Thinkpads Forum

Hi I have

T61p
running windows xp
nvidia quadro FX 570M
Audio is Intel 82801HBM
wireless network is Atheros AR5001x
Lan is Intel 82566MM

I am thinking about putting os x on my laptop and I was wondering whats the performance difference from Dual Boot os x compared to just running it through windows xp? does anyone know?

The last time I looked VMware would not run OS-X. The newest version might, but I don't know.

With respect to performance:
1. Dual-booting should not present any performance problems and allows machines to function natively. The downside is simultaneous running.
2. Virtual machines have some performance penalty, but not serious in my opinion. The big upside is that you can run several machines simultaneously.

The latter suits me better; others like dual-booting.
... JDH

hmmm... Yeah reading on it looks like VM is only for amd processor. Think i will just try dual booting.

One more question could you tell me what kernel i need to install?

I think you could try also VMWare, because it now gives the possibility to install the plain, standard Mac OSX 10.5: no need for hacks.

This means that you can keep OSX up to date with the standard System Update application, which is a significant advantage.

Another consideration is that you easily get OSX networked via VMWare, no matter what network cards you have (if you go the native way and you happen to have both cards, wired and wireless, by Intel you are out of business as far as networking is concerned).

Only drawback is that, for the moment, video is not accelerated and sound is not working, but reasonably future releases of VMWare may change this.

As far as performance is concerned, it is certainly lower than with a native installation, but on my T61 (2.4 GHz) responsiveness is more than adequate and OSX is very pleasent to use.

If you want to give it a try, you need the 2.5 beta version of VMware Workstation, since previous versions won't do it. You also need a serial number: you can use a 30 days trial serial number that can be gathered from the VMware site.

Steps:

1) Download VMware Workstation 2.5 beta frome here:

http://www.vmware.com/communities/conte ... nload.html

2) Refer to this thread on InsanelyMac, where you will find instructions plus the image of a virtual machine set up with the correct parameters for OSX installation:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=118663

3) buy a 10.5 OSX installation dvd;

4) proceed with installation and enjoy a pure Mac OSX: I have already upgraded to 10.5.4, right after installation, without a single problem; just remember to use the -v -x -f boot flags at the first restart after upgrading.

Regards
Neb