Resolved New Mac user, Q on BootCamp

[LiquidWordz]

Hello,

I recently ordered an rMBP (mid 2012) with 2.7 GHz i7, 16 GB of ram and standard Flash memory.

I will be using it a lot for Xcode (university work) but at the same time I thought why not do some "soft" gaming with it.
However, I have been playing on a machine from mid 2005 (custom build) so my previous gaming experience with newer games such as D3 etc. has been horrible in MP, so in order to avoid this (since I dished out 2.5K for the new rMBP) I will be using Boot Camp.

I have a question (several actually)

1. I will set 120GB of space aside for the boot camp +32GB of space for a windows OS, so this should be sufficient enough to run at least 5 to 8 games.
My Q: Is it worth installing windows XP with minimum options (Custom installs such as no IE etc.)

OR will this be stupid as ****, meaning I won’t be able to take advantage of the rMBP's Hardware (such as the 16GB of ram, which is already too much unless I do video editing work etc.)
And I know Windows XP only support directX 9.0c so 10/11 won’t be accessible.

But I am fine with that TBH, I am looking for smooth mid 60s FPS, I couldn't give a flying one about graphics, maybe medium would be a good setting on most games (old ones, I enjoy Killing Floor etc.)

TL;DR Install windows XP or 7?
WHY? Brief description please.

Also I will avoid "wrapper" software such as wineskin etc. so i "never" have to bother with problems when installing new games/software.

Cheers.

 

[ljonesj]

windows 7 with 8 games will not fit and there are no drivers for xp for the retina so you would have have windows 7 i would say 100 gigs minium for 7 with 8 games

 

[charlieegan3]

you will need more like 50-100gb min for the in partition. (depending on windows editon, architecture and the games of course - also how much free space you need)

 

[LiquidWordz]

Damn, so i gues 200GB of free space minimum, which means i would roughly have half left

Yeah thats right, i forgot about the retina drivers xD damn!

Windows 7 it is, thanks for the info.

 

[blesscheese]

As far as I know, Apple discontinued support for XP over a year ago, so you will have to install Win7.

And from what I have heard, you will likely need a 100GB partition min. for Win 7 (OS and a couple of games).

 

[TallManNY]

I did a 100 gig partition and wish I had gone bigger. But I've loaded Skyrim and Guild Wars which are both huge. Those alone left me only room for two or three other games.
Get 7 it is a nice OS so pleasant to use when you are booted in. I guess you have to anyway.

 

[LiquidWordz]

I did a 100 gig partition and wish I had gone bigger. But I've loaded Skyrim and Guild Wars which are both huge. Those alone left me only room for two or three other games.
Get 7 it is a nice OS so pleasant to use when you are booted in. I guess you have to anyway.

Or wait out the release of Win 8 (to be supported by apple via boot camp)

But I gues I will just have to go for Win 7, allocate roughly 200GB of space to it.
So I should have 250 left to play with after ML OS and other bits and bobs.

But TBH I don't think I will wait for the release of Win8, i will probably Upgrade within 6 or so months.

xD my Desktop is STILL running XP (its old tho)

 

[saotomefirst]

IMHO you should get 150GB+ to that Windows 7 - and it has to be 7, XP is not supported anymore as other ppl already said. Remember you'll need space for the OS itself, your games and any eventual updates (Win 7 already have hundreds of updates to be installed, and games tend to be updated regularly too). Also, you'll need to have 20% free space on your disk for defragmenting purposes - you can reserve less than that but I regard that number as a safety mark where I do need to do some maintenance while having working conditions).

I have a mid 2012 13''MBP (latest model) and separated 200 GB for my 'gaming' partition with Win 7. For now, it's holding steady, though I'm beginning to feel some lack of space after installing most of my Steam game library on it - including games like Dota2, Civilization V and Half Life 2. Nothing too extreme on size but already occupied 2/5 of my disk...

Now, if you don't want to buy a new Win 7 AND can accept some performance loss, you could take a look on virtualization. I've heard good things about the new Parallels version, and if you want to run games in Win XP I guess that would be your best option.