Windows and SSD compability for 13" Pro

After going through a lot of laptops for purchase and the "summer'09 edition" 13" Pro seems like a nice choice both in value, performance and size.

Before an eventual purchase does anyone have any expericence with the following:
* Does Windows XP work properly? I'm mostly familiar with Windows and depenant on it for most of my software.
* WinXP: The hardware I'll need to connect is an external LCD via DVI and an external flatscreen via HDMI. Does WinXP handle dual display/switching? I also have a USB-audio but I guess this won't require anything special.
* I have a Intel 2.5" Intel X25-M SSD. Can I upgrade the 13" with this drive? Will applying the 3.0SATA firmware restore full performance/compability for this drive?

 

I'm going to say about the exact same thing that most people here are going to say based on your post. Don't buy a Mac if you are going to run Windows the majority of the time. You haven't even asked one question about the Mac OS or any programs that run on it. If all your M.O is about is trying to turn a Mac into a full time Windows machine, it's a big mistake. The drivers on Windows from Apple are mediocre at best. You'll have issues with the trackpad acting wonky, the machine will get very hot and it eats a lot of battery life. Also the keyboard is designed with the Mac OS in mind, not Windows.
When buying a Mac, you're not just buying Apple hardware like you are when buying a Dell hardware, HP or Alienware, you are buying a completely different system that's designed to be used as a Mac OS X computer.
You can install Windows as a convenience to bridge gaps. In case you have one or two pieces of Windows software that you must run then it makes sense but for your requirements, a Mac is the wrong computer.

 

Yes, I'm only interested in the hardware. It sounds too tightly integrated towards the MacOS (as one might expect), so in that case I might pass on it. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

 

Another way is to start using the Mac OS. I have about 7 windows machines and my main laptop is a Macbook Pro 13". I have more or less completely switched to Mac (found alternatives for everything), except for Quicken on Windows. But that too, is no problem, as I have installed XP through VMWare Fusion and installed Quicken on it.

So everything works great and I can run all my apps the same now

 

SSD wise, generally not a problem although I can't speak specifically for the X25-M - all of my Apples are fitted with OCZ Vertexes. All you'll need is a Torx T6 and a 2mm screwdriver.

Windows-wise, there are some compatibility, driver, power management and other issues which makes life as a laptop in Windows a worse experience than comparable notebooks of similar attributes. As the guy above said though, if you're on a Macbook it's better to actually take the leap to OS X instead of using it as the half-assed (oh all right, three-quarter-assed) Windows machine that it is.

However in terms of apps - are they actually better alternatives, as opposed to just prettier ones, is the question. For example I find I'm surprisingly hamstrung when it comes to media - and I'm not talking about codecs, but software to play back and organise beyond the limits of the iApps. And while I own literally a truckload of Apple gear, and most of my actual productivity still happens on Vista64 machines.

The 13" form factor is nice, weight is good, the unibody construction is nice (and works on the 13 - larger sizes, the method renders the body weak) and the 5-and-change-ish-hour battery is acceptable if you aren't a portable power user. You can expend an awful lot of time looking for other machines which have the same sort of attributes. But if you want a Windows machine, get a Windows machine.

 

Im just moving to Mac myself although I think ill probably be straddling both enivronments for some time as Im a developer. The mac just has alot of options depending on what type of a user you are.

If your a typical web browsing, email reading, media playing user then there is really little reason to not just stay in MacOS and avoid the malware and viruses of the windows world.

If you have alot of Windows only business apps that you NEED to use then setup bootcamp windows and vmware / parallells to run you windows apps in the Mac desktop most of the time.

Then if you want to play games or work with 3d apps you can always boot to windows.

This gives you the advantages of macs power management and less virus prone OS most of the time and windows when you really need it. At least thats how im seeing it so far, although im going to be doing windows and mac development on the same box so im sure ill be switching back and forth more than most.