Windows XP and MAC OS... can both co-exist on a single computer?

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Windows XP and MAC OS... can both co-exist on a single computer?

I am new to mac's and already love the set up... unfortunately, my school requires all computers to run windows 2003 or above in order to run a few software programs and supplemental material for classes. Is it possible to install Windows XP onto my computer in such a way that I can switch between the two operating systems?

I really don't want to give up on my Mac OS for the Windows XP but if that's the only way then i guess things will have to give...

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Jun 29, 2007 9:48 PM

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Answer 1

Fortuny

Level 7

21,461 points

Jun 29, 2007 10:01 PM in response to Med Student

Hi and welcome to Discussions,

you have quite a few choices to run Windows on an Intel-Mac.

With Bootcamp from Apple you have to reboot to use Windows, therefor both OSX and Windows can be used alternatively, but not at the same time.

See here: http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/publicbeta.html

Parallels and VMWare Fusion will let you use Windows in a virtualized hardware environment, so that you can run OSX and Windows at the same time.

See here: http://www.parallels.com/
http://www.vmware.com/beta/fusion/

With Codeweavers Crossover you can Windows programs without having Windows installed.

See here: http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/

Bootcamps pro is that you have the full hardware power of your Mac when running Windows, con is that you have to rebbot.

Parallels and Fusions pro is that you can use both OSX and Windows literally at the same time, con is that because of virtualization the full hardware power is not achieved (but for the most programms the achieved speed is quite sufficient).

Crossovers pro is that you don't need to have Windows, con is that all programs work with Crossover.

Regards

Stefan

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