08-03-2009, 07:52 PM

Hi, I'm looking to purchase a Mac Book Pro with 2GB of Ram and a 160GB HD. is this enough to efficiently run Windows Xp through boot camp?
And if so, how should i partition the my HD? Or should i upgrade to a 250GB HD?
Thanks!

08-03-2009, 09:58 PM

Depends on what you're going to put on your MacBook. For example, if you have a lot of music, photos, video, files, and applications (or any combination thereof) on either Mac or Windows "side" (or both), I'd splurge for the 250gb.
Partitioning, again, depends on how much space you need for either/both Mac/Windows, be it for music, video, applications. I, for one, would need more space on the Windows side; I play a lot of PC games.
For starters, I'd say at least 100gb for Windows and 160gb for Mac.

08-03-2009, 10:08 PM

When you run via Bootcamp, the Windows or Mac partition has access to all the hardware (except the other system's disk partition in most cases). When booted, your Windows or Mac will have full access to all 2GB or RAM. That's plenty to run either system. You mention Windows games, so you may wish to check the system requirements for the games to make sure the hardware is compatible. More HDD space is always nice so get whatever fits. Make sure there is enough free space on both partitions for system paging space if you use it.

08-04-2009, 01:40 AM

Alright, thanks a lot for your helps guys.
I think im going to go with the 250GB HD.
Any other people have experiences or recommendations about partitioning the HD?
Also, if i get infected with a virus through windows, will it affect my Mac OS X too? Or just part part of the HD I partitioned for windows?
Thanks!

08-04-2009, 04:40 AM

I recommend the 250GB if you plan to use Boot Camp, since in the long run you won't have to worry about running out of disk space as quickly. It's easier to just get the space now and have it then to try to move everything to a bigger drive later. That said, the XP OS itself is "tiny" by modern standards (it is 8 years old), so even 20GB is more than enough to install XP for the purpose of running some legacy applications that can't run under say, Vista or Windows 7 (both of which take considerably more disk space).

Windows and OS X are completely different architectures, so a virus in Windows won't affect OS X, and vice versa.

08-04-2009, 11:05 AM

Any other people have experiences or recommendations about partitioning the HD?

There is utiltity called Boot Camp Assistant that will easily walk you through partitioning the hard drive. It will let you pick how much space you want to use for Windows.

Also, if i get infected with a virus through windows, will it affect my Mac OS X too? Or just part part of the HD I partitioned for windows?

It should only affect the Windows partition.

08-04-2009, 09:36 PM

Alright thanks a lot guys.
I just ordered my MBP and went with the 250GB HD