Brief Hands-On Report--Apple released Boot Camp 1.4 Public Beta

Apple released Boot Camp 1.4 Public Beta and it is available for download as a stand-alone file from this Apple Web page. According to Apple, version 1.4 public beta includes:

• Support for keyboard backlighting (MacBook Pro only)
  
• Apple Remote pairing
  
• Updated graphics drivers
  
• Improved Boot Camp driver installer
  
• Improved international keyboard support
  
• Localization fixes
  
• Updated Windows Help for Boot Camp
• Support for the latest Mac models

Boot Camp's file size has grown from 274MB to 347MB. Our problems with Boot Camp 1.3 on our 15" 2.4GHz MacBook Pro C2D-LED running Windows Vista Ultimate on a Boot Camp partition have been that (1) the new Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics are not supported, (2) we haven't been able to get the iSight driver to load and work, (3) we haven't been able to get our external 30" Cinema Display to work and (4) occasionally we have to unplug and re-plug our power cable to get Vista to recognize that our MacBook Pro is plugged into the AC adapter.

We downloaded 1.4, made a CD of the new Mac Windows Drivers using the Boot Camp Assistant and installed them in Windows Vista Ultimate on the Boot Camp partition of our MacBook Pro with no problems.

We noticed immediately that there now is an Nvidia graphics control panel that fixes problem (1) and partially problem (3). There are a lot of new graphics settings to work with so we'll report on them later. Our external 30" display is recognized but it has a split screen that we couldn't eliminate immediately. The graphics scores in the Vista speed test go from 1.0 for Aero and 3D to 5.9 and 5.4 respectively, very high scores.

Vista no longer "complains" about the iSight and its driver--problem (2)--so we'll have to find a Vista application to try it out.

Problem (4) still occurs.

The Boot Camp control panel now integrates several settings, including the function keys, like the brightness controls, so that the special Apple actions of the function keys work.

We recently had to use Vista in Boot Camp in order to use proprietary software that connected us to an internet service in South Korea. Our Parallels Desktop for Mac 3 installation running Windows XP SP2 would not work due to a Parallels Wi-Fi card driver issue. Boot Camp 1.4 public beta makes Vista much less problematic with our MacBook Pro. But, of course, the experience is still no where near as pleasant as that of Mac OS X 10.4.10 on the Mac side. [Bill Fox]