Andreas Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 After a few years in the wilderness that is Windows, I am going to treat myself to a Mac (17" Macbook Pro, latest version with the nVidia 8600). What is the current state of affairs regarding running CMBB and CMAK on these? My understanding is: 1) I will need to partition a section of the HDD for a Windows installation - emulators won't do it 2) XP is better than Vista How much HDD space is recommended for this? I am tempted by going for the 200 MB HDD because it is the fastest, but I guess I may end up with too little space? I am using a 250 MB external HDD for storing of pictures to manage space now (my current laptop has a 100MB HDD), and will keep that approach - are 100 + 100 sufficient for an OS X and a XP partition? Anything else I need to be aware of? Many thanks in advance for the help! All the best Andreas 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 Andreas, If you are going down the Boot Camp / Windows XP path then I’d suggest you limit the Windows partition to 32Gb. If you want a bigger Windows partition moving files back and forth (to say send to a PBEM opponent) is much more difficult. 32Gb gives me room for: Windows XP Pro SP2 CMBB CMAK CMETO CM “Sie Kommen“ CMAK ADF Version CMSF Steel Beasts Pro PE Steel Beasts Pro PE ANZAC WinSPWW2 WinSPMBT Steel Panthers World At War General Edition TacOps Ver 4 TacOps Ver 5 ANZAC And other games with still half a Gb free. You can try Sheep Shaver to run the OS 9 stuff as an alternative. I’d get the biggest drive you can (I’ve already had to upgrade the drive in my MacBook Pro from 120Gb to 200Gb. Lastly, I’d avoid Vista like the plague. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted May 20, 2008 Author Share Posted May 20, 2008 Thanks for that Mark, very helpful! The biggest drive is the 4,200 rpm 300GB - experience with my current laptop would lead me to go for a smaller, but faster drive instead (the smallest is the 200 GB 7,200 rpm, the medium is 250 GB 5,400 rpm). What drive speed does yours have? All the best Andreas 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 5.4k. 4.2k would still be all right (depending on what else you want to use the MBP for?) Also not sure if you want to here this or not but apparently quad core chips are due to be released at Mac World San Francisco (Jan ‘09) so not sure if you need it “now” or can wait 8 months? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted May 20, 2008 Author Share Posted May 20, 2008 It is mostly going to be used for internet, photos, and light office stuff. My current (XP) laptop has a 5,400rpm drive, and I have an external 7,200 - the difference is noticeable, I find. I want to get it now since we are moving country, so no need to keep the French laptop, and a colleague of mine is going to the US, which means it reduces the price for the MBP by about 30%. I think in terms of processor speed it is going to be plenty fast enough. All the best Andreas 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 Ah well loading a sizeable iPhoto or Aperture gallery would notice. Anyway enjoy the purchase. If you need anything else just ask. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted May 21, 2008 Share Posted May 21, 2008 More RAM is always a good way to make good for slow harddrives. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted May 21, 2008 Share Posted May 21, 2008 Indeed, but anything over 2Gb (while useful in OS X mode) wont be available to the Win XP Pro sessions. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted May 21, 2008 Share Posted May 21, 2008 Originally posted by gibsonm: Indeed, but anything over 2Gb (while useful in OS X mode) wont be available to the Win XP Pro sessions. "Sessions"? I thought bootcamp boots straight into XP? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted May 21, 2008 Share Posted May 21, 2008 It does. Sorry, perhaps I should have said “for those sessions (i.e. time spent at the machine) when you want to use Boot Camp”. Clearer? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted May 22, 2008 Author Share Posted May 22, 2008 4GB are a given, even though not at Apple's extortionate prices. All the best Andreas 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted May 22, 2008 Share Posted May 22, 2008 Originally posted by gibsonm: It does. Sorry, perhaps I should have said “for those sessions (i.e. time spent at the machine) when you want to use Boot Camp”. Clearer? The RAM situation in a 32 bit OS is that you can use 4 or more GB, but only if your OS has working PAE. Unfortunately Mickeysoft removed PAE in SP2 for XP due to driver troubles. So you can either run an earlier 32 bit Windows (e.g. XP SP1) or you gotta live with the limitation. Having said that, depending on what your BIOS does, exactly, with the area between 3 and 4 GB that is used by device memory, you will see about 3.2 out of 4 GB RAM. So it's much better than just 2 GB. (differently limits towards virtual memory apply and if you have PAE you also want working remap of the RAM clashing with device memory, but that's not relevant since you don't have PAE). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeanluc Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 I too am considering a macbook pro.....if one does the boot camp option, loads xp, does the cm seies work well with xp and the 8600 series cards? Also, does the regular macbook ie. the non-pro one with no graphics card run cm decently? Just wondering.......I really want to continue to play cm. It is still the best game of it's genre out there despite its age........ Thanks for any info anyone may have. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted June 19, 2008 Author Share Posted June 19, 2008 Another question - when getting Windows XP, is it possible to buy the OEM version (which costs less than half than the normal version) and install it? What are the drawbacks of that? Many thanks! All the best Andreas 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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