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Hi folks,

Well my first intel iMac is bought and hopefully arriving in the next few days, so I'm starting to think a bit about BootCamp. So here's the thing...I have VirtualPC 7, which includes a license of XP, although not a true install disc for XP Pro. Some questions....

1. Can I borrow an install CD of Windows XP Pro off someone and then just use my legitimate XP Pro Product Key? This isn't a question about legality...it's all legal...I just want to make sure that if I use someone else's CD, should my product key work?

2. Should I be thinking of Vista instead? And if so....what version? I have XP running on my laptop at work, so it would be quite cool to try Vista, but I'm not sure I can afford it.

3. Parallels or VMWare? I'm contemplating the latter, simply as I have Parallels at work...so it would be good to try Fusion maybe for a change?

4. With a 750 Gb HD, what would people suggest I set aside for either XP or Vista...keeping in mind that I got the bigger space for my multimedia projects...but still imagine installing a few things on the PC side.

Cheers, Phil

Hi Phil,

I'm guessing your CD key is just a normal key so it should work fine. I have a genuine Windows XP SP1 CD and have made a copy with SP2 slipstreamed into it (perfectly legal).

Anyway, you can use the CD if you want, I work at Massey as well so I can drop it off to you sometime if you'd like.

I use both Boot Camp and Parallels - Boot Camp for all my windows games and Parallels for everything else. Parallels is great but I wouldn't mind trying out Fusion as I've noticed a few issues with some of the kernel extensions Parallels loads and MATLAB (I run a lot of numerical experiments and have found that if I have the parallels extensions loaded my trackpad goes crazy and wifi drops constantly on my 2.4Ghz MBP). But if you don't really use MATLAB or run long experiments you won't run into that issue.

Have only had limited experience with Vista. It's quite different to XP so if you go the Vista route expect some downtime to give you time to learn where they put everything.


Anyway, hope you enjoy your machine.


Jay

Thanks...yeah, If I go the XP way, I was going to grab a CD from work (Massey).

Phil

The license can be carried across but on having said that you may have to contact Microsoft to get your hardware changed no thanks to the Windows Genuine disAdvantage.

I prefer Parallels but I have used Fusion and think it is a great product. In terms of using across the board (i.e. Windows and Mac) Fusion is the best option as VMWare is kind of the default standard for Virtualisation, although most of what Fusion has has already been done in Parallels (Coherence, hardware graphics, etc). Parallels is also cheaper.

They seem basically the same price to me...$79 USD ??

Phil

If you are going for the virtual system I would not recommend Vista unless you have lots and lots of RAM because otherwise it is very slow.

Thanks...sorry, should have provided more detail. 4 Gb of memory and probably more likely to boot in to Windows than use an app...but for occasional use, Parallels or VMWare. I find Parallels a little sluggish, but it may be the lack of memory on my MBP. I'm assuming Lowededwookie that you feel Parallels runs better?

With 4 Gb is it still better to use XP?

Phil

It has been suggested that Vista requires at least 2GB of RAM for it to run moderately well, so having 4 is probably sufficient. The other thing is that you only have two cores which will limit things a bit. I would stick with XP because you don't have to pay any extra and it will run smoother.
I was using VMWare, did the job nicely (so long as you don't want it for games) but Vista was painfully slow on my MBP with 2GB RAM.
You have probably seen ads selling computers with XP as if the old version is a selling point .

If you just want to launch the odd app, there is always CrossOver though it doesn't run everything at least you don't have to run two OSs at the same time.

Thanks...not really into the Cross Over idea...I like it to be the full OS...but your other comments re cores are helpful...maybe XP is the way. I was very amused in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to see so many PC shops with billboards selling items with banners that said "Includes free XP downgrade"....now that really says something.

Phil

OK...thinking of going to VMWare....I see I can get it from the Apple site (hey, I get commission!), will be good to try something new and also I've had so much hassle with Ubuntu and Parallels I just found a thread on the Parallels site that wasn't glowing (people waiting for an update) so I think VMWare as it sounds like it handles Linux well (I purely use Linux for some testing of a web-conferencing app that uses Flash).

XP also sounds like the way to go, so I guess my only question now is number 4....how much space does XP really need?

Cheers, Phil