[Anjow]

I'm getting a Macbook shortly, the cheapest one with an 80GB hard disc.

I think I'm going to want to put Vista on it and I was wondering what the hard disc requirements would be for it? How large a partition would it need? Given the existing hard disc isn't massive would it be worth just using XP to cut down on space required?

I do want to be using Vista for my own reasons, so I'd like to if that's practical. Anyway, where do I stand?

[benbaked]

According to Microsoft's recommended requirements page for Vista a 40 Gig HD is recommended for Vista Home Premium/Business/Ultimate with 15 gigs available; Home Basic requirements are lower. OS X Leopard needs between 10-15 gigs for a default install, so I'd say a 50/50 split partitioning scheme would be ideal for you. That way you can try out OS X and Vista and see which OS you'd prefer for full-time usage.

[Anjow]

Thanks for the info. Based on that I think I will just use XP. I use Vista on one of my other machines at present and whilst I like it, I don't think it's worth curtailing my HFS+ space by that amount - I'd have gone for it if you'd said 20GB was workable. I think I'd be using OS X primarily, this was just going to be for secondary usage.

[Kendan]

I just got a macbook a few months ago. I wanted to try OS X before I put XP on it and I am liking it enough where I do not think I am going to put XP on it. The only thing I really miss is Roboform. I am using 1password and it works it is just no where near as easy or as nice as Roboform.

I suggest trying OS X for a week or two before you install Vista. Unless you need Vista for something that you can't do in OS X.

[Anjow]

Originally Posted by Kendan

I suggest trying OS X for a week or two before you install Vista. Unless you need Vista for something that you can't do in OS X.

One of the reasons I'm getting one is for OS X. I would not be installing Windows to replace it, only so I'd have it there if I needed it.

[asusradeon]

Can you not run windows in a parrellel desktop ? save the need to reboot if you need windows ?

[Blackstar]

Originally Posted by Anjow

Thanks for the info. Based on that I think I will just use XP. I use Vista on one of my other machines at present and whilst I like it, I don't think it's worth curtailing my HFS+ space by that amount - I'd have gone for it if you'd said 20GB was workable. I think I'd be using OS X primarily, this was just going to be for secondary usage.

You can get a 10.4 (Tiger) install to 1.9 GB (or less) when you take out all the unnecessary stuff. The pre-install when you buy it has everything included which you may not need at all.

Not sure how much you can trim 10.5 (Leopard) yet, but I would venture to guess it would be pretty close. 4-6 GB max.

If you use the install discs that come with it and do a custom install of the OS you can save a lot of room. Applications like Youpi optimizer and Macaroni can take out localized language files from all your applications as well, saving even more space, and speeding up application response times.

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id...oupi-optimizer

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/9633/macaroni

That should be more than enough room for XP or Vista if you wanted to give it a spin.

- Blackstar

[grimm003]

Originally Posted by Blackstar

You can get a 10.4 (Tiger) install to 1.9 GB (or less) when you take out all the unnecessary stuff. The pre-install when you buy it has everything included which you may not need at all.

Not sure how much you can trim 10.5 (Leopard) yet, but I would venture to
guess it would be pretty close. 4-6 GB max.

If you use the install discs that come with it and do a custom install of the OS you can save a lot of room. Applications like Youpi optimizer and Macaroni can take out localized language files from all your applications as well, saving even more space, and speeding up application response times.

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id...oupi-optimizer

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/9633/macaroni

That should be more than enough room for XP or Vista if you wanted to give it a spin.

- Blackstar

But what about any kind of files you want? I guess you could format the windows partition as FAT and use it as storage, but I don't think the OP was looking to cramp up his OS X like that. That seems like it will take away a lot of useful features of OS X.

I just got my Macbook a week or two ago, and I put XP on a bootcamp partition, mostly just for office and some other programs for school. I gave it 20GB and it's plenty. I would check out VMware fusion and parallels, they let you boot your bootcamp partition from inside OS X. Fusion even lets you minimize the window running windows, and open up the windows applications like they were on OS X. I really like it, but you do need to wait for windows to boot before using the applications from it.

One more tip - it seems there is a bug with bootcamp; if your windows partition is formatted as FAT, then the OS selection screen when booting won't be able to see it, and you will need to select the next OS to boot into before shutting down. But the flipside is that OS X can only read/write from FAT, not HTFS. Good luck

[Cheator]

Just an FYI, I think the licensing MS has setup needs for you to use Ultimate or business in order to let the MAC run it. I don't believe this has changed since it's release.

As for space though, I'd give a good 10 gig to it, and some play room for files needed.

[Anjow]

I've got the Macbook and I must say I'm really happy with OS X so far. I think I will wait a while and see if I run into anything that requires me to have Windows installed before I think about installing it. 80GB isn't much when I've got around 1TB for each of my other machines, I don't think it will go very far.

[Blackstar]

Originally Posted by grimm003

But what about any kind of files you want? I guess you could format the windows partition as FAT and use it as storage, but I don't think the OP was looking to cramp up his OS X like that. That seems like it will take away a lot of useful features of OS X.

...such as? How does partitioning another part of your Hard Drive 'cramp' OS X? Especially if he removes the unnecessary OS X files I suggest, that only increases the available space he has for both. Unless you are that rare user that needs 6 GB of printer drivers and 43 different languages for every application.


- Blackstar

[Lord_Zoltan]

Before my macbook came (over a year and a half ago) i thought i would need parallels or bootcamp. Never once have i booted windows since I got it. I love osx way to much, to the point where i never want to go back to windows.

May i ask WHY you want to put vista over xp? If it is just secondary and just to get the job done you wont need anything more than xp, and you can do xp with some spare room @ 6gigs.