XP Pro or Vista Home Premium for MBP?

[Evangelion]

I have need to run few Windows-only apps (games....), so I need to get in to dual-boot. I have a MBP with 160GB HD, and I have been thinking about giving Windows 50-60GB space on that HD. Prices of OEM-Windows seem to be more or less similar between XP and Windows. So the question remains: which one?

I know XP and I know what it does and does not do. It has bulletproof compatibility when it comes to older games, and I think newer games will support it for a long time as well. But it's security is dismal and it looks pretty plain.

Vista has better security (propably) and it look better. It will be supported for years to come, but I'm not sure about compatibility with older games. Also, it consumes more resources, and I'm especially concerned about HD-space.

 

[xUKHCx]

Vista does take up more HD space and has been shown to be slower with games. Vista is more secure than Xp but if you take the right precautions then you should be fine.

If it were me then i would avoid Vista as i don't really get on with it. There is an upcoming service pack which should iron out quite a lot of the bugs in vista.

 

[devman]

XP all the way for what you've described.

 

[cloudstrife13]

I have a copy of Vista but on my new iMac I went out and got a OEM copy of XP because all I want to run windows on it for is for games and XP performs most of them better.

I got a Mac so I can use OS X, only reason I want to install windows is games so I'm going with the OS that will run those games the best.

 

[panzer06]

I have a copy of Vista but on my new iMac I went out and got a OEM copy of XP because all I want to run windows on it for is for games and XP performs most of them better.

I got a Mac so I can use OS X, only reason I want to install windows is games so I'm going with the OS that will run those games the best.

XP Pro all the way. Much faster on most games (no DirectX10 features but 8600M GT will not be as fast running Vista and DX10 options enabled).

Cheers

 

[Denali9]

Vista or XP

Actually I put Vista Home Premium and I actually like it. The problem with Vista is that you need really good hardware to run it but you have it on a MBP and hence my experience with it has been really good. I was actually surprised with the stability and speed of Vista on a MBP. If I had a MB, I would probably have to put XP. In the last month, I actually had more problems with applications within OS X than within Vista (but then again I use OS X more often).

I run the following games without any problem:
Oblivion
Civ IV
UT 2004
HL 2
CS

I assigned only 40 GB to the partition and I install most games on an external HD using FW400.

 

[GFLPraxis]

I have need to run few Windows-only apps (games....), so I need to get in to dual-boot. I have a MBP with 160GB HD, and I have been thinking about giving Windows 50-60GB space on that HD. Prices of OEM-Windows seem to be more or less similar between XP and Windows. So the question remains: which one?

I know XP and I know what it does and does not do. It has bulletproof compatibility when it comes to older games, and I think newer games will support it for a long time as well. But it's security is dismal and it looks pretty plain.

Vista has better security (propably) and it look better. It will be supported for years to come, but I'm not sure about compatibility with older games. Also, it consumes more resources, and I'm especially concerned about HD-space.

Vista's slower, consuming more resources and hard drive space. It also has very poor compatibility with older games.

XP'll be much faster and leaner, and it can be secure if you're careful with it. Install FireFox and an antivirus...or better yet, just don't surf the web with it, do that on the Mac side of things, and you'll have no security problems.

I'd recommend XP myself, especially since you can get OEM copies for $80.

 

[Bronco]

XP is the best option.

 

[Yoursh]

Unless there are specific features in Vista you plan on using, stick with XP. I've run both on my Macbook but actually stuck with Win 2000 in virtualization since it takes up the least amount of system resources and runs the software I need.

Better the devil you know then the devil you don't.....

 

[Evangelion]

OK, it seems that I might be using XP. I was leaning towards XP from the beginning, but just wanted to be sure. Thank you all for your replies .

 

[Mr.Pibb]

I'd go with Vista. There's a small margin of difference in speed when it comes to gaming between XP or Vista on a beefed up machine like a MacBook Pro. I also highly believe that the 8600m GT, even the 128 MB version, will run DX10 games just fine - not all of them will be as demanding as the ones coming out this fall - however I believe they too will run just fine as well.

I just installed Vista Home Premium today and I am completely happy with it. It actually takes up less space then OSX does - which takes up about 19 GB, Vista will only take up about 12 - 15 GB.

Vista is the direction that the PC gaming industry is going towards so I wouldn't waste my money on buying a copy of XP today, then buying a copy of Vista in 6-12 months. It's becoming more and more stable each month, and dont be worried about resources... it's one of the reasons most laptops now come standard with 2 GBs of RAM - which is more then enough to run even the cheezy Vista effects.

If you REALLY wanna be stuck playing those same DX9 titles for the lifetime of your MBP then go ahead, otherwise I would rethink your decision.

 

[ataylora]

I have Vista Business on my MBP and it is much nicer to use than XP was. It is also very snappy on the MBP. Also, games seem to run just as well with it as with XP.

I would go Vista if I were you, based on my experience with each on the MBP.

 

[miniConvert]

XP for games, all the way.

 

[ataylora]

XP for games, all the way.

You just made that up, didn't you? In fact, Vista's gaming performance is no worse than XPs because the MBP easily fulfills Vista's hardware requirements.

 

[xUKHCx]

You just made that up, didn't you? In fact, Vista's gaming performance is no worse than XPs because the MBP easily fulfills Vista's hardware requirements.

Well not really that has been the general advice by many many places. For example see here. One example given below, in another exmaple the difference is as much as 43%

 

[Perfectionist]

When MS get around to releasing the Vista service pack ..... will it then make Vista better for everything (including games) than XP ?

 

[craigc_]

I would go with XP. To me Vista isn't worth getting right now. Try and get the games that you play that run on Mac, then the rest for XP. Gotta stay true to your Mac!