So far so good
To date, all the software I've tried runs exactly as it would on a non-Mac PC - I've not noticed any major issues at all. One piece of software I discovered early on was Mouse Tools. This tiny (15KB) download makes the button on a single-button mouse act as a right mouse button if you hold down the Control key.
You could, of course, add a two-button external mouse to get round the problem. And that's something that you definitely should consider if already using an external mouse with your Intel-based desktop Mac, as you'll find that Mac OS X - like XP - has context-sensitive right-mouse-button support, as do quite a number of OS X programs.
My first real test, once I had Windows up and running, was to try out a game - Counter Strike - and see how it played. I have to say I was surprised to find that it ran no less well than on my Windows PC. Click here to watch an AVI video (an 11.3MB download) and here to watch another (9.1MB).
However, the keys are different and a mouse pad is nothing like as easy to use for games as a mouse. Again, though, I had no problem using a Windows keyboard and my mouse (a Logitech) with the MacBook – both work as well on the Mac as on my Windows PC.
Counter Strike start screen
Counter Strike runningI'm used to running Counter Strike at a resolution of 1600 x 1200 and realised that the program doesn't support the native 1440x900 widescreen resolution of the PowerMac – a problem you'll find when running this venerable game on any modern widescreen laptop. A workaround is possible – hooking up an external monitor – but that's not going to be a viable solution for all laptop users.