Just today I decided to install Windows XP on my Macbook Pro all aluminum 15″ notebook using bootcamp.  I setup the partition to be 10gb in size inserted the windows CD and rebooted.  I am skipping some steps here but this is just an outline.  The notebook restarts and loads from the windows CD.  When it got to the point where it asks for the partition to install windows, I selected the bootcamp partition, but my mistake was I didn’t format the partition.  It was already marked as fat32, so I figured it was not necessary.  If you don’t format the partition during install when the computer reboots it will boot up to an error.

Disk error
Press any key to restart

A note on formatting, if you format as fat32, Mac OS can read and write files to Windows.  If you format as NTFS you will only be able to read files.   There is software that can be install on Mac to write to NTFS file systems.  It’s called macfuse (opens a new window).  I had to boot back into OS X, restart the bootcamp, delete the partition and start over.  If you get the CD stuck in the notebook hold the eject while booting.  If it keeps booting to the above error, hold down the option key while booting.  That boots to an OS selector screen when you can choose Mac and start over.  Good luck and happy computing.

I am writing about the new, cut from a solid block of aluminum Macbook Pro

I did some reading regarding the loose hinge on the Macbook Pro 15″. I found something very interesting. I had also thought that the hinge was too loose. I went to the Mac store and tested all the Macbook pro’s with the store manager, and the lid hinges all had the same tension. The problem is that the screen hinge tension is loose which causes the screen to move if the computer is moved around. It happens if the laptop is picked up too fast, or picked up and tilted. The interesting thing is, if you pick it up and tilt it towards you, the screen starts to close, seems dangerous… These are not cheap machines, and watching your expensive laptop screen about to slam shut and possibly take your thumbs with it is not a pleasant experience.
Surprisingly, as the lid picks up speed, and just as you think it will inevitably slam shut… it doesn’t. It just stops, about 3″ from close. My opinion after seeing this is, this is a new type of hinge mechanism, that by design is looser. Other posts talk about users positions while working on the laptop. Some people report working on their computers while laying down and have it resting on their knees at a slanted upward angle with the screen open wide. In this case the hinge is not tight enough to support the weight of the screen and will not stay open. I called and talked to a mac genus who had taken one apart. He described it as metal wrapped around a post with no way of tightening. I am now very curious to see what Apple’s response to this will be.

There is this now, a not so new commercial that lures people in and tricks them into thinking Microsoft has created a new operating system called Mojave. I watched this and thought to myself, “that’s what they have to do to get people to like Vista?”  Trick them into thinking it’s a new and better operating system?   As a support professional, I have considered dropping support for clients on Vista systems, I make more money since they are much slower then XP, everything takes twice as long. I know I would loose money, but I just can’t stand the aggravation that Vista causes. But, I digress, I think the commercial is a cheap trick, and if instead you had put a technical person in that seat, told them to test drive the new Mojave OS, they would have cried “This is Vista!”  The thing is, if you show someone that is unfamiliar with Vista OS most would think it’s nice, simply because it’s “pretty”.  Rather than pretty what I think was created, is visually distracting garbage. Icons, menus, windows are all designed to look nice but no thought was put into how intuitive, functional or clear it all is.  If anyone one of those people that were tricked to liking Vista had to use it in the real world, they would soon be calling me to support their, slow, confusing, incompatible, virus ridden computer.  If your wondering why Vista hasn’t taken, it’s because the people that matter have already used it and like me, highly recommend against it.