Vista Ultimate: First Impressions
March 26th, 2008I installed Windows Vista Ultimate (SP1) on my Mac Pro, for the purposes of using it in conjunction with some of the high-end 3D applications I tend to use from time to time, for the courses I teach. While I haven’t loaded those 3D apps as yet, I have had a chance to go through the Windows Vista install process yesterday afternoon.
Surprisingly, the process was relatively straight-forward. It went something like this:
1. Use Boot Camp Assistant on the Mac OS X side to dynamically allocate a partition. I chose to go with the 32GB partition option, as I only plan to run one or two key apps like Maya and/or 3D Studio Max on the Windows side.
2. Print out a lengthy (27 pages) but very informative document on installing Windows on a Mac, as recommended by the Boot Camp Assistant.
3. Install Vista (with a few mandatory reboots)
4. Install the Apple supplied Windows drivers from the Leopard install disc.
Installation was surprisingly straight-forward and easy to do. After the install, I retrieved and installed the latest version of Firefox and Safari for Windows. Both went without issue, as did installing the Canon 4400F scanner drivers , QuickTime Player, and the Adobe Flash player plug-in.
So far, I’m just getting my feet wet with Vista - poking around and seeing what it’s all about. I haven’t run into any annoying behaviors yet. The UI - especially the control panel, requires a little digging around to get to the specific settings, but this wasn’t too much of a problem.
Network connectivity was up out of the box, and Vista found my networked Brother 2070-N laser printer right away. The Wacom tablet drivers installed without a hitch as well. That’s the extent to what I’ve played with up until now. So far, so good. I’ll continue to document the Windows Vista experience as I delve into it further.
-Krishna
