How can I install Windows in an Intel based Mac?

Answer 1

Hello, I would not recommend Boot Camp, it is free but you will need a licensed windows copy which may cost you up to $300, and working as a former tech support for Apple, I have heard many many complanits about the Boot Camp (it's Beta product).

I would strongly suggest you to go for "Parallels" which would not only cost you less money ($79.00), but also they offer you a free trial:
http://www.parallels.com/

I have a great article for your consideration:
Apple offers Boot Camp as their option for running Windows on your Mac. It is free for download from their website, but you must have a licensed full version of Windows XP with service pack 2. I am sure plenty of people have a copy laying around that they can use, but others will have to purchase a copy currently priced at $200 for XP home, $300 for XP Pro. The boot camp assistant makes installation a relatively painless experience, provided you have the right version of Windows. The assistant walks you through making a driver disk, a partition for windows, and installation of the OS. This can take a fair amount of space so I would consider getting a large hard drive for this. Once installation is complete your Mac will reboot into Windows for setup and driver installation. After this is complete you are ready to go. True to Apples ease of use it just works. Windows is very fast using boot camp, in fact the MacBook Pro I used for this testing (2 Ghz core duo, 1GB RAM, 100 GB HDD) is the fastest windows machine I have ever used…period. Hardware usage with it is easy and straightforward. Program support is great I had no problem running my test suite of office, LightCyler (a scientific program from Roche), IE, and Age of Empires. Networking worked with the Ethernet and wireless with no problems. You can specify startup to default to either Mac OS X or XP using the startup disk system preference in Mac OS X. To boot in the other system just hold down the option key while booting up. That is really the only disadvantage to boot camp… you need to reboot to use the other system.

Parallels, unlike boot camp, utilizes virtualization to run windows so rebooting is not necessary. Parallels desktop for Mac runs $79.95 and you need a full version of windows like you do for boot camp. Installation of the program and OS is easy, and went without a hitch. Again this takes a fair amount of space, but you don’t have to partition the drive to do it. Launching windows through parallels is very similar to VirtualPC but what is immediately evident is the difference in speed. Parallels runs windows seemingly just as fast as boot camp, in fact it boots quicker on my machine 17 seconds… fast! Program installation is slightly more difficult in that you need to capture the disk drive in parallels either by capturing the drive, or an image of the disk. Similar to any virtualization hardware support is not complete, but is more than adequate. Like boot camp program support is great and I had no problem running my test suite. Networking was just as good as boot camp with no issues. You definitely want to install the optional tools that come with the software as it makes for easier interaction with both OS’s and better hardware support.

CrossOver Mac is different from both Boot Camp and Parallels in that you do not need windows at all. It is the commercial development of the open source WINE project and as such it runs windows programs natively on your Mac. It currently is $39.95 but will go up to $59.95 when the final version is released. The Beta was just released, no date has been set for the full release, but it is supposed to be due in the fall. CrossOver Mac is really cool. Installation of the program is easy with a double-click installer. Installing the windows programs is somewhat more difficult than boot camp and parallels, but by no means hard. It involves creating a bottle for each program which as I understand it installs the API’s needed by the program to function. I couldn’t run my whole suite of programs as I chose to only use supported programs Office and IE. I had no problems at all with either of these programs they run just as they would under windows. The program opens in an Aqua window but the program is instantly recognizable as a windows program by the look of the buttons and such. I didn’t check hardware compatibility with crossover, but networking worked flawlessly but wired and wireless. The only drawback at the moment is the fact that not all windows programs are supported, but most of the major ones are, and I am sure many more will follow.

Overall, I think each solution for running windows programs on your Mac has its advantages and disadvantages. I think Parallels and crossover have an advantage in not have to reboot so they are great for someone who needs to run a particular Windows only program fairly often. Parallels has the lead here though with basically complete software support, with the possible exception of newer 3D games. Boot camp is a great solution for the person who rarely needs to run windows, but wants complete software and hardware support, and for the machine to act like a normal PC (put in a disk and it shows up etc.) Crossover has the advantage in price as you don’t need a copy of windows to be able to run windows programs. Each one of these is not a full release yet. Parallels is the closest as it is in release candidate. Boot camp will be released with Leopard sometime in early 2006, and crossover is in beta 1. All three have free trial versions available, although for boot camp and parallels you need to provide a copy of Windows. Unfortunately not every program is available for the Mac, each one of these programs allows you to utilize these programs and they are well worth giving a look if you need to run the occasional Windows-only program.

Whether you install Boot Camp or Parallels, it would give you step by step instructions on the screen for installation.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

you could just buy Crossover, or you could do the 30 day free trial. Crossover is a program for Macs that allows you to use other programs that are only available for PCs.

Answer 3

u have 2 get bootcamp. install it and follow the instructions. its rly easy.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/