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Dual Boot on New Mactels

January 14, 2006 by debbie T | Computers • Mac Corner

Everyone is talking about it, but no one has an answer yet. Will the new Mac Intel boxes be able to dual boot into a Windows partition? Or even a Linux partition?

I admit, a few weeks ago, I was one of the hopeful. Oh wouldn’t it be thrilling to use one computer and be able to run both Mac OS X and Windows?

But the longer I use Mac OS X, and the longer I am away from my old Windows world, I have reconsidered my position. Why would I want to muddy up my lovely Mac system with insecure, cluttered Windows? I don’t feel the need to take that risk anymore.

What I would rather have happen is more developers and programmers port their Windows programs into Mac OS X. Now that would make me happier, and I would have no reason to boot into my headless Dell except to check designs in IE 6.

Now a dual boot into a Linux distro could be fun, or better yet, I am interested in learning about Linux on USB drives. Hopefully, Mac OS X will also be able to boot from a USB drive soon. Since Apple seems to be phasing out firewire, (and that is the only way to boot into Mac OS X on an external drive,) I am hoping they are developing something soon.

I am very excited about 2006. I think great things will be coming our way from Apple. I can’t wait to play!

There are 5 comments

  1. I agree. I’m kinda in the same boat….over a year away from XP, why am I so interested in a Dual-boot?

    This week, however, I had an epiphany; If the MacBook really is 4x faster as Jobs is touting–and the dualcore processing really does improve emulation like intel has inferred–then do I really need to reboot into windows? Virtual PC or your emulator of choice really becomes a viable and reasonable alternative to purchasing a pc. It would suit nearly all my needs at that level. what do you think?

    Comment by leftsider on January 17th, 2006

  2. Hey leftsider, it looks like we both love our Macs! Thank you for commenting.

    A new version of Virtual PC would definitely open the market to those that want both. But the big problem I have with VP, is that it opens up your system to the same vulnerabilities as any normal Windows user. From what I have heard, now I am no expert on VP, you are actually running Windows inside the Mac environment. So that means (I assume) you will also need to keep install anti-virus, anti-spam software. Lack of malware is one reason why I love my Mac.

    Now, UNLESS you could somehow block your system completely from the Internet while running VP, then that would make you safer.

    I just don’t know. As I feel now, I just want to stick to my Mac, but I do understand why others feel the need to stick with Windows. So this could be a viable reason for them to switch. Best of both worlds!

    Comment by debbieT on January 17th, 2006

  3. Good point.
    Right now there’s no real issue; VPC sections off a section of your space for windows stuff–it’s actually all in one 2+ gig file–and nasties getting to your OS X environment are basically limited to files you drag from XP to X. and have you ever tried running a windows app on a mac? No go.

    Thing is, now we have XP and X on the same processing system. Maybe that barrier is a wee bit thinner now, I don’t know. Still, I guess our chances would be as good as anyone who is running basic linux distros….do they deal with malware issues?

    Comment by leftsider on January 18th, 2006

  4. Oh yes, I do understand that my mac stuff would not be compromised per se, but the windows stuff would be just as vulnerable as on a real Win PC, right? You would still need to run A/V and A/spy software. It just would be running on the VPC partition.

    Let me ask you, when VPC is running, do you have access to Mac programs at the same time? I assume it is like when I run Virtual Desktop to access my headless Dell. I can switch between my Windows window and my Mac programs.

    Soo, my question is, if VPC did become infected with malware, would your WHOLE system slow down as long as VPC was running?

    Yuck! I am done with that whole Windows world (right now). But I do understand why others would want to be in both worlds. And maybe I will be one of those people again, but I just don’t see it now.

    Thanks for posting, leftsider! You have contributed some great info!

    Comment by debbieT on January 18th, 2006

  5. Your XP instance would be exactly as it would be on a regular computer, so it’d still be vulnerable. VPC gives you the option to go online or not, so I guess you could quarantine your XP from the world to keep it safe. :)

    The best part of VMs is that, yes, you can have access to your mac apps. Windows runs in a window just like a mac app would and you can drag stuff back and forth. I actually attach a sony monitor to my iBook and have XP run full screen on the ibook’s display while OS X is undisturbed on the monitor. it’s no problem at all.

    Again, since it’s all in one .vpc file on your drive, it’s not going to slow your system down so much…..especially when you have the option to turn windows off–or delete the instance altogether. I actually copy my instances like I would any other file as backup.

    XP can be a nasty yucky world….but we have to accept that this mactopia is moving closer and closer to that purgatory. :P

    Comment by leftsider on January 18th, 2006

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