Jump to content

Vista now works on Intel Macs

Colonel

By Colonel,
in Front Page News and Rumors

 Share
23 posts in this topic

Recommended Posts

Colonel
Colonel
Posted
Posted

Though we'll never know if Microsoft was unwilling or unable to accommodate it until now, Vista is reportedly now working on Intel Macs. Windows Vista Pre-RC1 is compatible with Boot Camp 1.1 and it appears that Microsoft will continue this support in future releases of Vista. As a Vista user notes in his blog,

The new Vista Pre-RC1 build (5536) works now on Intel Macs. The installation procedure is the same as with Windows XP SP2. The only down side is that not all the drivers provided in Boot Camp will work under Vista; the iSight and the Apple keyboard will not install. The performance of this build is amazing when compared to the Beta 2 that was made available to the public a few months ago. All the bells and whistles of the new Aero GUI are supported on my MacBook Pro, and according to online reports even the plain MacBook supports all of the new effects.

This is great news for Intel Mac owners wanting to try out Vista, meaning it’s now possible to install Vista without erasing your EFI partition and having to reinstall. Hopefully Microsoft now understands that folks will install Vista on Intel Macs with or without corporate help.

 

If you can beat 'em, support 'em?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Colonel
Colonel
Posted
  • Author
Posted
Awesomeness. Anyone know of the MacBook (-pro) Aero Glass news is true?

 

Yes, it's true. I had Aero on my MacBook back when I had Beta 2 installed. I should get an email from Microsoft tomorrow about RC1. I'll see if I can install it and try it out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Colonel
Colonel
Posted
  • Author
Posted

From http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/preview.mspx :

 

The information on this page is intended for Customer Preview Program participants. Participants will receive an e-mail message with additional information when Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 (RC1) is available later this year. Thank you for testing Windows Vista.

 

I thought RC1 was comming out tomorrow... I guess we'll just have to wait and find out. :blink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
rollcage
rollcage
Posted
Posted
The only down side is that not all the drivers provided in Boot Camp will work under Vista; the iSight and the Apple keyboard will not install.

 

So I guess I won't be using my mac mini to run Vista yet, at least until someone makes a driver for the keyboard. (or until i buy a different keyboard)?

 

 

 

What is aero? Is that the features where you can rotate your windows in a 3D view using the z-axis?

 

and will vista work well

 

Aero is the fancy new UI that includes the translucent glass windows, start menu, and tasbar; Flip-3D (the window flipping thing; live previews on the taskbar; and overall smoother performance and effects with windows. I know that the beta 2 of Vista ran slow as hell on 512 of ram until i disabled the search indexer. It eats up over 100 mb of ram. get rid of that and it should be usable. mind you, usable, not fast.

 

Oh, and last i checked, RC1 isn't coming out until Sept. 7

Link to comment
Share on other sites
inferno10
inferno10
Posted
Posted

Yep. Vista 5536 definitely installs on an Intel-based Mac without the need to delete the EFI partition. Just installed it on my Mac mini, even going so far as getting Aero to work on it. I don't see the huge improvement in Vista so far, but I appreciate that they're trying to improve the looks.

 

I suspect this change could hint that Microsoft might be aiming at Mac owners now. No surprise there, as such a move would give them more market share.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
br0adband
br0adband
Posted
Posted

I'm still on my trusty old Dell Inspiron 4150 P4-M 1.7/1GB/80GB/Mobility Radeon 7500 so I can't vouch for the MB/MBP yet, but I will say this about the 5536 build (pre-RC1):

 

It's fast.

 

I mean really fast.

 

Like, faster than any previous build.

 

By a huge margin.

 

Did I say it was fast? :(

 

So, this gives me high hopes for the future of Vista. For a long long time it's been this super bloated huge piece of {censored} that I tried to avoid and ended up using anyway so I can learn enough about it to use it and support it.

 

Here's the lowdown just for me and a short comparison between the 5472 build and 5536 I just installed a short time ago:

 

5472

 

Clean install took 43 minutes (my DVD drive is a bit slow on reads so that has a lot to do with the longer install time than most people will have)

After the first reboot when it gets to the Desktop I wait 5 minutes then I run Task Manager to see the stats, and they were:

 

449MB commit charge, 49 processes, 11,250+ handles (fluctuates)

 

A bit slow in operation. Bringing up Explorer the first time using Windows+E took about 9 seconds.

 

5536

Clean install time 31 minutes (same DVD drive)

After the first reboot when it gets to the Desktop I again waited 5 minutes then ran Task Manager for the stats:

 

345MB commit charge, 38 processes, 8850+ handles (fluctuates)

 

A HELLUVA lot faster in operation, everything is snappier across the board. Bringing up Explorer the first using Windows+E took one second flat - and this is a 5400 rpm drive I have for testing.

 

I'm damned impressed - VERY damned impressed with this build, and again, I now have some hopes that Vista will certainly run decently on this old Dell when it's released.

 

One thing people that are interested in "testing" Vista might want to know is this:

 

If you're downloading any of the beta builds, this pre-RC1 build, or the RC1 build and later ones, remember that what Microsoft is distributing is the "Ultimate Edition" so it's absolutely bloated and loaded with everything that Vista can include and do (for the most part).

 

The other retail versions, when released, will obviously be smaller in terms of the sheer number of files installed and the number of services enabled after the installation. I haven't even started to tweak this install of Vista, but again, I'm impressed with how fast the production teams are shaping up the code.

 

Hey, you might like it, you might hate it, but with BootCamp and the ability to use Windows now on the same machine (better than a PC dual booting OSX since it truly is better on real Macs), it doesn't hurt to learn something about it.

 

Just my $.02...

bb

Link to comment
Share on other sites
linkboy
linkboy
Posted
Posted

Its about time Vista and the Intel Macs started getting along.

 

I've been running Vista on my MBP since Beta 2 and it sucked having to remove the EFI partition.

 

As for Vista, I'm liking it (with that said, I hardly boot into it anymore). Its really only on there for the few programs that don't have OS X versions (mainly the programs for my homebrew PSP stuff).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
br0adband
br0adband
Posted
Posted

And as I said, this is an old Dell Inspiron 4150 with the P4-M (not Pentium-M) 1.7. If your experience was with Beta 2, that's enough to make a person cry, but I tell ya, if you can acquire 5536 or the just announced 5568 which is supposed to be the actual RC1 release next week or over the weekend, you'll be quite shocked at just how much improvement there's been since Beta 2 came out.

 

Beta 2 was {censored}, to put it bluntly, and 5472 was far far better. Now 5536 is screaming compared to that, so 5568 or whatever build RC1 actually is will be even faster.

 

Worth taking a look, regardless. You have all the necessary hardware to run it at top speed.

 

/me is envious but I'll get there someday :)

 

bb

Link to comment
Share on other sites
OSXtasy
OSXtasy
Posted
Posted

Dammm....its GORGEUS, I'll tell ya that(Never tried to run it before on anything although I had beta 2). Mmmm, I doubt I'll "BUY" it but, it sure does give OSX a run for it's money in the "Looks" department. Well I gotta support it anyway, so guess it about time I start playing with Vista anyway. Dam, it looks good on a MBP!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
OSXtasy
OSXtasy
Posted
Posted

REEEE_PORRRT..... OSX aint got {censored} on Vista if you ask me. This is gonna be a good competition, but I just don't think apple can capture an audience like Windows. Just my opinion. The performance on my MBP is awesome, and for me (although I am a Windows guy) it feels so much more "natural". Unfortunately for apple, this issue is gonna work against them for alot of recent "switchers"(which I never was, I'm just a tinkerer), once they get a whiff of Vista running on their Mac. Well thats my 1.1cents. Anyway, it's really pleasing to see how well it runs on a mac......and I invite the competition from either "camp" for my attention. Good luck to all, and lets have a "clean" fight!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MacSpaces
MacSpaces
Posted
Posted

When people say apple will gain share in the market blah blah do some of you see the big picture? apple is a hardware/software company. Microsoft is a software company, im pretty sure microsoft could give a rats ass about how fast apple is gaining share in the end people will buy apple hardware and still purchase windows. Not only the current users but now microsoft tapped in to the mac users because they can now run both operating systems, wether they like vista or not microsoft will not loose any money if anything it will gain some by the pottential mac users who refuse to buy pc hardware but still want to use windows..

think about it this is something apple will never mention but apple have the power and design force to be the leader in pc hardware.

 

im telling you all your favorite company is owned by the company ya hate.

 

ohh and by the way vista is blazing fast and the whole aero look on mbp tops mac os x gui just my opinion but man it loks sexy as {censored}

clear aero and alluminum yummy

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Weebs
Weebs
Posted
Posted

Just installed the RC1 beta on my 17" Intel iMac. I have the latest BootCamp drivers CD, does anyone know how to extract the drivers for sound and the eject key and install them with Vista?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Numberzz
Numberzz
Posted
Posted

i partitioned my hard drive 75 gb for mac os x and 20 for windows vista.  when i startup from the istaller it says: "windows was unable to find a drive that matches it's criteria for installation."  I have a macbook pro 2.16 ghz with a 100 gb 7200 rpm hard drive help would be greatly appreciated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...