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A Weekend with an XP iMac

by C.K. Sample, III Apr 10th 2006 at 2:00PM

This weekend, I conducted a little experiment. I used Boot Camp to boot my 17-inch 1.83GHz iMac Core Duo with 2GBs of RAM and an external 24-inch monitor in Windows XP and then I forced myself to remain in XP. I didn't reboot into OS X. Instead, I explored the Windows performance on the machine. Overall, I have to admit, it was a positive experience. I still prefer OS X, but I can now see the advantages to booting into XP from time to time.

One odd thing that I wasn't expecting was that I didn't find myself loathing Windows quite as much. Something about running it quickly on my nice iMac made it more pleasant than all of my previous experiences running XP on various PC boxes. It's still the fastest I've ever seen Windows perform. Half of this is probably that I didn't load it down with lots of crap programs, and I had it properly protected immediately after install with virus, firewall, and spyware protection.

There were negative aspects to the experience. It hard crashed at least 5 times on me this weekend. This mostly happened when I was installing something...
More after the jump...
Skype didn't install the first time I tried. One time, however, it crashed on startup as Gizmo Project was loading. Disabling Gizmo Project load on start up fixed the problem.

I managed to get Firefox running nicely, Gaim installed for chat, and Open Office installed, so that I more or less had all the work environment necessities. Also, several of the Windows only programs and services that I have to access for work (and for which I keep a Dell laptop lying around) installed easily on the iMac running XP, so I no longer have to leave my iMac and use the Dell to get my work done. That's the landslide benefit of Boot Camp right there.

However, the coolest part, and the thing that will keep me booting into XP more often than I normally would, is the games. Saturday, I ran out to the store and bought Guild Wars, The Battle for Middle Earth, and Halo. They all run very fast and nicely on the iMac XP. The only slow down I experienced was when battling the very cinematic and fire-breathing Balrog while playing The Battle For Middle Earth, running it fullscreen 1600x1200 with the high detail settings on the external 24-inch monitor. After I dropped down the settings a bit, it played fine and I imagine that if I were running it on the iMac's default screen there wouldn't have been any issue.

Also a slight note, running two monitors off of the iMac in XP did create a few visual "burps" every once in a while, where both screens would flicker slightly. This usually only occured when I wasn't actively doing anything on the machine. As if the screensaver was thinking about kicking in, but decided not to.

Also, since Flip4Mac isn't currently installing on my Intel Mac, if I need to view Windows Media Player content on my Mac, rebooting into Windows seems to be the only way to do so.

So what's my end verdict: if you've been keeping a crappy Windows machine around, get rid of it. Get a copy of XP and install it on your Intel Mac. Get it for the workday bits that you are forced to use Windows for and keep it for the games.

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This weekend, I conducted a little experiment. I used Boot Camp to boot my 17-inch 1.83GHz iMac Core Duo with 2GBs of RAM and an external...
 

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web design uk

I thouroughly enjoyed it

April 13 2006 at 9:11 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
web design uk

A great read!!

April 13 2006 at 9:10 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Antonio

Saw Jeremy's Flip4Mac comment and I disagree, somewhat....Flip4Mac works perfectly on my 3 Macs, however, there are some sites that it is not yet compatible with, and Telestream is working on this. With every update they add more formats...and that's the problem, there are sooo many different streaming formats, it's not easy to keep up with, however, I have had very little problems, and if I find a particular site that is not yet compatible, then I contact Telestream and they get it into QA and add it with the forthcoming update.
One other thing to note is that you can disable Flip4Mac by going to the preference and unchecking the appropriate box....no need to un-install.
Find info bits on F4M here: http://flip4mac.blogspot.com/

April 11 2006 at 1:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Al Willis

I had the same experience... Windows XP sucks less when running on a Mac. Who knew?

April 11 2006 at 3:17 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
liz

I use iSquint to quickly convert .wmv files on my macbook pro, it works like a charm.

April 11 2006 at 1:57 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
h.solo

I am amazed at the hate for windows. I realize this is an apple site but damn.
Now for my 2 cents. The Apple OS is hideous for any type of office work. I am forced to use an ibook at work because my HP will not work on our network and any time I try to do anything with office I want to blow up the ibook and kill myself. ( By the way if I see that fruity colorwheel again because the machine is being baffled by my command I will Elvis the screen)
Now I will admit that OSX is far superior to the worst operating system of all time, Windows ME, XP just works better for office suite users.
By the way king Steve I would by a MacBook (with boot camp) if it had a RIGHT MOUSE KEY. (please don't start with the apple key command crap it takes longer and is a pain)

April 11 2006 at 12:30 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
reyesmac

The gaming industry gave up on the Mac a long time ago. Thats why they have companies out there that port games. The companies that made the games don't care enough to make there games for mac, it is up to the porting companies to invest their resources to port a windows game over. So go ahead and buy a PC game and let the company that made it know that you have a Mac and you want a Mac version of the sequel. Apple does not have to kiss anyones butt anymore so they keep making applications on their platform. It will allow them to make the computers they want to make without worrying about what some other company thinks.

On an unrelated note, I think Sony should switch to using the Mac OS now. They are not cheap so they won't cannibalize the Mac market.

April 10 2006 at 11:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
lonewolf

#14: Yes, you can. Read the instructions at http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=191777

April 10 2006 at 8:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
eric

"One odd thing that I wasn't expecting was that I didn't find myself loathing Windows quite as much"
Using windows machines is like dating a girl who turns out to be a junkie; they seem normal at first, and your first time is kind of awkward, because you're not sure which buttons to push; then, you get used to 'em, and as you adapt to their quirks, you start to see their positive aspects; then one day you find out they're infected with every disease imagineable and that some creep they've been talking to has maxed out all your credit cards and drained your bank account.

April 10 2006 at 7:46 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
rib

Why buy the PC version of Halo? The Mac version is much prettier.

April 10 2006 at 7:07 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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