Running Windows Vista on a Mac
Here are a few questions I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability. This week my mailbox contained questions about running Windows on a Macintosh computer, using one monitor for watching TV and computing, and turning digital photos into a printed book.
In a recent column, you said Microsoft had imposed a legal prohibition on running the Home versions of Windows Vista on a Macintosh using virtualization programs like Parallels and Fusion. Does the same prohibition apply if you are installing Vista using Apple’s Boot Camp software?
No, because Boot Camp doesn’t create a virtual Windows computer — it actually carves out part of an Intel-based Macintosh’s hard disk and turns it into a full-blown physical Windows computer. To Windows, a Mac configured this way looks just like any Dell or Hewlett-Packard or other standard Windows computer. Boot Camp is free, but, such as Parallels and Fusion, it requires you to purchase a full, boxed copy of Windows to install.
The upside of the Boot Camp approach is that, when you are running Windows on the Mac, all of the computer’s hardware is devoted to Windows, because the Mac’s own operating system, OS X, isn’t running at all and a portion of the hard disk is reserved for the exclusive use of Windows. The downside is that you cannot run the two operating systems simultaneously, as you can with virtual solutions such as Parallels and Fusion. To switch between using Windows programs and Mac programs, you must restart the machine while holding down the Option key and then choose whether you want it to boot into Windows or Mac OS X. Both Parallels and Fusion can, however, use a Boot Camp Windows installation to create a virtual version of Windows that can be used simultaneously with the Mac OS.
If you install Boot Camp on a well-equipped Mac model, it can become a blazing fast Vista computer. A few days ago I bought a top-of-the-line model of Apple’s new iMac line, and installed Boot Camp and Vista. I then tested the machine using Vista’s built-in Windows Experience Index, a rating system that goes from 1 to 5.9, with scores above 3.0 generally required for full, quick performance. My iMac scored a 5.0, the best score of any consumer Vista machine I have tested. Obviously, a tricked-out high end Dell or HP box might do as well or better, and a lesser Mac might do worse. But the score was very impressive for a computer that wasn’t designed with Vista in mind.
We have a Sony PC and a 17-inch LCD monitor. Currently, we have a separate old-fashioned TV in the room, with a cable box connected to it. Is there any way to buy a larger LCD monitor and be able to watch TV via the cable box and also use the same screen when we use the computer?
A good approach would be to buy an LCD television that has both the usual connectors for your cable box and a connector, or input, for a personal computer. There are many such models, in various sizes. If you bought such a TV, you would switch between the PC and the cable box by changing inputs on your remote. Just make sure the PC input is compatible with your computer, or that an adapter is available to make it compatible. Many PCs and PC-friendly TVs use the older, common VGA connector, which is an analog input, but others use various newer digital connectors. You can also connect some computers to LCD TVs using standard connectors that aren’t specifically labeled as being for PCs. This is especially true for some Windows Media Center PCs that are designed to work with TVs.
Have you rated any of the Web businesses that assemble personal photos into a book format?
Yes. My colleague Katherine Boehret and I reviewed three contenders in that category in December, and in our judgment, at that time, MyPublisher (www.mypublisher.com) was the best of that group. You can read the column at http://solution.allthingsd.com/20061206. However, the books from Apple, Shutterfly and Blurb are also favorites of many readers.
You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free of charge at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.
Write to Walter S. Mossberg at mossberg@wsj.com
Comments
I recently purchased a Macbook along with Parallels 3.0 and a full copy of Windows XP. After installing Parallels I was able to move my entire HP notebook including Windows into the Macbook using a wirewire cable. It took several hours, but I did not need the copy of XP that I had purchased.
Posted by Daniel Lindsey at August 23rd, 2007 at 1:48 pmhi walt,
regarding your mailbox answer today, referring your reader to your previous column on photo books, have you had a chance to look at iphoto’s new photo book options? I was wondering if that might change you thinking.
Posted by jeff kisseloff at August 23rd, 2007 at 2:31 pmI’ve been using Bootcamp since it was first released to run Windows XP and Vista . The performance of XP on a Mac Mini with 1.25 gb of memory is exceptional. It is the fastest, most trouble free installation of Windows I’ve ever run. Both Parallels and Fusion, however, failed to perform as well, and I found that running a virtual machine had a significant negative impact on the performance of OS X. The Mini just didn’t seem to have enough horsepower. Maybe the new ones with the Intel Core 2 Duos improve on this, but the original Mini’s had performance problems with running virtual machines.
I also own a MacBook with 2 gb of RAM and run Parallels and Fusion and find the performance to be excellent. Graphics-intensive applications will cause the fan to come on which can create quite a racket in a meeting. The effect on performance from running a virtual machine on OS X on a MacBook is minimal, but XP definitely has less of an impact than Vista.
My next Mac is going to be equipped with a top-of-the-line graphics adapter and as much RAM as the iMac will hold. That seems to be the trick to running either Parallels or Fusion with a minimum impact on OS X.
Based on my experience with Apple computers, I won’t be buying a Dell, HP or Gateway anytime soon!
Posted by Ron Lockhart at August 23rd, 2007 at 4:07 pmHi Walt,
Posted by David Nelson at August 24th, 2007 at 4:43 pmI really enjoy reading your reviews. Great perspective on current technology. My comment surrounds Parallels vs. Bootcamp and running Windows Vista on my Macbook Pro. I have a 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo with 2GB RAM and a Radeon X1600 graphics card. I had initially installed Vista separately via Bootcamp and it seemed to work pretty well with the Mac hardware fully dedicated to Vista. Since then I purchased Parallels current version and installed my Vista there. In retrospect, I think that was a mistake. It takes about 10 mins to bring up Vista in Parallels and while Vista is loading I can’t do anything with the Mac. I have tweaked memory and all the settings Parallels support recommends yet OS X barely creeps along. I have allocated 75% of my memory to Parallels and once that is up and running it is actually quite fast. But the OS X side is so slow it is painful. Maybe I need to get into the latest Macbook Pro that has a little faster processor with 4GB of memory to make Parallels and OS X work better together. Basically, what I have found here is that with my setup it really doesn’t make sense to use Parallels. Since, the OS X side of the Mac is basically useless when running Parallels, I should just use Bootcamp. It is faster to switch between the two OS’s by re-booting, than it is to wait for Parallels to get out of the way. Maybe this new Vmware Fusion you mentioned would be efficient enough on this machine. I might have to try that. Thanks.
I have been using both Parallels and VMWare Fusion beta. I am a bit different in that I am running a bit of esoteric software made for designing knitware (www.greatknitdesigns.com). The software is an older Win 3.1 program that has been tweaked for Win 98, and beyond. As such, it has a bit of wonky code and is even having some issues running under Vista HOME.
I purchased Parallels for my MacBook with 2 Gig RAM in January and loaded the knitting program. It runs under Parallels, but for some reason, the database of custom designs gets corrupted very easily. Naturally, this is a bit of an issue. It’s not fun to lose all you designs.
I downloaded the beta of VMWare Fusion and have had no problems, despite actively trying to create them. I have “crashed” the Windows machine, I have left files unsaved and open. I’ve crashed the Mac instead of shutting it down. In short, I’ve done everything I can think of to cause a problem.
I agree there are a few more bells and whistles to parallels but, for me at least, it is definitely NOT the best choice.
If you’re having problems running specific Windows programs on your Mac with Parallels, VMware is worth looking at.
Posted by Iris Moon at August 25th, 2007 at 12:47 amI posted your argument on my site
Posted by Xaver Factor at August 26th, 2007 at 8:38 amhttp://www.mymac.cc
can someone help me?
Posted by orit taylor at November 11th, 2007 at 11:25 pmI simply want to install Bootcamp on my MAC, to watch TV and synch my mobile. Is Vista or XP likely to be better for that? thanks