Installing Windows on a MacBook Pro
In my last post about Pennsylvania’s PAOpenForBusiness website, I expressed my displeasure with discovering that their Online Business Registration Interview section was grossly outdated and that I was unable to complete the process with my Intel Duo Core 2 MacBook Pro.
Unwilling to brush the dust off my old Sony VAIO, I decided to explore my options. Luckily, Mac users with Intel-based systems, have options galore if they wish to run OSX and a flavor of Windows on one machine. During my attempt to marry these OSes, I had the opportunity to test out several of these applications. The results were interesting.
The Dollar Sign in Micro$oft
Having only had a brief encounter with Windows Vista at my old job I decided to take a trek to Best Buy and see what the latest and greatest from Microsoft would cost me. I was shocked! I simply could not justify spending over $150 on an Windows OS again. So I went home and dug through my spindles of old CDs to find my ancient copy of Windows XP.
Make Sure You Have The Horsepower
My MacBook Pro came from the Apple factory with 1GB of memory, and I knew that if I wanted to run 2 operating systems at the same time that I would need to give it more. The max memory that my machine can hold is 3GB so I decided to inquire about the cost of a 2GB stick of memory during my regular trip to the Apple store.
When the salesperson told me that I would be looking at a $600 upgrade I laughed and decided to try my luck online. Within a half hour of my search I found the OEM memory online for less than $150. The installation of said memory took even less time. Now that I had sufficient oomph it was time to take a look at my options.
Boot Camp
I figured that if I’m going to run Windows on my Apple I should probably look at the software provided by Apple first. While Apple’s Boot Camp software is still in Beta, I have read nothing but great reviews about it and it’s free too! Unfortunately for me, I still do not know what it looks like on my Mac.
The software installation was a snap, but whenever my computer would reboot to start the Windows XP installation, the keyboard would stop responding. So no matter how much I wanted to Press F6 to continue installation it wasn’t happening. Time to try something else.
Parallels Desktop for Mac
Another product that I have read rave reviews about was Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac. At $79.99 it’s a bit expensive, but it does what I need it to do, right? Well, not quite. You see, my copy of Windows XP is pre-Service Pack 2, and its required that you have Windows XP SP2 or later for Parellels.
Being the stubborn person that I am, I decided to use their free trial to see if I could load XP and then upgrade to SP2 afterwards. A blue screen of death and a continuous loop of reboots told me that it just wasn’t going to happen. Next!
VMWare Fusion
As luck would have it, Paul Stamatiou (mentioned in an earlier entry) wrote a blog post comparing Parallels to VMWare Fusion right at the same time of my BSOD. Intrigued, I decided to give it a try. At $59.99, Fusion is a bargain when compared to Parallels or a Windows upgrade, but the true test still had to be performed: Will it allow me to upgrade my copy of Windows XP to Service Pack 2? The answer is YES. Moments after my Windows install, I was upgraded to SP2 and installing other things.
Fusion is one quick application. In a side-by-side comparison, CNET’s tests indicate that Fusion blows Parallels out of the water. It’s 3.5 times faster, and for a good reason, it supports two CPU cores. Parallels does not.
A feature of Fusion that I absolutely love is Unity. This application allows you to hide the XP interface entirely and view your applications within OSX instead. While I didn’t feel the need to hide Windows initially, I find myself using it more and more. I still cannot get used to seeing the minimize, maximize, and close buttons in the upper-right hand corner of my screen again though.
I’m a Happy Camper
In the end, VMWare Fusion does exactly what I need and without ever breaking a sweat. It allows me to run Internet Explorer so that I can finally register my business online and I can once again use Microsoft Money for Small Business (more on this in a future post). If you’re interested in running Windows on your Mac, then look no further. VMWare Fusion is the answer that makes the most sense.
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Could I just say for starters - I have the dream, but I am yet to be man enough and realise it, same as you, to find myself as a internet rockstar.
I’ve recently put bootcamp on my MacBook Pro and it works a dream, but with the constant restarting, I’m looking at parallels and vmware, and before this post, parallels was the winner. I’m on WinXP SP2, so I may consider VM.
Keep it up, I will be a regular reader,
cheers,
Ross
Hey Ross, use VMWARE!! it is so much faster and more stable that parallels, we have tested both at work, the best thing with vmware, not sure if you can do it in parallels, but if you have bootcamp running, simply installing vmware will recognize your bootcamp and you can run it no worries. perfect. if you want to start in bootcamp you can, or run it in vmware.
Ha… I felt the reverse way recently when I helped a friend of mine set up a new MacBook. It was weird having the buttons up in the left.. being a hardcore pc geek I started to feel a little nauseas. Did you feel the same when using windows?
Hey Travis! I’m actually a “hardcore PC geek” turned avid MacFanBoy.
I’ve lived and breathed Microsoft since my first computer, a Tandy 386x and one of my last job roles was to provide Desktop and Server support for a Fortune 500 company. All of which ran on a flavor of Windows.
Each day after work I could feel myself revolt when I sat in front of my personal computer, running Windows XP. I wanted something different, something that would renew my interest in computers, and that’s when I made the switch.
Like you, I found the transition to be confusing. I couldn’t use several of the programs that I had learned to rely upon within Windows, but I soon found out that I didn’t need to. A lot of their functionality was already built into the OS, and those that weren’t I found suitable replacements, some of which offered features that I didn’t know I wanted, or needed, until I started using them.
The funniest part of my transition from Windows to Apple OSX was when I tried to remove programs. I spent what seemed like forever scouring the web in search of the Apple variant of Windows “Add/Remove Programs”. Ultimately, my search ended in futility. You see, with OSX, you don’t need an add/remove programs. That’s what the trash can is for. Want to delete a program…throw it away. Genius!
Jack…
I Googled for something completely different, but found your page…and have to say thanks. nice read….
I got Parallels…BIG MISTAKE! It constantly crashes, and now it doesn’t even open! It starts bouncing and gives me an error, saying it quit unexpectedly. OVER AND OVER AND OVER! Reboot, no difference, nothing.
I tried the trial for VM Ware and love it, sooo much better.
But I think, crap, that’s 80 bucks down the drain.
And I’d like to mention that I think VMware Fusion is now at $79, same as Parallels.
[…] sidebar. If I’m required to download and install the application, don’t hesitate. I use VMWare Fusion daily and have no problem booting up Windows or Linux on my MacBook Pro to take a […]