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[RCBH928]

Thanx Ziggy sounds simple enough!
yet I still wonder what happened to Disc Juggler.

I will have to install 32bit thats what my computer supports. Plus, how can 2-3GBRAM be bad? Its not like I will be running Gears of War 3 on this laptop.

Mostly GOG and if possible 2005 games. My dream is to get Left 4 Dead to run, last time I did I had a horrible experience. Although the game run fine it had to be in like 640 resolution. I was really upset as my machine was bought in 2009 and this game was 2008. It should at least run games released on the same year of production. I just didn't expect the Mac hardware to be this weak.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Thanx Ziggy sounds simple enough!
yet I still wonder what happened to Disc Juggler.

I will have to install 32bit thats what my computer supports. Plus, how can 2-3GBRAM be bad? Its not like I will be running Gears of War 3 on this laptop.

Mostly GOG and if possible 2005 games. My dream is to get Left 4 Dead to run, last time I did I had a horrible experience. Although the game run fine it had to be in like 640 resolution. I was really upset as my machine was bought in 2009 and this game was 2008. It should at least run games released on the same year of production. I just didn't expect the Mac hardware to be this weak.

Unfortunately the GeForce 9400m is just an integrated card like Intel's were at the time. You'll be able to play L4D (I played through 2 on a Mac Mini with similar specs) but it wont be pretty and it wont be too smooth.

[isiolia]

Do not use 32-bit Win 7!
You will only be able to access 3GB of the physical memory in the machine!

If you want to access the entire 6GB of RAM you need a 64-bit operating system. Win 7 64-bit is your best bet if you want Windows.

If I recall, he's using Bootcamp on a MBP, purely for playing slightly older games.

For his particular model (2008 Macbook), Apple doesn't officially support 64-bit Windows, which would make the setup a lot more difficult, particularly for someone not familiar with the process.
Most likely, he'd need to make a modified Windows disc as it'd otherwise halt at a "Select CD-ROM boot type" screen. Easy enough to work around, but still more complicated.

In addition, he'd need to install drivers manually instead of being able to use the comprehensive installer on the Boot Camp partition of his OS X disc.

Additionally, 64-bit versions of Windows drop support for 16-bit applications, which can remain applicable for older installers, even when the programs themselves are 32-bit.

While, in general, 64-bit is the way to go with Windows 7, I think most of us agreed that for the OP's case, 32-bit would be a more hassle-free route.

[Cronozilla]

I see.

Then he should probably remove the unused ram from the machine. It'll still get powered up and cycled even though it can't be addressed by the operating system.

... If he can, that is.

[isiolia]

I see.

Then he should probably remove the unused ram from the machine. It'll still get powered up and cycled even though it can't be addressed by the operating system.

... If he can, that is.

Why? He's setting up a dual boot, and OS X can utilize it just fine.

[Cronozilla]

Because I didn't know he was dual booting it

[RCBH928]

@Ryan
Yeah, when I bought my macbook in mid 2009(last computer bought 2002), it was 3 years after the XBOX and 2 years after the ps3 been out. I thought technology is advanced enough now that I no longer have to worry about specs(kind of like you don't worry about a a game looking outdated on 360 even though its like 7 year old technology) but boy was I wrong. I didn't expect it to have problems with even last year games!
Any way this was my first laptop I usually buy top of the line desktops, but i thought I would give it a shot. Out of topic, but the laptops are still underpowered with high heat temperatures.

@Isiolla

You are absolutely correct. I don't see why others see that running 32bit is bad. My machine was shipped with 2GB anyways I upgraded it 6. It was working great.

btw, what did you mean with this
"Additionally, 64-bit versions of Windows drop support for 16-bit applications, which can remain applicable for older installers, even when the programs themselves are 32-bit"
and how does it affect me?

[Cronozilla]

If you want to run any old DOS software (games), almost all were written for 16-bit CPUs. And if the installers are 16-bit only, they also will not be allowed to run.

Upshot: you can't play old games.

[isiolia]

btw, what did you mean with this
"Additionally, 64-bit versions of Windows drop support for 16-bit applications, which can remain applicable for older installers, even when the programs themselves are 32-bit"
and how does it affect me?

Many applications makes use of standard installation programs, which are independent of the actual game or program actually being installed. A common one, for example, is InstallShield.

Windows started having some 32-bit capable components as far back as 3.11, with 95 being 32-bit with compatibility for 16-bit stuff left in. I'm not sure offhand exactly as to why, but some installation programs just stayed as 16-bit applications for a while. Maybe to keep compatibility, maybe because they could, I don't know.

MS dropped 16-bit support from 64-bit versions of Windows. (here or here for the technical reason). In fairness, it was a long time coming - if it was Apple, it would have been gone by 2000, if not 1998.

Regardless, most software actually designed for Windows 95 or later is 32-bit, which at least stands a chance at running on x64. In a lot of cases though, the installers used were still 16-bit and may not run. As the MS support article above mentions, certain installers (well, certain versions of certain installers) have support hard-coded into Windows, in which case they can still work.

As to how it affects you... it shouldn't, actually. 32-bit Windows 7 still supports 16-bit applications. I brought it up as another way that going with 32-bit 7 potentially made things easier for you.

[RCBH928]

computers are extremely complicated things, there is always more to the story.