[GeckoGuy]

What version of Windows should I get to run Boot Camp?
Windows Vista 64-bit?
Windows Vista 32-bit?
Windows XP Pro?
Which version will work the best?
Where do you suggest I buy it from?

[Typhoon14]

That depends somewhat on what you're planning to do with it. My general recommendation would be Windows XP Pro. Of the three you mentioned, XP pro has the:
best compatibility
least bugs
best price

[sefton]

If you're going to go with Vista make sure you have 2GB memory as a minimum.

[minischneides]

It depends on what you are going to be using the computer for. However although by no means reliable, Windows XP Pro will be MORE reliable then Vista

[icerabbit]

Which mac do you have?
Generally my answer is XP PRO SP2. You can order it from places like Newegg.com. With a very well equipped system you could get away with Vista ... but honestly it is a very big annoyance and a huge peformance hit. My newest computer has XP and I will be ordering another disc next month.

[Rigger]

My new Notebook will be a MacBook Pro 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.
My question on this thread is: What about Windows XP Pro 64 bit?
I will be running on the Windows side, as I already have them:
Windows Office Enterprise 2007
Windows Adobe CS2.

I am so very leery of Vista anything yet. Had good luck with XP SP2 (32bit) On Windows Desktops systems.

Everything else will be Leopard friendly. I will throw this out here, too. Should I stay with the Boot Camp scenario? Seems the sensible way over the Parallels or Fusion methods with what I will be doing.



TIA

Rigger

[smax013]

Rigger said:

My new Notebook will be a MacBook Pro 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.

My question on this thread is: What about Windows XP Pro 64 bit?

I will be running on the Windows side, as I already have them:
Windows Office Enterprise 2007
Windows Adobe CS2.

I am so very leery of Vista anything yet. Had good luck with XP SP2 (32bit) On Windows Desktops systems.



Everything else will be Leopard friendly. I will throw this out here, too. Should I stay with the Boot Camp scenario? Seems the sensible way over the Parallels or Fusion methods with what I will be doing.






TIA


Rigger

I would stay away from 64 bit versions of Windoze. The only benefit is that ability to use more memory basically, but you can be faced with a lot more problems with finding drivers for hardware that work (I honestly don't know if Bootcamp has 64 bit compatible drivers or not...you should verify that) for things like printers, etc and compatibility with programs. If I recall correctly, Micro$oft does not even yet offer a true 64 bit version of Office.



If you don't mind me asking, why would you want to run those programs on the Windoze side of things? Kind of defeats the purpose of getting a Mac. If it is because you have Windoze versions and don't want to pay for the Mac versions (or don't have the cash for it right now), I will note that I want to say that Adobe offers a cross-platform "upgrade"/transfer...at least I think that they do...my memory is a little less than reliable these days. If you can get the Mac version of Adobe CS2 (or CS3), then running Micro$oft Office in either Parallels or Fusion is very doable. You can do it with Adobe CS2 (or CS3), but you might notice more of the performace hit in those programs than in say Word or Excel or Outlook. Bootcamp is great, but the real problem is that you have to reboot to switch OSs.

[Martian]

I believe that one of Vista's
security improvements over XP is that the default for Windows Firewall is ON
for Vista and OFF for XP. So just turn it on in XP and
you have closed some of the gap.
Interesting—my son's new company supplied ThinkPad has Vista
stickers on it, but happily, it boots into XP.

[smax013]

Martian said:

I believe that one of Vista's
security improvements over XP is that the default for Windows Firewall is ON
for Vista and OFF for XP. So just turn it on in XP and
you have closed some of the gap.

I don't believe that is quite true. While the basics are true (i.e. firewall on vs off), the Vista firewall is more advanced than the one in XP...by a fair margin. The Windoze XP firewall is rather pathetic...it did nothing with outgoing traffic. I am pretty sure the Vista firewall now deals with outgoing traffic.

Martian said:

.

Interesting—my son's new company supplied ThinkPad has Vista
stickers on it, but happily, it boots into XP.

Most companies have ZERO desire to use Vista at this point. As a result, they will tend to order their computers with XP...or if they cannot get them with XP, they will wipe the Vista OS from that drive and use a "standardize" image to install XP (along with their standard configuration and apps). The end result is that a lot of computers will have the Vista sticker because either the computer supplier or the company itself will replace Vista with XP. This is fairly SOP. The company I work for just got a bunch of new leased computers. All have Vista stickers on them, but have had Vista wiped off and XP installed instead.

[Rigger]

smax013:
<The Windoze XP firewall is rather pathetic...it did nothing with outgoing traffic. I am pretty sure the Vista firewall now deals with outgoing traffic./>
I deactivated it on my machines. I use Scotty (Winpatrol) and ZoneAlarm.
<Most companies have ZERO desire to use Vista at this point./>
A PC Place in town builds custom towers and sells several brands of Windows laptops. He told me just yesterday that, except for two machines, every thing that has went out the door in the last six months has been XP. They do a lot of stripping of Vista. People who use their machines don't use Vista.



You are the third person who has mentioned the driver issue with 64bit. It's a headache I certainly don't want to deal with. Thanks.


I will look into the cross platform transfer with adobeCS. It is a Cash Thing right now. The MacBook is setting me back. might be Late August before I think about or get Full Mac Software. I need the system burned in and running right by mid April as I have a 1 month prep and a 3 month run coming up that I DON'T want to have to deal with Software problems.

I ran a G4 powerbook last year and I had a slew of problems with the PB and Windows files that were sent to me. Compatibility was an issue. Trying to keep that monkey off my back this year.

Rob't

[smax013]

Rigger said:

smax013:

I deactivated it on my machines. I use Scotty (Winpatrol) and ZoneAlarm.

Same for me...I run ZoneAlarm on all my Windoze computers (and NetBarrier on my Macs). The XP firewall is worthless. The Mac OS built in firewall is MUCH more robust, but by default is not too configurable unless you monkey around in the Terminal...which is why I like NetBarrier.

Rigger said:

A PC Place in town builds custom towers and sells several brands of Windows laptops. He told me just yesterday that, except for two machines, every thing that has went out the door in the last six months has been XP. They do a lot of stripping of Vista. People who use their machines don't use Vista.

And that PC Place likely mainly caters to small businesses and home users. If they catered to large businesses, then there likely would not have even been those two machines with Vista installed! ;) The enterprise world is notourious slow to adopt new OSs. The company I was working at was still using Windoze 2000 on most computers up until about 2 to 3 years ago.

Rigger said:

You are the third person who has mentioned the driver issue with 64bit. It's a headache I certainly don't want to deal with. Thanks.

64 bit Windoze is not quite ready for the primetime just yet...at least not in desktop environments. It might be more workable for a server type situation. I am guessing that 64 bit OSs with be all the rage in a couple of years.

Rigger said:

I will look into the cross platform transfer with adobeCS. It is a Cash Thing right now. The MacBook is setting me back. might be Late August before I think about or get Full Mac Software. I need the system burned in and running right by mid April as I have a 1 month prep and a 3 month run coming up that I DON'T want to have to deal with Software problems.

I figured as much. That is the joy of major OS and/or computer upgrades...all the extra things that you have to upgrade as well to get back to a fully functional system.