No question, the notebooks of the competitor Apple also let convinced Windows users more often a envious look at these very elegant devices throw – if only there would be the operating system OS X would not. Users from the Windows world would like to work with Windows operating systems as well.
The solution is called "Bootcamp"
Because the hardware of modern Apple systems - whether it is a "normal" MacBook or one of the new Air models - is based on the same technology from Intel, which is also used by most notebook competitors This basically no problem: But who wants to completely delete the OS X just to use Windows on the device?
Windows installation and test
The Mac operating system brings under the designation Bootcamp a software, which allows to operate on the Apple platform next to the in-house system in the dual boot procedure also a Windows natively on such a computer. We have tested and tested a MacBook Air for the current operating system version Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8) with a current version of Windows 8 Professional (64 Bit).
Quick to Windows 8 on the Mac
For comparison, it was also possible to examine the pre-release of Windows 8.1 shortly before the end of the test, both under the same conditions and in combination with an OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). Since the behavior of these different versions does not differ from each other, we refer to the first mentioned combination in the following article.
In a first step all system updates for the operating system Mountain Lion were retrieved and installed. After the successful update, the installation process is prepared. An ISO file of the current Windows 8 Pro operating system then served as an installation medium. Among the system programs of the Apple computer is the BootCamp program, which guides the user through a further installation by means of a wizard.
After selecting the ISO image (or even a DVD) with the operating system Windows 8, the user can now use a slider to define a portion of the available memory space for the Windows partition to be created. We have tested the test to a value of about 140 GB. If you do not want to install many programs on the Windows partition, it also comes with 50 to 60 GB.
The BootCamp program now prepares the hard drive and restarts the Mac-Book Air. A user does not have to select any further settings regarding the boot order or the startup options. Then start the well-known Windows 8 setup.
Then we followed the instructions of the installation routine. When selecting the mass storage for the Windows partition, BootCamp creates a partition with the meaningful partition name bootcamp of the previously selected size: The user must select this partition for his Windows system. If so, this space should be formatted again. This can also be done using the Windows installer.
Click on Next to start the actual installation process. Product key, computer and username and password are set, then Windows 8 is initialized for initial use. As a network connection, we used the WLAN adapter correctly recognized by the Windows 8 system. After entering the corresponding access data, the Internet connection was ready immediately.
A look at the Windows device manager showed us some non-automatically detected devices, including the built-in FaceTime camera, keyboard special buttons, Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 interfaces. Here, Apple provides a driver package for download. This package in the Exe format provides the extension of the BootCamp on the Windows side and can be downloaded at this URL
After the scheduled reboot, the user has to make some settings in Windows 8. For example, to use the trackpad of the MacBook under Windows, the function of a second mouse button should be activated in the BootCamp via the tab Trackpad: Then again a right-click is possible, which is so urgently required under Windows
The battery life is somewhat lower in the default setting Balanced under Windows 8 than under OS X. In the unchanged energy state we reached a running time of five to six hours with full screen brightness. The installation of a Windows system parallel to the existing Mac OS X operating system is possible thanks to the bootcamp software, even for less experienced users. However, it is only useful if the system has enough space. If there is only 64 Gbytes of SSD memory in the MacBook, it is therefore not recommended to install Windows.
For models with 128 GB, the storage space is also already scarce after the installation of only a few additional software. Only for systems with an SSD of 256 or 512 GB or an even larger conventional hard disk can this configuration be advised. Here, the user is "the best of both worlds": He can combine the good usability and the high-quality hardware of the MacBook system with the diverse application and application possibilities of the Windows system.
Another alternative is to run Windows via virtualization on the OS-X operating system. However, it is not possible to achieve the same performance and high speed as with the direct installation of Windows on the hardware.
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