Boot Camp Installation – Windows Vista on a Mac Notebook

Conclusion… Sort of

So, now you have Windows on your Mac… but how does it perform? And what ways are there to improve the performance on your machine?

There are a couple things that can be done. First off run Windows XP instead of Vista. It is faster, and runs much cooler on the MBP. (You can download a fan controller for the Mac that will help with heat)

If all you have is Vista, or your just want to take the plunge into the new OS, than the only thing you can really do is to run as much ram in your MBP as you can. Depending on the age of your Mac, you will be able to run either 3 o 4 GB tops. Vista seems to do fine on 2Gb, but if you decide to run Vista in a Virtual Machine environment you will certainly need to max out your ram. In my case, I can run 3GB of ram, so when I run Windows in a VM, I leave 1GB for OSX and 2GB for Vista. If I am running Windows XP in a VM, I usually leave 1.5GB for each OS and all is fine.

Legit Bottom Line: With the release of Boot Camp, Intel based Mac users have the option to run Windows and applications written for it on their Mac. It not only will save them money and allow them to play Windows based games on the Mac, but also gives them the opportunity to have the best of both worlds at their fingertips. If you are game, give Boot Camp a try and see what you think.

Stay tuned for an article on the difference between having 2GB and 3GB installed in your Mac while running Vista on its own and in a VM.