Windows Vista on Macbook?

MacBooks have a GPU, a GMA945, that provides the video functions. Like MBPs the GPU is simply not a separate 'card' but are chips integrated onto the logic board. The MB's GPU has 64 MB of built-in VRAM and can expand that to 224 MBs of VRAM by using some of the computer's memory RAM.

You will mainly find that the MB's GPU is not satisfactory for graphic intensive gaming, but will do fine for less demanding uses. Obviously, Vista's performance will be much improved on a MacBook Pro, but should be acceptable on the MacBook. Of more importance would be having sufficient physical RAM to run Vista. And, Vista's performance will be affected by the method for running it - Boot Camp or virtualization software.

I guess it would depend on how you plan to run it... either via BootCamp or Parallels. I would point out... that, in terms of actual work... XP can do anything that Vista can (with the exception of DX 10... which the GMA950 in the MacBook does't support anyway)... and it can do it with far fewer resources. Having said that, Vista will run fine on a MacBook via BootCamp with at least 1GB of memory (although... the more the better). If you plan to run Vista on a MacBook using Parallels... you should have at least 2GB of memory in your MacBook... allocating about 1GB to Vista. The MacBook enjoys running its fan under moderate loads. I've found that running Vista alone under Parallels isn't particularly taxing... but once you actually start doing anything in Vista... from basic programs to system updates, your fan will spin up to a noticeable level. You won't encounter this nearly as often if you run Vista using BootCamp. I find the performance of Vista under Parallels to be acceptable. You still can't get some of the pretty effects under Parallels, but all of Vista's eye candy will work well under BootCamp.

I would really try to determine "why" you need Vista. Every application out there should run under XP. XP requires A LOT fewer resources to run... keeping that fan noise to a minimum (but... even XP under Parallels will cause your fan to rev up once in a while... but not nearly as often as Vista). The only applications that won't run on XP are ones that Microsoft has specifically crippled in order to force people to upgrade... and I wouldn't really want to support their efforts on that front. Again, DX 10 is the only thing that currently requires Vista. Since the GPU in the MacBook doesn't support DX 10 (as well as just about every video card out there that's more than a few months old), that's not really an issue. Also... just because a video card does not support DX 10... that does not mean that you won't be able to play those games... you just won't be able to use some of the more advanced features that DX 10 offers. Again... Microsoft will be releasing some games that will run on Vista only... but the main reason for this is to force people to upgrade... not because Vista is a more capable OS.

Chances are that if you don't know what DirectX 10 is... you won't need to worry about it. DirectX is the graphics engine that Windows uses (it doesn't have anything to do with OS X on the Mac side). They continue to upgrade it standard to include more advanced graphics processing. In order to use the features of the latest version, you would need to have a graphics card capable of supporting it. The GMA950 in the MacBook does not support DX10 (the new MacBook Pro does however). But... like I said... if you don't know what it is... chances are it won't matter to you. It actually doesn't make a world of difference even for the cards that do support it.

My girlfriend has a White 2Ghz Core Duo Macbook w/ Vista Home Basic and it runs fine; however, the only "gripe" she has about it is one I share w/ XP Pro on mine.

The clock will change on Vista and OSX by a few hours (depending on where you are in the world) b/c Vista stores Local Time and OSX stores Greenwich time and adjusts for local time. It's VERY annoying and I've found a workaround w/ XP but not Vista.

Graphics-wise, it looks crisp but I've not seen Aero b/c it's only Home Basic. We didn't see the need for Home Premium or higher b/c it's a Mac, and Windows was only bought/installed as a contingency against school software that is Windows-only.

It would seem your question is answered by the other respondents.

You should be fine w/ Basic; it'll run just about everything.

I'll never understand why anyone would want to game on a notebook, but if you must, I'd say get a MBP w/ the dedicated graphics card. Something to think about...the difference in price between the MB and MBP would probably net you a Wii or an Xbox 360, and maybe a game or two.

What edu software do you need to run, specifically?

If you're running through BootCamp... all versions of Vista run fine. I have Vista Ultimate running without any problems at all.

Just out of curiosity, how does Aero perform?

It performs fine through BootCamp (it's still not supported through Parallels... I thought the upgrade to Parallels three provided DX support... but that doesn't have seem to have made a difference.) To be honest... I don't really use any of the Aero effects. I went with Ultimate because I really like their backup software. Their full system backup is just very convenient for me. I've been using Ghost for... sheesh... years... but I really don't like the newer versions (actually... I hate all things Symantec/Norton and have removed everything from them).

I am a recent convert (since Mar 07) and run Windows Vista Home Premium on my MacBook with Bootcamp.

It really depends on the type of applications you intend to use with Vista. I use Vista primarily because of Word, Excel and Powerpoint which I need for work. I did not want to spend money on Mac Office, while Neo Office did not work so well for me because it typically involved some reformatting when files were opened in MS Office (esp. for complicated spreadsheets and powerpoint slides).

I have also installed some other programs on Vista like itunes (so that I can listen to music while I'm working), quicktime, acrobat reader and nokia pc suite. Internet access on Vista while running Office at the same time is without noticeable delays, except in you tube where the streaming of videos is excrutiating long. In general, apart from MS Office, everything that I do is done in Mac OS X.

If you intend to run Bootcamp with Vista and Mac OS X then I suggest to get more RAM and a larger harddisk. I bought my MacBook off the shelf (1 MB RAM and 80 GB hard disk) and in no time I had upgraded it to 2 MB RAM and 160 GB hard disk.

Good Luck.











I use Vista primarily , I use The only reason for installing Vista is that I need to use O