Early numbers comparing Mac's running XP via Bootcamp to Mac's running OS/X and Mac's running XP to PC's running XP have produced a few surprises but nothing Earth shaking. On the head to head benchmark test with a Mac running XP vs one running OS/X there was little difference in speed, with a slight edge going to XP in the hardware score, but little advantage in the overall score (these results were gained using Cinebench testing).


As expected the Mac stacked up well against the PC in most configurations, with a few exceptions due to some obligatory translations that were needed to make certain applications work with Tiger. Overall the results tend to give a slight advantage to PC's and are a reminder that PC's and Mac's were built to have different capabilities.

Raise your hand if you're sick of hearing about Boot Camp already.  Ok, who cares.  I think Boot Camp is awesome, and represents a lot of great things to come on the Apple horizon.  But I've got a vision of what Boot Camp could be.  I mean, this is Apple we're talking about, right?  Boot Camp is new and revolutionary, and all that, but that real Apple genius isn't quite there yet.

While the ability to run OS X and Windows - both natively - on the same machine is totally new, people are quick to complain.  "Well that's great and all, but I still have to shut down OS X and boot up Windows."  Geez - give them an inch, and the immediately want a mile.  There have been rumors about Apple working on some technology to run Windows - or Windows based applications - within Leopard, or another future release of OS X.  Interesting, but we're not there yet.

So here's how I see it playing out:  You're working in OS X on some iMovie project and your boss calls needing you to VPN into the office and do some Windows-only work.  No problem, Just hit the 'Fast OS Switching' button and watch that snazzy cube effect bring Windows into view.  Take care of that work for The Man, and 'Fast OS Switch' back to your iMovie project of the kids.  Slick, huh? 

And there you have it - Nerd Computer Lust at its best.  Possible?  Who knows - but if it is, I expect Apple to be the company to bring it to us.

This beauty just keeps giving, and in Apple's profit sense that's no understatement. A forum member down at applenova.com called Torifile has found by chance it seems, that Apple's Boot Camp does indeed run Linux. In his article he states how he booted the machine up after installing XP with the option key, and that there was an icon of a CD with windows labelled on it, along side the various OS partitions he had. He says that he didn't go as far as the end of the install, however he had the full options of language and keyboard layout. This was probably a wise choice on his part, he might not have been confident, however this opens the doors to those who enjoy dabbling with the backdoor arts.