Convince me: XP or Vista in boot camp

[illegallydead]

So here's my situation: I currently have XP loaded in parallels, but I want to make a boot camp partition so that I can run windows natively for a couple of games I have (they stutter and skip under parallels).

So the question is: should I install XP or Vista once I am ready? I will also use the boot camp partition as my new virtual machine for parallels once everything is "settled in".

Some info: I have a Early '07 MB: 2.16GHz, 2GB RAM, GMA950, 120GB HDD
I am for sure looking to play Portal (from the Orange Box) and perhaps a few others. I have copies of both XP Pro and Vista Ultimate, so, which would be advisable?

Thanks for you input all!

 

[sangosimo]

I would go with xp. I generally go xp for 32 bit and vista for 64 bit.

 

[Wolfpup]

Vista's fine, but in your case I guess you might as well go for XP. Vista wouldn't really give you any advantages over XP on your hardware.

 

[aki]

i usually say vista.... like on a new mac why would u install os 10.4 not 10.5

not sure about wolfpup and your machine tho maybe a smaller older os is smoother for u

 

[illegallydead]

thanks for the input everyone. I went ahead and did vista, mainly so that I can learn more of how it works for when it inevitably replaces XP due to Microsoft's stopping the sale of XP soon.

Unfortunately, I made the new partition a little on the small side, so I am now in the process of imaging, repartitioning, and restoring the install I JUST DID. Fun fun.

 

[SoybeanStasher]

I went with Vista for DirectX 10, though in retrospect the difference on a 9600M GT probably isn't much.

 

[MBPgracie]

Iv used both, and XP wins by a country mile. It does exactly what you want it too do with no frills and without using too much memory.

I use Parallels 4, and really is a pleasure.

The best part is still when you revert back to the mighty Leopard

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

I tried using Vista, it was great but XP has a smaller footprint. If you really want to make the best of your GPU, go for XP.

 

[Hexaea]

On you machine, I'd go with XP.

Vista is a good OS, it's just bloated.
Normally 2gigs will be fine, but for gaming, I'd say stick with XP till you have a good 4gigs of RAM.

 

[trolli]

Vista in Parallels

Hi,

if you would go with vista, in paralles you need 4 GB of RAM. When I use my vista installation there is nothing of free RAM left with only 2 GB. So I would go with vista and additional RAM or stay with XP.

 

[matta626]

Can't install Vista 32bit on my mac book pro using bootcamp

i get through the entire installation, to the point when i'm supposed to put in the OS x disk to install drivers, but i cant get the windows disk to eject. im at my wits end... everything i try fails. please HELP!

 

[Wolfpup]

Open My Computer (or whatever it's called now), right click the DVD drive, and choose eject-or click the drive and click eject to the side if Vista still has that.

 

[alphaod]

Or if you're too lazy to do that, you could restart the computer, and hold down the mouse button to eject it.

 

[matta626]

RE:Can't install Vista 32bit on my mac book pro using bootcamp

this is happening in the middle of the installation process, i have no icons or options to choose from. is there a way to force eject. the only time i can successfully eject the Vista disk is if i cancel the install and restart in OS X, only then will the disk eject normally.

 

[Wolfpup]

Crud...that's weird. If you need chipset drivers to get Vista running on there (during the install), I guess you'd need to have them on a like a USB flash drive or something.

When I've installed Windows in the past, you could just finish installing, THEN install chipset drivers and everything else from the CD you burned.

 

[matta626]

how do i get OS X onto a USB flash drive?

Do i just drag it to the specified drive?

 

[Wolfpup]

No, if Windows won't finish installing without specific chipset drivers for that Nvidia chipset, you'd need those drivers on a flash drive for the install (since you can't eject the disc).

 

[matta626]

What drivers do i need exactly?

Where do i find them and which ones do i need?

 

[BlackLight]

which version of vista do you recommend i install on my new macbook ....32bit or 64bit .....i read somewhere that the macbook only support 32bit version of windows ....how true is that...and will ultimate run slow on my macbook.

 

[Wolfpup]

Where do i find them and which ones do i need?

See if you can find them on the OS X disc or the Boot Camp installer. If not, I'd assume you'd have to get them from Nvidia's site...though you may need Windows to extract them.

which version of vista do you recommend i install on my new macbook ....32bit or 64bit .....i read somewhere that the macbook only support 32bit version of windows ....how true is that...and will ultimate run slow on my macbook.

I think for most people 32-bit makes more sense as you'll avoid possible compatibility issues (which some people may never encounter, but there are definitely programs that won't work right on 64-bit Windows). It's a moot point if you have 4GB anyway, as you're not really gaining anything-64-bit OSes use more RAM.

And I wouldn't buy "Ultimate" edition Vista. It's basically just most of the features of Home Premium and Business in one package. Unless you need Microsoft's DVR software AND the ability to log in to a domain in one system, it's pretty pointless.

 

[zap2]

I have Vista Bussiness installed on my Core Duo Mac Mini, and it runs wonderfully

I've only got a 1.25Gbs of RAM, but for the basic stuff I do(FireFox, OpenOffice), its good. I'm considering uping it to 2Gb(a 1GB stick of RAM is only 16 bucks!)

So far I'm impressed, not beating out OS X, but a decent OS

 

[Bengt77]

I'm running Vista 64 on my new unibody MacBook, and it's great. It runs extremely smoothly, and looks so much more friendly and pretty than XP, it's not even funny.

 

[nplima]

hi,

as it happened with windows 95 and XP (probably before too but I can't remember), it took some time until 3rd party developers created the add-ons that turn the vanilla installation of Vista into something that does the job properly. In this case it's all about disabling features that are irritating and/or bad for performance compared to the added functionality they provide. Have a look at this software and you'll probably end up using it for every install of windows vista:

http://arstechnica.com/journals/mic...l-tweak-ui-for-vista-ultimate-windows-tweaker

I'd venture saying that for current computers, this "ultimate tweaker" finally renders XP obsolete.

I'd also recommend people dual booting Vista to have a look at the TinyVista project. Even if you decide not to download the finalized ISO from pirate bay, you may want to learn what the tweaks were to turn Vista into a 600MB pre-install package.

 

[XianPalin]

XP definitely with 2GB of ram for gaming. Otherwise Vista will eat up all your RAM and your games will run a lot worse than XP.

 

[Dorfdad]

XP definitely with 2GB of ram for gaming. Otherwise Vista will eat up all your RAM and your games will run a lot worse than XP.

OK but what about 4 gigs of ram!?