM	#14
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,801	Apple has a tech support forum dedicated to Boot Camp, and it seems to have a lot of good info: http://discussions.apple.com/categor...categoryID=213

April 14th, 2006, 09:35 AM	#15
Jeff Morrissette Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: venice, ca Posts: 83	Anyone know when the mactel g5's will be out?