# BootCamp/Parallels and Windows XP/7



## Captain Spyro (Dec 16, 2009)

I'm just looking for people's opinion on this. For the past few days I have been researching the pros and cons of BootCamp and Parallels on a mac. You see, I have a few Windows-based game that are dear to me and I'd rather not leave collecting dust on the shelf. I have games like Age of Empires: Gold Edition, Star Wars TIE Fighter, and Aliens vs. Predator (among others, as well as small games like JezzBall and Maxwell's Maniac) that I enjoyed very much while on XP, but am unable to try on OS-X.

Now, what I am looking for are two opinions.

1. Which is better for gaming: BootCamp or Parallels? From my initial research, BootCamp seems like the better option, but I'm looking for more opinions from fellow peers with experience.

2. Would you recommend Windows XP or Windows 7? Before my old laptop died, I was using Windows XP. I wouldn't be asking this is it was an issue, but as BootCamp requires at least the SP2 version of XP and I only have the installation disc for SP1 that came with the HP, then it seems I need to purchase a new version. Orginally, I would go with XP as I had little issue with it, but with Windows 7 out, I'm considering going for it.

However, I do worry about compatibility with older games, especially TIE Fighter. 

Anywho, so what do you suggest? Remember, I mainly want to do this for gaming and from what I have read, BootCamp is likely the better option, but again, opinions are a good thing. Plus, I'd rather not buy a new version of Office just yet.


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## Dass (Dec 16, 2009)

Paralells sucks for gaming.
Quite badly.


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## Aden (Dec 17, 2009)

You do not use an emulator for gaming. It just will not work unless you enjoy your games at 2 frames per second (on a good day).


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## Runefox (Dec 17, 2009)

If you've got a Mac and you want to play games, Boot Camp + XP is your best bet. Most Macs at least have enough hardware to run older games (and most Source engine games), so you should have too many difficulties if you're looking just to run older games. If you're looking to play DX10/11 games, you're probably going to want to buy a dedicated PC for that (or a console) instead, since Mac hardware isn't terribly good for that kind of thing (though depending on when and what model you bought, you could have something as high-end as a Radeon HD 4850, which'll do pretty much anything right now except for DX11). Even so, Boot Camp is ultimately the best option.

Now, if you're talking REALLY old games, like DOS games (most versions of TIE Fighter)? DOSBox will hook you up there without the need for Windows or even booting out of OS X, plus offers things like enhanced display. You'll probably want a frontend to it, but for the most part, many games work fine with the default settings, so all you need to do is point it to the main program and the setup program (if any) and be on your way.


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## Duality Jack (Dec 17, 2009)

I suggest duel booting. Smarter move. (or even smarter ditch the mac)


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## incongruency (Dec 17, 2009)

Captain Spyro said:


> 2. Would you recommend Windows XP or Windows 7? Before my old laptop died, I was using Windows XP. I wouldn't be asking this is it was an issue, but as BootCamp requires at least the SP2 version of XP and I only have the installation disc for SP1 that came with the HP, then it seems I need to purchase a new version. Orginally, I would go with XP as I had little issue with it, but with Windows 7 out, I'm considering going for it.



If you plan on buying Windows 7, you need to buy either Professional or Ultimate.  This is because Windows 7's claim-to-fame for XP compatibility largely relies on an XP virtual machine inside of 7, which given that you plan on running games, you should be using XP anyway.

As for only having an XP SP1 disc, it is easy enough to make that into a SP2 (or SP3) disc with a program called nLite.  You should be able (with instructions from the nLite website or otherwise) to slipstream SP3 into a new disc made from your disc, which should then work just fine with BootCamp.




			
				The Drunken Ace said:
			
		

> I suggest duel booting. Smarter move. (or even smarter ditch the mac)



BootCamp is Apple's name for their dual-boot software.


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## Aden (Dec 17, 2009)

The Drunken Ace said:


> I suggest *duel booting*.



Is that Pay-Per-View?


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## ArielMT (Dec 17, 2009)

Aden said:


> Is that Pay-Per-View?



It's gotta be more exciting than this:


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## Cerari (Dec 20, 2009)

BootCamp + XP for older games.
If you only have newer games you want to continue playing, I'd go with BootCamp and win7.  

I was going to go to VMWare, but realized that I would be sharing my mac's resources running OSX and an emulator.  So I went with BootCamp and couldn't be happier!


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## Azure (Dec 20, 2009)

ArielMT said:


> It's gotta be more exciting than this:


That looks pretty fucking exciting.


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## Captain Spyro (Dec 23, 2009)

Cerari said:


> BootCamp + XP for older games.
> If you only have newer games you want to continue playing, I'd go with BootCamp and win7.
> 
> I was going to go to VMWare, but realized that I would be sharing my mac's resources running OSX and an emulator.  So I went with BootCamp and couldn't be happier!



BootCamp sounds like my choice then.

However, someone mentioned slipstreaming. I considered doing that, but from what I looked up, it seems that can only be done on a Windows PC in the first place.

Anyway to do that on a mac?


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## Runefox (Dec 23, 2009)

"Slipstreaming" only refers to the act of adding drivers/updates to a Windows disc in order to enable a slightly more seamless installation. It's by no means necessary, and it can be a little difficult to get working properly. Typically, one would use a program such as nLite to build their own custom Windows discs.


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## Captain Spyro (Dec 24, 2009)

Runefox said:


> "Slipstreaming" only refers to the act of adding drivers/updates to a Windows disc in order to enable a slightly more seamless installation. It's by no means necessary, and it can be a little difficult to get working properly. Typically, one would use a program such as nLite to build their own custom Windows discs.



That I do know, however I'm leaving the option open. I do wonder though if I actually did that, would it work with the XP SP1 disc that came with my old HP?


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## Runefox (Dec 24, 2009)

Captain Spyro said:


> That I do know, however I'm leaving the option open. I do wonder though if I actually did that, would it work with the XP SP1 disc that came with my old HP?



Yes, you can slipstream with any version of XP; However, you'd need to slipstream the newer service packs to slipstream the latest updates. You would also need to burn a new CD (obviously), or perhaps DVD, depending on how much stuff you stuff in there.


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## net-cat (Dec 24, 2009)

Slipstreaming is an interesting exercise, but I don't think it's actually necessary. (In some cases, it might be. Your mileage may vary.)

Installing Boot Camp takes more or less the following steps:

1. Mac OS preparation. (Update firmware if you have an old Mac, resize partition, install bootloader.)
2. Boot from Windows disc, install.
3. Windows drivers and utilities installation. (Insert your Mac OS X disc for this.)

If you can get through step 2 with a SP1 disc, then just install SP2 or SP3 before you continue with step 3.

And yes. Boot Camp. Virtualization for games, especially new ones, is always going to be slower than native.


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## Runefox (Dec 24, 2009)

There's a few areas where it's pretty necessary - Such as with OEM machines and standard Windows discs that don't have the AHCI drivers and what have you. Those have been a bit of a bitch in general, and at my old job we ended up having to create specialized Windows discs with common AHCI/RAID storage drivers included in order to get some of these computers (mainly laptops where the BIOS switch to disable AHCI doesn't exist, much less is there a floppy drive) running.

Aside from that, it's convenience factor. I don't think Macs require it, but then again, I could be wrong. I haven't ever actually run Boot Camp, but I don't believe any special drivers are needed to _install_ any copy of Windows once you do the Boot Camp setup within Mac OS and pop the CD in. If I'm not mistaken, I believe the BIOS emulation also translates AHCI for XP.


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