As most of you might know, Intel-based Macs can already run Windows through narf and blanka’s solution. However, if you’ve been holding back just because it’s an “unofficial” solution, you’re in for a little surprise today.
Apple is now officially supporting Windows dual-boot with its Boot Camp Public Beta. This 83MB download will guide you through the process of burning a Windows drivers CD, creating a new partition for Windows and installing it on your Intel-based Mac. Sadly, PowerPC Mac owners can’t join in the fun. A good excuse to upgrade I guess?
Many Mac owners have tried it out, and along the way found various interesting aspect of Boot Camp:
- Boot Camp can load Vista installer.
- Boot Camp can load Linux installer.
- Boot Camp can load Windows XP Media Center Edition.
- You can boot from external drives by using narf and blanka’s bootloader to create external boot disks.
The Public Beta will run as a trial until September 30, 2007 or when OS X Leopard is released (because Boot Camp will be included in Leopard), whichever comes first.
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April 10th, 2006 at 10:41 pm
I find it great to be able to run windows on a Mac. I’ve been a Mac user for many years, but I also have to work on PCs. Emulators like Virtual PC are great, but the lack of performance is a great drawback. I guess this will get Apple and it’s hardware a way better marketshare.