OT Mac question for folks using Boot Camp or Parallels to run Windows

[coylifut]

anyone here using Boot Camp and or Parallels on your Mac to run Windows. If so, any problems and or limitations to report? Is it worth purchasing Parallels or does the Leopard provided Boot Camp work well enough? I'm interested in running Training Peaks WKO+.

[CarbonCycles]

Bootcamp is different from Fusion/Parallels...bootcamp is for dual boot..F/P allows virtualization run w/in the mac os. Does this matter to you?

[coylifut]

Bootcamp is different from Fusion/Parallels...bootcamp is for dual boot..F/P allows virtualization run w/in the mac os. Does this matter to you?

I'm not a techno nerd, but I'm glad you are. Thank you for responding. I don't know how much of an inconvenience it would be to have to boot in order to use the application. The WKO+ app is the only Windows app I can see using. I'll likely use it once per day and then put it away. Would it be prudent to buy Windows, run it via Boot Camp and then purchase Fusion/Parallels at a later date if I wanted to switch back and forth between operating sytems.

Your thoughts?

[thwart]

If you don't need to move stuff back and forth between the two OS, then Boot Camp works very, very well...

That's the way I run my MacBook.

BTW, I've heard Vista s*cks.

[coylifut]

If you don't need to move stuff back and forth between the two OS, then Boot Camp works very, very well...

That's the way I run my MacBook.

BTW, I've heard Vista s*cks.

so I take it you are using XP?

[CarbonCycles]

I guess it really depends on how tolerant you are of booting and rebooting your system. Me, I'm lazy and I'd rather use virtualization than having to reboot my system several times. Also, virtualization works especially well if you are running simple applications that are not a memory/resource pig. However, if you plan to run a heavy hitting application then I'd say use bootcamp. Between VM & Paralles, flip a coin...each has it's own strengths and weaknesses. You can't go wrong with either.

[CarbonCycles]

Def. XP over vista...Vista works but umm..its Vista. Enough said.

[thwart]

so I take it you are using XP? Yep. Knock on wood, it's been working well... although not nearly as well as the Mac OS... ;)

[Ginger]

vista isn't so bad if you strip it down and slap it around a bit...

(that said I just went through three brand new HPs in 4 days because of fatal errors on two of them related to Vista...third seems to be running fine but I downloaded the fix for the "3 of 3" error before I loaded anything else on it...)

[jbrainin]

Go virtual and use Fusion or Parallels. That way when the virtual Windows machine gets corrupted by all sorts of nasty stuff, you can simply delete it and start over fresh.

[jhcakilmer]

Bootcamp is different from Fusion/Parallels...bootcamp is for dual boot..F/P allows virtualization run w/in the mac os. Does this matter to you?



I'm using both, and Bootcamp runs faster, but I don't have any sound since the speaker output driver apparently doesn't work (there might be a fix for this by now, but I don't know). Parallels is more convenient since you can open Windows in the Mac OS. But since your basically running two OS at the same time, you can imagine how that effects the speed.

I'm only using Windows because our youngest son requires some speech therapy, and we're using a specialized program that only runs on windows. Otherwise, I wouldn't touch it with....well, you know what!
I'm using Vista, and it had been running smooth, without any reliability issues, but it's so cumbersome, and frustrating to navigate.

[Kirk007]

I've used both. I like Bootcamp with XP a bit better. I had to go this route to use my Tacx magic trainer and it works great. BUT, Parallels works very well also and its nice to be able to jump between the two.

[chakatrain]

My company supports only VMware Fusion, so I went with that. Have installed Win XP, to be safe and not f$*# around with a roundly criticized OS when already complicating things by running windows on Mac OS 10.5.x.

I need to run windows at the same time as Mac (as a Project Manager, I use MS Project, which is Win only), and I find it works actually pretty well. I can drag/drop MS office docs from the Win XP window to the Mac OS desktop as smooth as can be. It makes the Mac truely useable in nearly all business situations, for me.

[erector]

I have a mac that i run at home, and the dell at school, and I've found, After working the bootcamp and others, that VM-Ware is the best deal around. It works great, they've got snap-shot so you never have to worry about viruses, it's fantastic.

[IPH]

someone alluded to this, but because Parallels is splitting your computer's processor to run BOTH the Mac and PC OS simultaneously, you will have a significant slowdown in the computers speed...it's very noticeable. Unless you need to switch back and forth between the systems commonly (you have to define 'commonly' for yourself...for me it would have to be several times a day), the degradation in speed is not worth the convenience of Parallels.

I run Bootcamp and am very happy with it. However, I spend 95% of my time in the XP environment and go to the Mac side only occasionally.

As to the comments about Vista, I have no experience with it, but my IT people here are not hot on it...still too buggy sez they.

[Pete Serotta]

Vista, is something to stay away from, at this time, unless there is a specific application that you MUST USE, that requires it.




someone alluded to this, but because Parallels is splitting your computer's processor to run BOTH the Mac and PC OS simultaneously, you will have a significant slowdown in the computers speed...it's very noticeable. Unless you need to switch back and forth between the systems commonly (you have to define 'commonly' for yourself...for me it would have to be several times a day), the degradation in speed is not worth the convenience of Parallels.

I run Bootcamp and am very happy with it. However, I spend 95% of my time in the XP environment and go to the Mac side only occasionally.

As to the comments about Vista, I have no experience with it, but my IT people here are not hot on it...still too buggy sez they.