- Joined
- Jun 17, 2007
- Messages
- 4
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- Location
- Portland, OR
- Your Mac's Specs
- iBook G4
Hey all,
Apologies if these are common questions. I'm considering moving from my ancient PIII 800 to a new 20" iMac and I'm faced with a couple questions I haven't been able to find the answer to.
First, and most basic, is it worth it to go for the 2GB RAM upgrade? I hear OS X is a bit of a memory hog, and although I don't plan on performing any seriously system-intensive tasks with my new machine (no gaming, for example), I do plan on running Photoshop occasionally and whatever CAD/CAM software I wind up purchasing. Coming from a system with only 128MB of RAM, 1GB sounds like a ton, but I was hoping some members might shed some light on this.
Second, I plan on installing XP Pro on my system. However, the version I have is pre-SP2, and thus, if I needed SP2 like the Boot Camp documentation states, I will be forced to download it after installation. Will XP Pro SP1 function correctly on Boot Camp, and is the SP2 download absolutely necessary, or will it run fine with SP1? I'd like to avoid the serious security holes SP2 added to the package if at all possible.
Third, I can see the utility of both Parallels and Boot Camp, and would actually like to be able to both run XP as a dual-boot system a la Boot Camp, and have it run windowed with Parallels. I understand this will likely require both pieces of software to be installed. My question is if they both can access and operate the same installation of XP, rather than having one installation of XP for each program.
Finally, when one partitions the drive to allow XP to be installed, are the files on the "other" side of the partition accessable? I.E., if I was working on a MS Word document in OS X and needed to do something to it in XP, could I get to it without having to fuss with work-arounds?
Thanks!
Apologies if these are common questions. I'm considering moving from my ancient PIII 800 to a new 20" iMac and I'm faced with a couple questions I haven't been able to find the answer to.
First, and most basic, is it worth it to go for the 2GB RAM upgrade? I hear OS X is a bit of a memory hog, and although I don't plan on performing any seriously system-intensive tasks with my new machine (no gaming, for example), I do plan on running Photoshop occasionally and whatever CAD/CAM software I wind up purchasing. Coming from a system with only 128MB of RAM, 1GB sounds like a ton, but I was hoping some members might shed some light on this.
Second, I plan on installing XP Pro on my system. However, the version I have is pre-SP2, and thus, if I needed SP2 like the Boot Camp documentation states, I will be forced to download it after installation. Will XP Pro SP1 function correctly on Boot Camp, and is the SP2 download absolutely necessary, or will it run fine with SP1? I'd like to avoid the serious security holes SP2 added to the package if at all possible.
Third, I can see the utility of both Parallels and Boot Camp, and would actually like to be able to both run XP as a dual-boot system a la Boot Camp, and have it run windowed with Parallels. I understand this will likely require both pieces of software to be installed. My question is if they both can access and operate the same installation of XP, rather than having one installation of XP for each program.
Finally, when one partitions the drive to allow XP to be installed, are the files on the "other" side of the partition accessable? I.E., if I was working on a MS Word document in OS X and needed to do something to it in XP, could I get to it without having to fuss with work-arounds?
Thanks!