There was some debate a few weeks ago whether Intel Macs would boot Microsoft’s upcoming operating system, Vista, because of conflicting boot-up systems. While the Intel Macs use EFI, a new boot system from Intel, initial versions of Windows Vista will use the old BIOS system.
Well, in the comments to the blog post below, reader RLPM posted a link to a Flickr photoset showing his MacBook Pro booting off a Vista disk image, thanks to Apple’s new Boot Camp software.
RLPM says he didn’t try a full install because he hasn’t backed up his MacBook, and presumably doesn’t want a disk error to wipe everything out.
He writes: “After installing the firmware update and boot camp (didn’t run boot camp assistant), it booted off the most recent Vista. I haven’t had time to backup my system, so I didn’t install vista, but it boots from the latest image!”
So I guess Apple’s Boot Camp software makes the whole BIOS/EFI firmware issue moot?
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
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Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
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Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
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10 responses to “Vista on a MacBook Pro”
“So I guess Apple’s Boot Camp software makes the whole BIOS/EFI firmware issue moot?”
From Apple’s Boot Camp page:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/bo…
EFI and BIOS
Macs use an ultra-modern industry standard technology called EFI to handle booting. Sadly, Windows XP, and even the upcoming Vista, are stuck in the 1980s with old-fashioned BIOS. But with Boot Camp, the Mac can operate smoothly in both centuries.
This from a sidebar on the Boot Camp page:
EFI and BIOS
Macs use an ultra-modern industry standard technology called EFI to handle booting. Sadly, Windows XP, and even the upcoming Vista, are stuck in the 1980s with old-fashioned BIOS. But with Boot Camp, the Mac can operate smoothly in both centuries.
Gotta love the passive-aggressive marketing tactics.
The installation CD is not booting Vista; it is booting Windows Preinstallation Environment 2.0 (Beta), a cut down version of Vista/Longhorn. The boot manager used by Win PE 2.0 supports both BIOS and EFI booting, although only BIOS booting is officially supported. For more information, search for “Boot Configuration Data Editor Frequently Asked Questions”.
Given that the Vista installation CD has booted this far, it is a good indication that Vista itself will install. But I wouldn’t fancy running the current betas on a PC using shared graphics.
The bios thing have nothing to do whit bootcamp.
Intel is so smart that they have implanted both the new and the old bios.
They have made the memory for bios bigger. The old bios is loadet from low memory and the new from upper memory. And thats how you can install any OS you like on new Intel boards ;-) Clever !!! If the OS ask’s for EFI then it will get it.
XP / Vista: I need the old bios ! no problemo her it is !
Can anybody let me know that how I can setup VISA in my Mac Power Book G4 Laptop? Please send me some info about that throue my mail..