Best Windows Boot program for Gaming?

Hello.

I just purchased a Macbook Pro and I would like to install Windows. Firstly, for a program that isn't available in Mac format and secondly to play games.

Is it possible to play games on Windows with Parallels? My experience running a newer game on a Macbook didn't work well.


The other options are BootCamp and VMWare (I think that's what it's called)

Are there positives and negatives for one or the other?

I thought I read somewhere about using BootCamp and VMWare simultaniosuly? That way you don't always have to reboot into windows if you needed to do something quick.

Thanks.

Uh... I think you have got your concepts a little borked.

Bootcamp: Runs windows natively, that is, at full speed. But you have to restart your mac to boot into Windows.
Parallels and VMware: Runs Windows virtually, that is, alongside Mac OS X. So while you don't have to reboot to Windows, your resources are shared between Parallels Windows and Mac OS X resulting in average performance.

Your best bet for playing games is Bootcamp. Just run the bootcamp setup assistant (applications > Utilities > bootcamp assistant) and install Windows. You will of course need a Windows disk to install Windows...

For games at this point in time, you'll want to use BootCamp and re-boot into windows.

Parallels or VMWare Fusion, either one allows you to use windows apps without the need for re-booting and can use your BootCamped windows installation.

Parallels currently only supports DirectX 8 and VMWare has only recently introduced beta support for DX9. Don't know how well it's working as I've been trying my best to only buy games that have been ported to OS X.

There is some other info about the forum on Parallels and VMWare you can find by searching, but not really that much. Not really that much out on the internet either that gives a good comparison between the 2 of them in their current versions. It does seem, most have who gave both a try, end up going with VMWare.

One other alternative is Crossover. It lets you run Windows apps and games in OS X without the need to install Windows at all. Support is limited though... some apps and games work better than others (many not at all yet), but if you have some specific apps and games you want to use, you may want to look into seeing if they are supported or been tested yet. If what you want to run is known to work, so much the better.

I don't think you can run any 3D games using Crossover. Maybe the odd card game or something, but beyond that you have to choose bootcamp...

goobimama said:

I don't think you can run any 3D games using Crossover. Maybe the odd card game or something, but beyond that you have to choose bootcamp...

Click to expand...

Oh you sure can. Eve Online and Half Life 2 are just a couple examples that are specifically supported.

Oh cool! Didn't know that.

Yah. Like I said... it's hit or miss. One of the bigger problems with games under Crossover is the copy protection scheme under use. I have some older ones that require a no-cd patch because Crossover can't "cooperate" (for lack of a better term) with the copy-protection scheme for those games. Best thing to do is check the compatibility page and see if the app/game has been tested and known to be compatible. Also check the discussion page for the app/game... sometimes people have discovered ways to get it to work. I just wish the Pro Pinball series of pinball simulators would get supported... those definitely don't work.

I am currently downloading Crossover, I saw a clip on YouTube of someone playing Guildwars windowed on a mac. All I really play now is Guildwars and I want to play it in OSX because its better than Windows. I have bootcamp and I normally boot into windows but its starting to get slow, like windows does.

Now lets see if this will work

Is anybody has the S/N of crossover?

Games/Animation softwares using bootcamp??

so u guys think somethin new and heavy on graphics like need for speed pro street or halo or call of duty can run smoothly in high resolutions using bootcamp?? will it be just the same as its being run on a windows machine??? anyone had any experience tryin to play any of those graphics heavy games or 3d animation softwares please please share ur experience....... Thanks!!!!!

In boot camp windows run natively so it will be fine.

@liquidmetal: Depends on what machine you have got. If you have a macbook with GMA950 graphics, then I don't think you can hope to play any of those games you have mentioned. Something from early 2006 perhaps?

hmmm.... so what if its a....

@goobimama
well....what if its a new 15.4" 2.2GHz version of the macbook pro with nvidia geforce 8600GT 128MB?? or even a 2.4 GHz Mac with Ati Radeon HD 2600 256MB??? that shudnt give me any disturbance right?? its just that i happen to read a lot about mac being not up to the mark when it comes to graphics heavy stuff with bootcamp...[ie. on the windows side of it...] am still a bit confused about this... does it actually load up mac if im using bootcamp or will it be just windows... just to know whether all the hardware resources will be available to windows fully... or whether some part of it will get eaten up by leopard loaded in background...??

It dosn't load up mac if your on windows in boot camp. Macbook Pro should be fine. (hoping my new macbook white is dx10 compatiable like it sya on the intel site).

Windows on the Mac should run exactly the same as it does on a PC (similarly spec'ed). So your MBP should run games just fine. However, you can't tweak the graphics card, overclock the CPU and other such things so maybe that's what the geeks are talking about.

I shall however mention this. If you are planning to buy the MBP to play a lot of games in Windows, then better get a 'normal' PC notebook. You will get much better configurations such than the MBP. However, if it's occasional gaming that you want, then the MBP can more than fulfill your needs...

all the new intel macs are dx10 compatible. Games will look sweet and will play nicely with medium settings, for example crysis!

Crysis on a macbook! That'll be a sight to see!

(By the way, the Mac mini still has GMA950 which is not DX10)

ok so the mac mini isn't dx10 compatible but the rest are.

Look on youtube for crysis on mac. There are a bunch of vids of imacs running it, and a few macbooks as well.

Good im just ordered a couple of games for vista which dx10 only.