January 11th, 2006
Don’t Get Your Hopes Up — No Dual-Booting XP on New Intel Macs
By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but not for the reasons you may be thinking. It’s not because Apple doesn’t want consumers to run XP on their Intel Macs. It’s because Apple chose to use the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) instead of BIOS. Thus, users who thought they could dual-boot their systems are going to be disappointed.
On Tuesday at Macworld, Apple senior vice president of worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller said the company would not specifically block the use of Windows on Mac hardware. Instead, limitations in Windows itself will prevent its use on the new MacBook Pro laptop and iMac.
Intel initially deployed EFI as part of its Itanium architecture. As such, Microsoft only included support for the BIOS replacement in its IA64 and later x64 operating systems. While Microsoft plans to add EFI support in 32-bit versions of Windows Vista, a final release isn’t due until the end of the year.
Microsoft’s 64-bit versions of Windows will also not work despite supporting EFI, because Apple’s Intel platform is strictly 32-bit at the moment. Source: BetaNews
We Say: Actually, the news isn’t all that bad. Yes, the Core Duo is only 32-bit, but I’m sure Apple is planning on 64-bit hardware in the future, and that plus 32-bit Vista support would eliminate the roadblocks. For some reason this type of dual-boot idea never entered my mind; I’ve been thinking more along the lines of running MacOS on a Windows PC (like a Dell or something). Shows you how Windows-focused I am, right? 
David Johnston says:
I hear that Vista and XP-64 do (or are going to in Vista’s case) support the EFI.
January 11th, 2006 at 3:20 pm
Michael Santo says:
Yes, that’s noted in the article … and though it’s only 32-bit Vista that needs the addition of EFI support, since the Intel Macs are 32-bit right now, hopeful users are stuck.
January 11th, 2006 at 3:24 pm
Charles says:
Michael, I’m totally with you on running OSX on a PC. I’m not especially enamored with Apple hardware, but I would like to use the highly integrated apps like iMovie, Garage Band, etc.
Granted, the new MacBook Pro is awesome, but I’m not prepared to spend $2500 to see if I like OSX.
Besides, I actually prefer the ‘Dark side of the Force’ look of my ThinkPad…
January 11th, 2006 at 7:11 pm
David Johnston says:
I can tell you from working doing PC/Mac repair for my college, that the failure rate of Mac hardware is pretty darn high…a LOT higher than many Mac fans would have you believe. It seems that almost every product they release has some weak part that tends to go bad. On the iMac G5’s it’s the motherboards. On the eMacs it’s the hard drive…and the power connector the the Mac Minis is flimsy and comes out too easily if it’s moved around (and being that small, it’s easy to move it around).
January 11th, 2006 at 8:26 pm
F Kapnistos says:
How long will it be before we can have real split-screen desktop systems, with MacOS in one frame and Windows in another?
January 11th, 2006 at 10:19 pm
Charles says:
David, you’re touching on one of my biggest concerns about buying an Apple computer. Actually, it’s less of a concern with the laptops, but as far as a desktop goes, it seems it’s more dificult and expense to replace/upgrade any given part.
While digging through online forums to troubleshoot my iPod problem, I did not get the impression that Apple has a lock on reliability.
And when the replacement parts can only come from one place, weellll…. not good.
January 11th, 2006 at 10:35 pm
DragonCairn says:
Does it still run the MS VirtualPC software? Can’t dual boot, can atleast pretend boot?
January 12th, 2006 at 6:43 am
Ross says:
The guys at thinksecret .com claim “Along with running Mac OS X, Windows XP installs without hitch on the Intel-based Mac, just as it would on any other PC”.
Link http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0506intelmac.html
January 12th, 2006 at 8:27 am
Michael Santo says:
Ross, that was quite some time ago (June). Looking at the specs of the “kit” (P4, 3.6 GHz), I’m betting that was just a generic Intel box with a BIOS (not EFI) and some changes. I know the limitations of Windows XP w/ regards to EFI are true, so I can’t see it working on a retail MacBook Pro, etc.
January 12th, 2006 at 9:49 am
Ross says:
I stand corrected…
January 12th, 2006 at 10:02 am
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