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craigb6 · May 17, 2006, 02:33 PM

I'm really considering making the 'switch' from XP to Mac. I say 'switch', but I still need to run Windows for some of the apps which I use regularly, such as Publisher, Onenote, Encarta and Autoroute/Streets and Trips. I also really want a Mac, so I thought if I were to get a MacBook, middle model (2.0ghz, with upgraded HDD to 80gb and 1gb ram) and put Parallels on it, and then use this for using my Windows apps.

Do you think that this would work, I'm not expecting a native Win XP speed but would require 'decent' performance. I don't particularly want to use bootcamp because this means restarting everytime I need to research something etc. Also I like to use a bluetooth GPS device with my current laptop with Autoroute, would this work with windows in Parallels?

Cheers.

ghporter · May 17, 2006, 04:35 PM

From everything I've read, this should work very well. In fact, the Core Duo processor, even at the 1.83GHz speed of the MacBook, runs XP VERY fast. If I had the dollars, I might be right there with you!

craigb6 · May 18, 2006, 06:58 AM

Yeah, but do you think it would run fast in Parallels, bearing in mind it will also be running OS X. I would probably allow a 50/50 split down the middle with RAM between the two OSs.

ghporter · May 18, 2006, 09:28 AM

That would depend on how much RAM you're starting with. All virtual machines LOVE RAM. More is certainly much better in this case. So if you're starting out with 521MB, you're going to have issues, but if you start with 1GB of RAM, and split it half and half, it should work pretty well.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · May 18, 2006, 03:31 PM

I'd use Bootcamp instead.

craigb6 · May 18, 2006, 03:56 PM

But if I'm doing something in Mac OS X and then need to suddenly jump to Windows it means closing and saving what I'm doing and then rebooting into Windows, then booting back into Mac OS X. I would only use Parallels for say simple work tasks, and probably have bootcamp for gaming (or since it has ie graphics, 'simple' gaming!). I'm a complete novice to VM and dual booting (I'm sure you can tell!), so would I need to install XP twice on my Mac, which is about 5GB a time, so XP alone would take up 10GB?

icruise · May 18, 2006, 08:44 PM

Parallels is quite fast, as long as you're not doing anything like gaming. You do need to install XP twice if you want to use Boot Camp as well, which is a bit of a downside. But so far I'm pretty impressed with Parallels. You do want as much RAM as you can get, though.

harrisjamieh · May 19, 2006, 06:51 AM

Craig, as I think you know, I decided to go with just Boot Camp. I find it so much better for me than Parallels. I don't find rebooting a pain really, as 99% of the time i'm in OS X, and for the small number of times I need windows, I just reboot - the mactels are so quick at booting, I don't find it matters. Also, I think, as I have said before, that you will certainly find yourself using OS X more and more as you get acustomed to it. I know I certainly have since October when I got my 1st Mac.

Barefoot Matt · May 21, 2006, 08:09 PM

I don't find bootcamp to be inconvenient (except for the fact that I have to use windows, of course). I'm generally working in either windows or OSX for an extended period of time; I don't think I've ever had a situation where I wanted to go back and forth between the two quickly. For me, rebooting after spending 6 hours working in windows is not a big inconvenience. If you have windows and mac apps that you need to use at the same time, however, you may want to go for parallels.

craigb6 · May 22, 2006, 05:50 AM

Ok, thanks Barefoot Matt. I'm beginning to think that it may be better to use bootcamp for the majority/if not all of my Windows stuff. Is there a way that I can access files which were created in bootcamp from Parallels? I can just see myself doing something in bootcamp in a Windows only program and then being in Mac OS X, but realising that I actually needed to print it off. From what I understand if I format the windows bit in Fat32 Mac OS X can access it, but can Parallels also access it? If not, I guess I could just use a usb stick, a 1GB stick is dead cheap these days.

harrisjamieh · May 22, 2006, 06:11 AM

If you format the Boot camp partition in FAT32, then OSX can read and write to it. So, what you could do, is if you do find yourself in a situation as you described above, then you could access the file from within OSX, copy it to the 'shared folder' which I belive Parallels makes to share files between the VM and the native OS, and then you can open it in Parallels. Maybe not the most hassle-free way, but it sure as hell would be easier than having to reboot into windows, copy to a flash disc, then reboot into OSX (even at the speed the new EFI based machines reboot, its still a hassle)

craigb6 · May 22, 2006, 09:08 AM

I meant in bootcamp saving my files to a usb stick and then accessing the same stick in Parallels in Mac OS X.

Mithras · May 22, 2006, 10:54 AM

Sure. You can also do what I do, which is simply to have the Bootcamp partition (formatted as FAT32) assigned to be a shared folder in Parallels. Then you can simply access the files directly.

craigb6 · May 22, 2006, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by Mithras

Sure. You can also do what I do, which is simply to have the Bootcamp partition (formatted as FAT32) assigned to be a shared folder in Parallels. Then you can simply access the files directly.

Sweet, that's exactly what I want to do!