On Wed, 2007-04-18 at 22:22 +0100, Bob W wrote: > The children of one of my friends want a laptop, and more particularly > they want a MacBook. My friend knows nothing about computers, but she > needs to be able to run Windows software for a course she'll be taking > later this year. > > What extras are required to be able to run Windows software on a Mac, > and what is the performance of Windows software like when run this > way?
There are three options to run Windows on an Intel-based Mac. Each option requires a valid Windows 2000/XP/Vista install disk and license which is a separate purchase from the software listed below. 1) BootCamp http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/ 2) Parallels www.parallels.com 3) VMWare Fusion http://www.vmware.com/products/beta/fusion/ Bootcamp boots straight into windows or into OSX from cold start. Parallels/VMWare run Windows in a virtual machine within OSX. Performance does not take too much of a hit when virtualized; in any of the options it's mostly based on the hardware in the MacBook and will be comparable to a non-Apple hardware macine of similar specifications, but you will want to have a lot of memory in any case; 1 Gig at least; 2 Gigs would be better. Apple currently doesn't charge for BootCamp. Parallels costs money. VMWare currently doesn't charge for Fusion but probably will once it comes out of beta. I've seen all three in action. Parallels is my favorite solution currently. Michael -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
