Questions About Switching / Boot Camp / Fusion

Hey all,

My shiny new 15" Penryn Macbook Pro is on the way and I have a few questions about switching and using Windows XP on the system. I'll be installing XP Pro via Boot Camp for games and then using VMWare Fusion to do most of my work in Windows. Most of the software I have is Windows, so I'll be making the switch gradually. My machine has a 2.5GHz processor, 7200RPM HDD, and 4GB of RAM. Now, on to the questions:

1. The major programs I use are the Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Web Premium, and Office 2007 for Windows. First off, any real-world comments on how this software runs in VMWare? I know it'll be slower than Boot Camp, but does it seem a lot slower? I don't do any huge rendering jobs or deal with really large files in Photoshop if that makes any difference. I mainly use Dreamweaver for web development, and Photoshop for optimizing images and creating layouts for the web.

2. I have a Dell all-in-one printer. Will I need to install the drivers separately within Windows and Leopard? Does it matter if you install the drivers via Boot Camp or VMWare?

3. Can I use iTunes in Windows and Leopard and have them both point to the same folder(s) of music? The only reason I'd want iTunes for Windows is because of iPhoneRingToneMaker. I'm worried that if my iPhone is formatted for Mac, my ringtones won't work. Does iTunes actually format iPhones for a certain OS anymore? If so, is my iPhone going to be screwed up if it's going back and forth between Windows and Mac?

That's all I can think of for now. Thanks a lot for your help!

 

you should be able to run office 2007 and adobe cs3 just fine, if you aren't doing anything especially intensive. it will definitely be slower than booting straight into windows, but, of course, you will retain that option should you have any specifically intensive job to do.

leopard comes with a massive set of printer drivers, so printing in leopard is very very easy. (finally, right? been waiting for that for years).

im not an authority on vmware, but i would install windows drivers in windows only. i would absolutely install the drivers separately, (but you probably won't need to install any drivers for leopard. maybe you will...)

windows formatted ipods can be used with both windows and mac. however, the mac file system can only be used with mac. the mac file system is more robust than the windows one... plus, garageband (comes with mac) can make iphone ringtones. check out macdrive for compatibility with hfs+ from within windows. truly great app.

good luck!