Caleb K.

Q: What are the complications involved in bootcamp

Hi, I am looking at buying a new macbook pro fairly shortly. However only on the condition that some things work right on the boot-camp part.

 

I guess I have some questions.

1. What does it look like to switch between it being a mac and it being a pc, is their like an extra icon to click on on bootup or something?

2. Does it partition the hard-drive, do I need to have two installed somehow?

3. What are some common complications with doing boot-camp?

4. How sure can I be that it is compatible with the mac I am looking at buying?

5. Are their hardware compatibility issues? (like ports and graphics card etc)

6. Anything else you think I might need to know or be interested in?

Posted on Jan 18, 2016 5:39 PM

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Q: What are the complications involved in bootcamp

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Niel,Solvedanswer

    Niel Niel Jan 18, 2016 6:01 PM in response to Caleb K.
    Level 10 (312,660 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 18, 2016 6:01 PM in response to Caleb K.

    1. Changing systems is accomplished by pressing Option at startup, or using the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences, or the Startup Disk control panel.

    2. It partitions the internal drive.

    3. It takes up more space, and the Windows system is as vulnerable as it would be on a regular PC.

    4. All Intel Macs can use Boot Camp.

    5. Not after the Boot Camp drivers are installed into Windows.

     

    (138546)

  • by Phil0124,Helpful

    Phil0124 Phil0124 Jan 18, 2016 6:01 PM in response to Caleb K.
    Level 7 (27,387 points)
    iPhone
    Jan 18, 2016 6:01 PM in response to Caleb K.

    1. Yes. On bootup you can use either the Mac or Windows HDs.

    apple-bootcamp-photo10.png

    2. Bootcamp will Partition the Hard Drive, and allow you to format it for Windows.

    How to install Windows using Boot Camp - Apple Support

     

    3. Other than having to reboot to change operating systems., none really.

     

    4. All Intel based Macs can run some version of Windows. You can use the following chart to see what Windows versions are compatible with the Mac you plan on buying. Newer Macs will be limited to newer versions of windows such as Windows 8.1 and windows 10.

     

    System requirements to install Windows on your Mac using Boot Camp - Apple Support

     

    5. Bootcamp should install all the support software and drivers required. So no. Thoigh some features may be limited on Windows such as trackpad functions that don't have existing counterparts in Windows.

     

    6. You may want to Consider virtualization instead of Bootcamp, if you'd rather have OSx and Windows at the same time. Options include Parallels, Virtual Box, VMWare...

     

    Note that Bootcamp requires a valid Windows License, and installation Media. 

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jan 18, 2016 6:00 PM in response to Caleb K.
    Level 7 (23,828 points)
    Safari
    Jan 18, 2016 6:00 PM in response to Caleb K.

    There are additional items in the System Tray and Control Panel - https://help.apple.com/bootcamp/controlpanel/5.1/ .

     

    You can import the Bootcamp/Windows as a Virtual Machine and run OS X and Windows simultaneously or switch to Windows in a non-Virtual environment.

     

    Be aware that W7 is no longer supported on 2015 Macs under Bootcamp and there are drivers differences between Macs and PCs.

  • by Caleb K.,

    Caleb K. Caleb K. Jan 18, 2016 6:01 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 18, 2016 6:01 PM in response to Loner T

    I have tried virtual installations of OS's before, they are usually to slow.  But what you guys say about choosing on bootup sounds great!  Thankyou all so much for the fast reply and great info!