Another switcher here - looking for new MBP facts

Hey guys, I'm keen on getting the new MBP in about 2 weeks time, and I just want to get some facts down.

I'm a musician, and I compose game soundtracks - that is, windows games.
I've always wanted a mac who could do gaming on windows and still let me use OSX for my audio apps - which would work 10 times faster and be more stable than windows.

Could you please answer these simple questions that would actually somewhat confirm my knowledge, but I just want to get it straight:

1) So you CAN run Windows Vista NATIVELY on the new MPB (with bootcamp 1.3)?

2) I have an external WD 320Gb which has NTFS partitions on it, will I be able to see it (read/write) in OSX?

3) Is there any other way to get BootCamp besides downloading it? (where I live right now the internet connection sucks (10KB/s) and it's very expensive)

4) Does the new Bootcamp 1.3 include everything I'd need for Windows Vista - as DirectX, audio/video drivers - maybe even bluetooth drivers for wireless mighty mouse?

5) I'm getting the 160gb version - would 60gb be enough for OSX itself - considering all the projects are on the external HDD?

6) Is the 3D performance in games (and not benchmarks) almost similar (or even better) when running Vista on Bootcamp than an actual PC running Vista with the same specs?

If you could answer these questions, I would appreciate it very much, as this would be the latest research step I do before actually buying the darn thing

So thanks ahead!

 

1) Yes!

2) No. OS X can only read NTFS, not write.

3) No. Its currently still considered a beta (a very finished one), and won't be available via disk until Leopard launches in October.

4) Everything but the latest DirectX, you'll have to go get that.

5) Absolutely, OS X is very small.

6) Its the same. Mac's are PC's! The only possible difference in performance will be in the Apple hardware, but i've noticed nothing.

Good luck!

 

Thanks very much pal!

You can consider me a mac user from now on!

New MBP, here I come!

 

Oh just another quick question:

If I split my 320gb external into two partitions, one for mac and one NTFS, I will not be able to see (read/write) anything on the Mac one from Windows, right?

 

Depends on what file system you use on the Mac's partition. If you use HFS+ (the current OS X system of choice) yes, you Windows machine won't be able to read or write to it. However if you use FAT32, both operating systems won't have any trouble with it at all. FAT32 has its drawbacks though, such as not being able to accept single files over 4gb.

But, check out this nifty ditty. It's a driver for OS X that allows it to read and write NTFS, thus removing your problem entirely. Its marked as stable, i'm going to give it a try and let the forum know how it performs.

 

That would be awesome!

 

also check out macdrive for reading and writing hsf+ partitions while in windows.

parallels 3 also supports reading and writing to ntfs in OS X, havn't seen any performance tests on it though so I don't know what the speed is like. MacFuse is another option although I think it has some speed issues.

 

You cannot use a FAT32 partition for a OS X full install. FAT32 lacks permissions and other resources OS X expects. You can store data, but not run programs or the OS itself from a FAT32 partition.
Regarding the original questions:
2) as said OS X natively only reads NTFS, but you can try third party solutions such as MacFuse. There might be stability and performance issues though.
3) have someone download, burn to a CD and mail it to you?
5) OS X is not big, but beware of the Apps. Garage band and iLife take more than 10GB, mainly in audio samples, DVD themes, etc. I suppose you can move these to the external though. 60GB should be enough.
6) it should be the same. See a lot of benchmarks here in the forum. I've noticed inconsistencies - people getting wildly different 3Dmarks on the same config, not sure why.

 

The format issue was referring to his external Wooky, where he wouldn't have OS X

 

diver dan: yeah I'll look into macdrive, but is it stable though?
and I won't be using paralells...

Wooky: yeah thanks for the info, about Garage Band and iLife, can't I uninstall those once I get the mac? I'm not going to need them anyway, because I have more professional apps ready to be installed...

And the thing with 3Dmark, I personally don't get any use or inportant application out of its results. I have a different score on my desktop each run I make, and it's very different, sometimes +- 500 points, so I don't care about the benchmarks...

Nicholie: how's that driver coming?

 

Give me tonight mate, I have alot of other stuff going on. Sometime past midnight i'll let you know haha.

 

Right on, didn't mean to rush you or anything!

But thanks again for the research!