____twoism

twoists- I need your help. I have a 2011 macbook pro modified with 1TB seagate hard drive and 8GB RAM. I would like to install windows 7 on it (bootcamp? I have bootcamp assistant, what's the difference?) how do I do this?

the reason I am doing this is because I already have adobe photoshop (and other programs/files) that are isolated to windows format. my hope is to install windows on the macbook, and insert the windows version of photoshop to use IN windows on the macbook. any help is appreciated!!!!!

bootcamp assistant is what you need. you just give it an ISO of windows 7 and it sort of takes care of the rest. my experience of putting win7 on macs is mostly pain, win8 or 10 will be a lot easier, but if you're going to do it a CD versin is the easiest way and make sure it has the EFI boot files.

It'd be cleaner just to install Virtualbox (free) and install Windows as a VM. Saves you having to buy Parallels or Fusion, and no having to reboot to switch OSes.

https://www.virtualbox.org/

You have enough memory. I've got a 2011 MBP too with half the amount of yours and it's fine for Windows 7 as a VM.

Twoist wrote:It'd be cleaner just to install Virtualbox (free) and install Windows as a VM. Saves you having to buy Parallels or Fusion, and no having to reboot to switch OSes.

https://www.virtualbox.org/

You have enough memory. I've got a 2011 MBP too with half the amount of yours and it's fine for Windows 7 as a VM.

While this is a viable option the Windows OS will run loads slower than installing it as a seperate OS to boot.

Not so much of an issue these days. Desktop virtualization has moved on a ton in the last decade.

http://www.tekrevue.com/parallels-10-fu ... benchmark/

It's an option for most software but the video acceleration in virtualbox isn't great on macs which is why I suspect it isn't appropriate for Photoshop - depends perhaps if the macbook has a graphics chip or onboard?