Why Boot Camp is a bitch to install

When I picked up my shiny new MacBook last week -- for €300 cheaper in the US than here (€950 there as opposed to €1,250 here) -- I eagerly set about exploring the new features of its new operating system, Leopard. One of these features is Boot Camp, a program which lets you put Windows on the computer, should you want to run regular business software or games (for all its multimedia elegance, the Mac is still poor in these categories). After about five hours of freezes, restarts and forced shut-downs, I'm beginning to wonder why I bothered. The version of Windows I put in is Windows XP Pro, previously unused. Installing it has been a real trial. The first problem is that the MacBook's DVD drive is very, very sensitive. If I shift position with the computer on my lap, the drive starts to sputter and complain, pausing installation. The next problem was that it started to freeze just as it was about to finish installation. No forced-shutdown command would work, so I had to revert to the old reliable method of physically taking out the battery and putting it back in just to shut the computer down. Hardly the stuff of 21st century computing. This happened several times until I just let the battery run out by itself to see if that would work. Bizarrely, it did. When I turned the machine on again, it booted into Windows XP. Hallelujah, I thought. I went through some of the functions to make sure it was working. I then shut the computer down and switched on to get back to Apple's OS X operating system. But no -- the MacBook did not want to let me do that. As I write, my MacBook now boots into Windows XP as a a default every time I turn it on, which isn't exactly thrilling as I could have just bought a €500 Dell had I wanted that. (The only way of getting to Apple's operating system appears to be holding the 'option' key down when you press the power button -- this gives you the choice of either operating system.) There is a software program called Parallels which, apparently, lets you run both operating systems side by side. I may resort to shelling out €75 for that. But it's a shame -- I had thought Boot Camp was supposed to do the job.

Comments

[Aidan Finn]

You can change OS X back to being the default OS that boots in the 'Startup Disk' section of System Preferences.

[Michele Neylon]

Adrian

You can use either parallels of vmware to run Windoze on your Mac. I haven't bothered with either yet, even though I bought a copy of parallels when I picked up my MacBook Pro. I'm not that much of a gamer and BF2142 is available for the Mac, so I'm quite happy :)

Michele

[Adrian]

Thanks Aidan, I figured that out a few mins after posting this rant. At this stage, Michele, I don't really trust the MacBook to really run a game properly, especially since it doesn't have the graphics prowess of the Pro. So I don't think I'm going to bother with Parallels. I actually have a PC laptop and I think I may seriously switch between the two, depending on how my days ahead looks and the applications I'm likely to need to. I should also point out that the right side of the spacebar doesn't work on this machine, which is a bummer, since I'm right handed :(

[MacHappy]

If you get a freeze and you can't force quit, hold down the power button for 5 seconds, it will shut the machine down, no need to take the battery out - same as a desktop mac, desktop pc or any laptop. Boot Camp will do the job if you don't mind restarting the Mac each time. The fact you ONLY have to hold a key down on start up to choose your operating system has been a convenience for most users, and seeing as the MacBook appears to be glued to your lap the key isn't exactly out of reach. Seriously, don't take the name 'Laptop' too literally, you can actually lay it on a table, especially if you're trying to install from a disk, and chances are the XP disk was the problem, I have never had a smooth install of any windows operating system. Apart from that, I highly recommend VMWare Fusion for running XP & OS X side by side. All 'regular' business software is available for the Mac - you must be using irregular PC software. If you were looking for a gaming machine the MacBook was a poor choice. Research beforehand would have told you that.

[Adrian]

Ouch. Sensitive stuff there. Hope I didn't hurt your feelings :)

[MacHappy]

Not at all, and thanks for being so concerned about my feelings. What you did do though is reaffirm my belief, for the umpteenth time, that you haven't a clue what you're talking about when it comes to technology. Seriously, a knowledge of techology must be in your job description somewhere? Do we have another exciting installment of your Facebook Diary to look forward to on Sunday? Fascinating reading and very news-worthy. It's not like there are any business IT issues that could do with national coverage. Keep up the good work!

[Adrian]

Dear anonymous MacHappy,

Thanks -- I will. The Facebook thing is just a bit of a lark, really. It's not a business IT page, which is why there are only consumer stories on it.

If you want differently, there are plenty of trade and other publications to read.

Cheers

[Mark Hennessy]

RTFM spring to mind! Holding down the option key is the way to switch between the two. Its in all of the instruction info. Maybe reading the info first before ranting would be good next time?