Running Windows on a Mac: Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop & VMware Fusion

I actually can't find it in the system profiler! But shall take Johnny's word for it

The audio is Intel HD Audio, that's what I'm getting in the profiler.

 

You should be able to find the serial number in the system profiler or what ever it's called in OSX. (I am sure you know your way around it better than I do, and if I can find it, so can you haha) Seagate is the only company that makes (or selling) 500GB 7200rpm hdd right now.

 

Yup got it,

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...ecadd110VgnVCM100000f5ee0a0aRCRD&locale=en-US

 

Does the 7200 rpm HDD come as standard with the 17" or is it an extra option?

 

Nope sadly 5400 is the stock, It was 45 euro for the upgrade, but I got quite a bit off because of the student discount.

 

i hear the 7200 rpm causes a lot of vibration. i would stick with a 500gb 5400rpm if i were you

 

Maybe on some, but it runs fine on mine...and as I DJ with it I need the faster read.


EDIT: Not sure if you meant this Luke, but I have this problem with the 7200 RPM:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9828166

Funny enough my music doesn't freeze :S

 

i was not refering to this article. i was refering to some pages on youtubes, here, macrumors, etc, where i read that many people were either going for the stock 5400rpm one or going to the 5400 rpm 500gb.

 

Hello guys!

I am having a lot of trouble with the installation of Windows XP through Bootcamp. it is weird, because I have already installed it on my MBA last year, and 2 years ago on another MBP, without any hassle.
With my new MBP, I keep encountering problems.
For a long time, I just couldn't install Windows. Now, I have managed to do it. However, when I install bootcamp drivers from the Leopard DVD, it installs stuff, but after I reboot, it seems that nothing has changed, e.g., I can't double-click or scroll with the touchpad, no Nvidia drivers...
When I try to install the Nvidia drivers manually from the Leopard DVD, it tells me that it can't find the drivers compatible with my operating system (Windows XP Pro french)...
Also, it seems that I am missing the Bootcamp control panel, or part of it since from there I can only control the startup disk...

Any ideas? I am getting a bit desperate...
Thx ;-)

 

Are you using the Leopard DVD that came with the MBP?

 

Hmmm...I am not sure, given that I also have another Leopard DVD, which didn't came with a MBP.
I will check at home tonight.
Do you think it can be the reason?
Are Leopard DVDs different from one machine to another???

 

I believe that OS X DVDs that come bundled with Macbooks are somehow locked to the Macbooks they come with only. A retail Leopard DVD would work on any Mac.

 

I read somewhere that 1 dvd for macbook pro will only be able to install on macbook pros..each version has a different dvd.

 

Thanks guys, you were right! I feel so stupid...
Well, at least, everything is fine now, and I have installed both Bootcamp and Parallels, whose installation has been a breeze.
Only need to install a few windows programs now and I am all set!
I am installing Matlab right now, and it takes ages, something like 40 minutes!
Well, at least it works, and it is all that matters.

 

im glad it worked for you. best if luck with your beauty.

 

Have s.o trying to install windows 7 beta on vmware fusion? I wanna use windows 7 on my MBP 13" but i'm used bootcamp, it's really bad with VGA card. Just 1.0 rating for 3d graphics.

 

lol. that's to be expected because a virtual machine greatly reduces performance. for native speed, it is advised to run bootcamp.

 

Hey guys,

I recently read here that Apple has finally delivered on battery life on Windows 7 with the Bootcamp 3.0 drivers. Just wondering what everyone's experience has been on their own systems?

Thanks

 

what if we install only bootcamp 3.0? will the battery life be as great?

 

Yeah, I'm guessing the result of the better battery life has just to do with the Bootcamp 3.0 drivers. Would love to see some benchmarks comparing the older and newer drivers, maybe Anand will look into it since they've done quite a few battery life comparisons between Windows and OS X on Apple hardware.

 

Can someone give us exact numbers?

 

yes, i just want to know the amount of time i will get on a single charge (old gen unibody macbook pro) and the average gpu temperature on windows. thanks.

 

I don't believe this thing about improved battery life.

I tried Boot Camp 3 beta back in June, and Windows 7 RC on MacBook. Everything still sucked, from trackpad, to backlit keyboard and battery life (half of OS X).

 

maybe be skeptical until you've tried it but... a beta does not a full release make

 

And apart from battery life about which we have some reports, how are other things like keyboard backlight? About touchpad I read it's better but still too sensitive. Any informations about those two things? Were there any other issues?

 

I have the option of ordering Windows 7 Professional 32 bit or 64 bit, and when I install SL in the near future, I may put Windows 7 on it as well (just in case). Which version should I get? 32 or 64? My MBP has 2.8GHz C2D, 4GB RAM, 500GB HD.
Thanks!

 

Let's say I have a gut feeling... Apple would have no reason to suddenly make running Windows on their notebooks seem advantegous. That's why they haven't fix the trackpad issue, backlit keyboard issue, battery life and other stuff (like making the 9400M visible to Windows on MacBook Pro's, instead of running only the 9600M. I mean, it's a total waste of energy... I thought Apple wanted to be more environmental friendly here... ).

Battery life may have improved slightly in Windows 7 in any case though, regardless of notebook, since it's been reported Microsoft have been working on it.

 

64bit. Only 64bit OSes can recognise the full 4GB ram.

 

I ended up ordering the 64 bit Windows 7 Professional today. I was told that it should be here early next week.

 

em,what? W7 comes with both 32 bit and 64 bit and will ship in October... allso, there is no "professional" version AFAIK!

 

That's the "retail" version. Mine is a Volume License, and it is available for ordering/delivery; and, there IS a Pro version of Windows 7

http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/business/archive/2009/09/01/windows-7-volume-license-and-trial-availability.aspx

By the way, it was only $41.20

 

i know there'll be w7 home basic, w7 home premium, w7 ultimate.....i didnt know if w7 professional would be released...weird.

 

Why are you guys surprised? Win7 Professional was announced months ago (it was even part of the discounted pre-sale). Just to educate the Mac crowd, here are the Windows 7 versions:

- Windows 7 Starter (limited to three apps concurrently)
- Windows 7 Home Basic (for emerging markets)
- Windows 7 Home Premium (adds Aero, Touch, Media Center)
- Windows 7 Professional (Remote Desktop host, Mobility Center, Presentation mode)
- Windows 7 Enterprise (volume license only, boot from virtual drive, BitLocker)
- Windows 7 Ultimate (includes everything)

 

6 versions of same OS?RIDICULOUS!

 

It is more like 3 actually. The retail versions will include, Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate on the shelves, and MS thinks that more than 80% of retail buyers will be buying Home Premium or Professional (those were the only two that went on sale for pre-order at $49 and $99, respectively).

If you are a business, you'll be able to get the Enterprise (Volume License only). Starter will come pre-installed in netbooks (initially, it was going to be available only in certain parts of the world and not on netbooks exclusively, but apparently MS received great feedback from netbook manufacturers/users and decided to put Starter edition on netbooks).

Hope this helps

 

well thanks for the heads up!!

 

No problem.

I may end up using the Win7 Pro 64 for the desktop though. If I end up getting a 160GB SSD, the HD space will be at a premium, and I dont want to "waste" any of it with Windows installation. So far, everything that I used to do on a Windows PC works on my Mac, which is great!

 

i read on amazone faqs that the boxes will be supplied with both 32 and 64bit dvd's. it is up to the user to decide what he wants to install.

 

I can confirm. I'm running Windows 7 Professional, the 32-bit key worked fine installing the 64-bit version.

 

well, thanks for the info!!!

 

Apple said that they are going to start official W7 support by winter!

 

lol!! they don't even support Vista...You cannot even switch gpu in Vista

 

My Windows 7 came with both a 32 bit and 64 bit CD and I installed the 32 Bit. I had some problems last time I used the 64 Bit version of Vista on my desktop so I decided to just stick with the 32 bit version this time using parallels 5.

 

i also like the 32 bit windows. less hassles and better compatibility. i had to download a patch and do some tweaking to get visual c++ sdk to work.

 

so can someone please give me a quick rundown of the issues running win7 on a current model macbook pro?? i've had a quick read of this thread but i can only see them briefly mentioned... it'd be great if someone could quickly outline them!

also, what is the battery life like??

i was thinking that a 13.3" mbp would make a wicked windows machine with the awesome touchpad and backlit keyboard, but it seems that isn't so?

 

Hello!

I've had Win7 running on my early 09 MB 13' since I got it. I've had absolutely NO problems with my setup except for heat when playing 3D games in Windows. The solution is a bit of a pain but it works. I boot into OSX and use smcfancontrol to set the fan to 6000rpm, then reboot into Win7. And yes, it does make a wicked Win7 machine...

JWB

BTW, I use rEFIt to dual-boot.

Oh, and to answer your question about battery life under Win7, Win7 reports MUCH shorter battery (2hrs in Win7 / 3+hrs in OSX) life than I get under OSX. I've never actually run the battery down under Win7 so I don't know if it's just a reporting issue with the driver or Win7 actually burns through the battery that much faster than OSX.

 

i heard windows 7 support should be official by december but no news till date...

 

what more does it need? besides missing features that have always been missing.. like 9400/9600 swap, Win 7 has been working just fine for me so far.

 

i don't know what apple means by support but this is definitely nice.

 

I just purchased v 3.0.1 of VMware Fusion.


I'm running XP Pro under bootcamp and have a VM using that. I know its not the latest greatest OS but I require XP for some of my clients/contracts to run Oracle Apps with JInitiator. Basically jinitiator depends on Sun 1.3 JDK which is not supported under vista or Win7.

Anyways, works great! I really like the Unity feature running Windows seamlessly inside of the OS/X. Having 8gig of ram helps alot too. I throw 3 gig at the VM and the rest for the OSX.

Considering importing the bootcamp partition into a VM and then dropping bootcamp entirely to free up valuable disk space. I've not tried backing up xp "MyDocument" files via my Genie backup in the VM yet. I need to be sure that works first before I blow away bootcamp.

Other than performance loss from not being in a native windows partition, are there any CONs to getting rid of Bootcamp and using only a VM? Such as file backup issues, etc?

Also toying with the idea of buying Win7 x64 and running it in Bootcamp for the coolness factor and for having 8 gig available natively without using VMware. Then I'd keep my XP Pro as just a VM for when I do my Oracle development. I think I'm going to need more disk space for all of these VMs and os partitions, lol... dual 256gb SSDs and move the optical drive to an external housing

Thanks,

Ben