MacBook Help: Easiest Way to Run Windows

[BillyLuke21]

I'm a college student just purchased a new MacBook. (I was enticed by the superior quality and multimedia features for student use; plus I got a great deal.)

The only obvious downside is that I can't run some applications (namely Party Poker and Poker Stars) through Mac OS X or whatever operating software I have. I'm looking for the best balance of quality and price in terms of running some parallel system for Windows.

Please help!

[wonderwes]

I assume this has the new intel chip. You said it in your own post. The software is called parallels. It runs for $40, and you can pretty much run any windows app on it.

[BillyLuke21]

It is an Intel chip; I was told by the ever-helpful customer service at Party to use VirtualPC, but apparently that is not compatible with the new Intel machines.
Do I need the Windows software (XP or whatever version) to install into Parallel or can I just run the programs through Parallel? If I need Windows, is there like a basic verison or whatever that you could recommend to me?

Appreciate the help, wes.

[Greg Miller]

You'll need Windows. Get the Windows XP Home Edition. If you have an older Windows CD handy, you can buy the upgrade edition (at least it worked this way with my Windows 2000) and it'll ask for the old CD to verify your eligibility before doing a clean install.

Party currently has a Java version in Beta that will run on MacOS X, among others. That doesn't help with PokerTracker, PAHUD, etc. though.

[jrbick]

Apple's website tells you exactly how to do this. Don't use parallels, use Boot Camp. Apple is done w/ parallels and boot camp will allow you to run Windows XP natively.

I just had to order Windows XP as the computer won't accept any other disk other than an "official" one.

jrbick

[junglewarfare]

Bootcamp. It's perfect, aside from a very small number of minor driver issues.

[sui generis]

yes at bootcamp
boo at virtualpc - it sucks, you probably won't be able to use pt/pa and multitable without crashing.

-eric

[Brakara]

[ QUOTE ]
Apple is done w/ parallels

[/ QUOTE ]

Huh? Apple isn't even making Parallels Desktop. Using Bootcamp is an awful advice if OP prefers to have OS X running while playing poker.

[nuts]

here are your options :

parallels : lets you use osx at the same time
boot camp : lets you dual boot windows and osx

you will need a windows cd for either of these methods.

virtualpc is very similar to parallels but runs much slower, and is now discontinued (because parallels is miles ahead in performance).

[turnipmonster]

I posted about this a while ago, I suggest running XP under paralells. I do this and it works flawlessly with a few minor tweaks.