In case you haven't heard the big news (and the reason why Apple's stock increased nearly 10% in one day), Apple released (on Wednesday) a free utility that allows you to run Windows XP on your Intel-Based Macintosh. It's called "Boot Camp". For right now, Apple is calling this a beta utility (likely with more features to be added later), so I will begin with a disclaimer... it is not recommended to use this on live computers, or computers that you rely on. Having said that, let's have some fun!

The first thing we need to discuss are the requirements:

- Intel-Based Mac (MacBook Pro, iMac or Mac mini)
- OS X (10.4.6): Download here
- The latest firmware update for your Mac: Download here
- At least 10 GB of free hard drive space
- Boot Camp: Download here
- A Windows XP CD (it must include Service Pack 2 as part of the install)
- A blank CD

Once you have met these requirements, it's time to begin the process. First, you will need to install the Boot Camp utility. Simply download it, and run the install file after it has mounted. After a successful installation, you can find the utility in Applications | Utilities. When you run the application, it will begin the process by asking you to either use an existing drivers CD, or to create a new one. I strongly recommend creating a new one, especially if you are doing this only a handful of times (for those deploying this across many of the same Mac, you can get away with using the same drivers disc on each similar Mac). Insert your blank CD and hit Continue, as shown below:

After this is done, eject the CD and label it "Windows Drivers".

The next step is to create a new partition (to be used by Windows). Despite the fact that this sounds complex, it's actually a very easy thing for you to do. The screen will look like the following:

You will notice that the default size is a 5 GB partition. Windows alone will require at least 4 GB, so it's recommended to allot at least 10 GB to the new partition. If you can afford it, I would choose 20 GB. To change the amount, simply drag the bar between the two partitions to the left or right. When you are done, hit Partition. One thing to note about this part of the process is that it does not destroy your existing OS X partition, but rather, it resizes it dynamically, then creates the new partition. Having said that, I strongly recommend that you perform a full system backup prior to partitioning.

Once this process has completed (the amount of time it requires will be dependant on several factors, but you can expect at least 5 minutes), Boot Camp will ask you for the Windows XP CD, as shown below:

Simply insert the Windows CD, and hit Start Installation. Your Mac will then reboot itself, and begin the Windows installation process. During the installation process, you will be asked to choose which partition to install Windows to. This is very important... you must choose the partition labelled "C:". If you do not, you will lose existing data. The screen will look like this:

The rest of the Windows installation process is pretty straight forward, and if you are installing Windows, I will assume you are doing so because you have used it before. It should be familiar to you.

Once Windows is up and running, you will need to install the drivers (sound, video, bluetooth, wireless, etc). To do this, you will need to remove the Windows XP CD, and insert the "Windows Drivers" CD that you created earlier in the process. AutoRun will automatically begin the installation process for you (if it doesn't, browse to your CD drive, and run the install file manually). After this process is complete, you will need to reboot your Mac. After that is done, the installation is complete.

Now that you have both Operating Systems installed, you will need to know how to access them accordingly. When you first turn your Mac on, you will want to immediately hold down the Option key for about 10 seconds. Doing this will execute a menu, where you will be able to choose which OS you wish to boot into. It will look like this:

Use your left and right arrow buttons to toggle between the options. Hit enter to choose one.

So let's talk about what you can expect from Windows running on your Mac. First of all, I did some testing of my own. I ran an application called Pro/ENGINEER (a CAD application). This is a heavy application that requires lots of resources. After opening 10+ fairly complex models, it showed no sign of performance decrease. I also noticed that Windows itself seem to run more stable than expected. In fact, it seemed to run more stable than on a Dell computer. Obviously, results will vary from one configuration to another, but this is a serious machine with serious performance. Remember, there is NO emulator here. Windows XP is running natively, and performs as such.

For more detailed information on this process, download the Apple instruction booklet here.