Digital Trends

Apple Mac mini Dual Core 1.66GHz

April 11th, 2006 | by Jason Tomczak

Boot Camp - Windows on Mac: 

On April 5, 2006, Apple announced a beta program called Boot Camp.  Boot Camp is a bundle of software and firmware that allows users to run OSX and Windows XP SP2 on their Intel-based Macs, including the Mac Mini.

The download and setup of Boot Camp was quick and painless.  After a 5 minute download and a 2 minute configuration, the Intel Mac Mini was ready to reboot for Windows XP installation. 

Once rebooted, the Mini agreeably started up in the standard DOS-blue Windows installation screen.  Of course, Windows installations are never as fast as OSX installations, but the Mini waited for Microsoft's software to collect itself.  Moments later, Windows XP Professional was being installed on the Mini. 

Nearly an hour later, the main desktop of XP Pro was displayed nicely on my widescreen LCD.  Please note that the installation time of an hour is not a Mini flaw or any compatibility problem - it is a Windows reality.  Once XP was successfully installed and drivers were updated with the Boot Camp CD, Windows XP was running faster than it had been running on my last tricked-out AMD64 system.  Everything was fluid and fast - as perfect as it could be.

For Mac users who need or want to run XP-only programs, but want an Apple computer, Boot Camp is absolutely perfect!  Boot Camp requires an Intel-based Mac and a fully licensed copy of Windows XP with SP2.  To date, nothing other than XP SP2 will work correctly.

Parallels Workstation  - Windows in OSX:

On April 6, 2006, Parallels announced a Boot Camp rival called Parallels Workstation 2.1 Beta for Mac OS X.  Essentially, Parallels Workstation works like Microsoft Virtual PC - it allows a Windows operating system, like Windows XP, to run in a window on the OSX desktop.  The major difference between Boot Camp and Parallels Workstation is that Boot Camp requires a reboot to get into the alternate operating system, whereas Parallels Workstation runs Windows and OSX at the same time.  Users can open and run Mac programs in OSX, then simply double click the Parallels icon to open Windows in a separate program window.  It can be minimized to the Dock, moved around the screen, and shut down like any other program.  It runs surprisingly fast - significantly faster than Virtual PC, though it is not as fast as the Boot Camp instance of XP.  One caveat - Parallels Workstation requires an Intel-based Mac and a valid license for whatever version of Windows you want to run.

Notes about Boot Camp vs. Parallels Workstation:

Boot Camp is free.  Parallels Workstation is $49.99. 

To date, Boot Camp only does Windows XP SP2.  Parallels Workstation handles any version of Windows (3.x, 95, 98, Me, 2000, NT, XP) as well as Linux, FreeBSD, OS/2, MS-DOS, etc.

Boot Camp is slated to become an integrated part of Apple's next generation operating system - Leopard.