Hi, I have a mbpro 17", 2.33, 100gig 7200rpm hd, 2gig ram os 10.4.11 w/ xpro 5.8, I have about 40 gigs of emply hd space.  I would like to also have vista or xp for some client related material, does anyone have a recommended setup that works well with mac xpro and windows (boot camp or parralles? recommended hd partition? partition setup?)

Thanks!

If you want to run the Avid software, it will have to be bootcamp. Parallels will not run  the software.

thanks! is there a recommended hd partition for bootcamp (can you buy bootcamp seperately, i only see it package with leopard)?

 You can download Bootcamp from Apple's site. There is also info there about how to partition and install.

Apple announced that you now need Leopard to run Boot Camp.

Ok, apple says they only support leopard bootcamp and all others are beta.  bottom line if i install bootcamp 1.3 beta, will xpro 5.8 still work?  Also when avid upgrades to leopard for the media composer, will my old xpro 5.8 work on Leopard or only on 10.4.11?

There will be no version of 'Pro that will be qualified for Leopard. the product is being EOL'd at Tiger.

Media Composer 3.0 will be the only version  of the software qualified for Leopard.

Also, the AVid software will not  launch under Parallels.

If you install bootcamp 5.8 will still work with Tiger or Windows XP.  Xpress Pro 5.8 doesn't work on Leopard (10.5.x) and will only work on Tiger (10.4.11).  For Leopard you'll need Media Composer 3.0 as Xpress Pro has reached the end of its life.

I installed bootcamp 1.3 and when I tried to launch the bootcamp 1.3 assistant it said that it had expired.  I guess that apple wants me to buy leopard and go fcp?  any way around this (os 10.4.11, xpro 5.8)

You might be able to buy Leopard, install Bootcamp and run Windows without fully installing Leopard but that might be a stretch.  Dual boot perhaps?  Or wait until Media Composer 3.0 comes out next month?  Looks like it's gonna cost you one way or the other.