Running Microsoft Vista on MacBook - Works Like a Charm!

The very first thing after setting up my brand new sparkling white MacBook (2GHZ) to install necessary updates and download Boot camp. Bootcamp is a partition manager and currently still available for free as it is in BETA. By then I already had some concerns as I had only bought an update to an old 2K license I have which would require a "clean" update anyway - so fingers crossed and let's hope for the best!

I should have read the Boot Camp user file first - than I would have know that the Win2K update was a bit too ambitious! Luckily I had not opened the my Vista Home Premium upgrade box an could return it and buy the FULL version.

With all the requirements fulfilled I took a deep breath and started the process in MacOSX:

Read the "read me" file coming with Bootcamp

Print out the User guide (or have it on a second PC)

Installing Bootcamp - no problem at all - just double click the file you just downloaded and follow the screens, I decided to go for the 32GB FAT partition and will most likely use the laptop with a small external Hard drive or maybe upgrade to a bigger one later on.

During the process you will have to insert a CD where Bootcamp will save the required vista drivers for your MacBook.

The MacBook then restarted directly in Windows mode and asks you to insert the operation system you wish to install. In my case the Vista Home Premium CD followed by the serial number. I also allowed the system to check the number directly online. (You can also upgrade from Microsoft XP but will need in this case to install XP first and upgrade with Vista later.)

Vista Installation started and about 30 minutes and a few restarts later everything was done!

That certainly was the easiest OS installation I had done so far - and I now have the choice between OSX 10 (Tiger) and Vista - on a beautiful sleek looking laptop - what more could I want?

I cannot say much about the performance with this setup - but I would not count on the promised 6 hours maximum battery life With regards to software running under Vista - Firefox and Skype work just fine as well as of course Office applications. If you are using Zone Laps as a firewall you will be disappointed as I could not get it running just yet.

So far so good - that's all I can report at the moment but I thought I let you know anyway. Simply because if you are going into a computer store and ask the staff - I only got a very weak smile when I wanted to buy the Apple Mac + Vista, alongside some recommendations buying "VistaforMac" (which as far as I know does not exist!) or emulator software.

Anyway - It works!

Best regards,

Anja

Anja began her career in Information Technology more than 11 years ago as a Graphic and Web Designer. As one of the project managers, Anja was responsible for the launch of the international website for the car manufacturer BMW (http://www.bmw.com) and has also worked on web projects for national television in Germany (SWR) and the DTI in the UK.

http://www.tetridia.com/

Mac Mini Spesification with Intel Core 2 Duo

Mac mini at a Glance

• 1.83GHz or 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
• Apple Remote with Front Row
• Up to 2GB memory⁴
• Intel GMA 950 graphics processor
• DVI connector, VGA adapter
• Slot-loading optical drive
• Up to 160GB hard drive⁴
• Built-in Gigabit Ethernet
• Analog and digital audio
• Expansion via USB and FireWire
• iLife ’08, Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger

Intel Core 2 Duo on Mac Mini

Based on Intel’s next-generation Core microarchitecture, the Intel Core 2 Duo offers a second-generation chip born of Intel’s new 65-nanometer process. That process lets Intel create incredibly small transistors — small enough, in fact, to fit a hundred inside a single human cell. With two powerful processors designed to share resources and circuitry so unimaginably small, Intel Core 2 Duo achieves far higher levels of performance while actually consuming less power.

64-bit.

With its 64-bit processor architecture, the Intel Core 2 Duo can manipulate data and execute instructions in chunks that are twice as large (64 bits versus 32 bits), delivering advanced computational power to Mac mini. That adds up to exceptional speed and agility, improved performance you’ll notice when working with photos in iPhoto or Aperture, creating Keynote presentations, editing video in iMovie, or playing Doom.

Speedy system architecture.

Augmenting the advanced Core 2 Duo processor is an equally advanced system architecture. It includes, for example, up to 4MB of shared L2 cache.² That’s double the amount previously available, and it really lets Mac mini fire on all cylinders. With such substantial L2 cache, data instructions can be kept close to those two processor cores, greatly increasing performance and allowing the entire system to work more efficiently. And because the processors share the L2 cache, either of the processor cores can use the entire amount if the other core happens to be idle.

And let’s not forget the enhanced, 128-bit SSE3 vector engine that the Intel Core 2 Duo processor introduces to the Mac mini family. Able to handle 128-bit computations in a single clock cycle, the SSE3 vector engine accelerates data manipulation by simultaneously applying a single instruction to multiple data. That means you can get more done in less time. So, the next time you use iMovie or Final Cut Express to render effects, you can thank the SSE3 vector engine for the snappier performance.