Great info in the other thread where 525iSE is having boot problems.
Thought I'd post my own query for the kids out there.

I have a MacBook 2GHz core duo in front of me running OS X 10.4.6 (Managed to find that out so far).
Other than that I haven't a fu^&%$g clue about the machines.

Has anyone installed Boot Camp? Is it reasonably straight forward to install?

I 'm wondering if it goes disasterously wrong how I'd get the MacBook back to factory settings.
Not sure what materials came with it because it was opened up in the office.

Thanks in advance.

 

I have only seen someone install boot camp. My macs are all PowerPC versions so I can't use boot camp myself. However, the install was basic and there wasn't much special about it. You just need to have an idea of how big you want the other volume (partition) to be for the intended OS. To return to factory default you just need the OS X CD/DVD that came with your MacBook.

FWIW, you should update to 10.4.8 when you're done setting up BootCamp. I think there were some speed improvements and fixes in the last two updates that tageted the Intel Macs.

 

Taa velly much

 

I installed bootcamp on my macbook pro. It works like a dream. All you need is a copy of Windows XP with Service pack 2 or later and download bootcamp @ http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

My computer automatically boots to OS X whenever I start up. If I want to run windows...all I have to do is hold the Apple button (the one left of the spacebar) and I can then choose to run it in windows or mac. I have no known problems so far. I can even install applications and run graphic-intensive computer games smoothly....hence my recommendation.

The only thing you should look out for is that if you have an problems with the software....aple's warranty will not acknowledge it.

 

As someone who just left Apple not too long ago I would ask: Why do I need Windows?

I am leary about Boot Camp and my inside knowledge of the reason behind it being released. I would wait until it is full production and not beta.

I think the current Mac OS is outstanding and really no need for windows.

 

Bootcamp doesn't actually guide you through installing Windows or anything. It just asks you to set how large you want the new partition to be, and asks you to insert a blank CD so that Mac drivers for Windows can be burned onto it. Just simply a partition and Mac drivers burning tool.

It partitions your harddrive so that you can install another OS with a different file system on the unpartitioned space. You then follow through with installation of Windows as if it was a regular PC. Boot into Windows set up when restarted, and install Windows. Once Windows is fully done installing, insert the burned CD with the Mac drivers. The drivers are needed for brightness control, audio, wifi/ethernet, iSight camera, etc.

 

Bootcamp doesn't really affect your system in any way. It simply repartitions the hard drives and allows you to burn Mac drivers onto a CD. The only thing "beta" about it, is that it's a stand alone program for now. It's going to be integrated into Leopard (10.5) when it's released. Apple has already released a revision of Bootcamp to support the Mac Pro, and allows the use of the iSight.

I think Mac OS X is awesome too, but if I had to choose between my Macbook or a PC one day - I would take my PC in a flash.

 

Heh... I'd rather just be running 10.4.6 on my generic Intel hardware...



....which I CAN!!


EDIT - Sorry, I figure I should add something constructive... Download Parallels - it's a virtual machine. It will allow you to load and run another OS within a running OS X environment. The last test I saw, XP on Parallels outperformed XP on Bootcamp. Look into it - it's much simpler and you're not mucking with the boot loader.

 

UURonL...isn't parallel just like Virtual PC where you run an OS within Mac....in that case....isn't that inferior to a system where you can run OS natively instead of running 2 simultaneously which would obviously take up more memory?? Correct me if im wrong...

 

bootcamp is not actually a program that runs windows. it is a program that assists in the process of installing windows onto your mac.

I just bought a mac pro and will need windows due to the lack of universal software support from Adobe programs. It can run okay on osx but it will run 5 times faster on windows. Until adobe creative suite 3 comes out I will need to use windows.