GeoEng51 Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Hello everyone,I'm a long time PC user who is contemplating a switch to a MacBook Pro. I do have some Windows-based programs that I have to keep running (e.g. Mathcad), and so I was wondering about the options for doing so. I understand I can dual boot (using Boot Camp) - not a foreign concept, as I've been doing it with Linux for years, or I can use Parallels, and actively switch between the Mac OS and Windows "on the fly". What I was wondering about Parallels:1. How fast is it, compared to running directly in Windows? People have told me it works great, with little noticeable degradation in performance, for "normal" applications, but that for computation-intensive ones (such as Mathcad or Autocad), its best to run directly in Windows (i.e., using Boot Camp). Is this the general experience, or do you feel differently about the matter?2. Where is Parallels storing its files? Is it creating a separate disk partition with an NTFS format, and using that, entirely independent of the Mac files, or is it somehow setting up a directory withing the Mac file system?3. What about if one was also using Boot Camp, which does set up a separate disk partition - can or does Parallels use the information on that partition?I'd appreciate any feedback anyone has on this program - its seems to be the key to me switching over to a Mac. I have too many Windows-only programs that I need for work to just abandon Windows entirely (believe me, I would if I could). And its too cumbersome to reboot every time I want to change an application. If parallels actually lives up to its advertising, then I think that would tip the balance for me in favour of a Mac.If you have any other advice you wish to give me regarding the change over, feel free!!Thanks........GeoEng51 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Welcome to the Forum, GeoEng51 Parallels is one of a number of virtualization software that has become very mainstream over the past 18 months. Linux and Windows users have been using VMware and Mac and Windows users have been using Virtual PC. 1. It is not as fast as running Windows natively in hardware. Parallels claims their product is faster than the competition but from my experience with the Windows version it is on par with VMware.2. Parallels, as all such software, creates a disk image file that represents a physical hard drive. You can copy this file from machine to machine and can restart the virtual machine on any computer. It is isolated from your host file system.3. As far as I know, Parallels cannot using an existing physical partition to run its virtual machine, but VMware has limited support for doing that. I wouldn't do that on a known good installation unless you are willing to create a separate hardware profile in XP to compensate for the fact that the virtual machine hardware profile will be significantly different from the actual hardware profile.For the Mac, Parallels is about the only option for virtualization. VMware has a beta version of its product for the Mac, but it has not been publicly released. Microsoft no longer makes Virtual PC available for the Mac. The original company (Connectix) that Microsoft purchased it from did. If you are really geeky you could try and get the Open Source Xen to work on a Mac Intel box: http://www.scl.ameslab.gov/Projects/mini-xen/index.htmlGetting Parallels is worth the money if you plan on using Windows on a Mac. Xen is an Open Source virtual machine software that was developed for Linux. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Peachy, has anyone gotten Q to work with the Mac to virtualize an OS? I have it installed but have been so busy I have not had time to do anything with it.I wanted to try running Win98SE or Win2K to run some Windows/DOS games and a couple other programs I like that have no Mac counterpart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeoEng51 Posted March 14, 2007 Author Share Posted March 14, 2007 Welcome to the Forum, GeoEng51 Parallels is one of a number of virtualization software that has become very mainstream over the past 18 months. Linux and Windows users have been using VMware and Mac and Windows users have been using Virtual PC. .........Getting Parallels is worth the money if you plan on using Windows on a Mac. Xen is an Open Source virtual machine software that was developed for Linux.Peachy - thanks for all your comments! I managed to find someone who lives nearby, running Parallels on a MacBook Pro - an old-time friend, but I had no idea he was into Macs in such a big way (has 1 MacBook Pro, two iMacs, and 1 Mac Pro). He told me pretty much what you had said in your post, without any "leading questions" from me. He had one suggestion which sounded good, and that was to buy a large USB drive and locate the Windows image file on that - makes use of Windows very portable, if you have more than 1 Mac.Again, thanks for your help!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Welcome to the forums, GeoEng51! :thumbsup:Glad you got to see and/or talk to someone actually using Parallels.From what Peachy said, it seems it must be the only real option. And Scot has been using it since went back to the Mac as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Sorry, Fran, what's Q? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Sorry, Peachy. Here it is on the Apple's Open Source pages:Q kju (removed the brackets and colon due to forum software hyperlinks requirements) About Q [kju:]Run Windows, Linux, and many more systems on your Mac. Q is a feature-packed Cocoa port of QEMU.Switch fast between guest PCs. Save and restart guest PCs at any stage. Easily exchange files between Host and Guest. Q makes use of the most advanced technologies of OS X, like openGL and CoreAudio, to accelerate your experience with your guest PC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murph17 Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 after tinkering with Parallels (unsuccessfully), i tried the latest VMWare Fusion Beta. works great, i got my Vista Boot Camp partition to boot up inside VMWare on the first try.Beta 3http://www.vmware.com/products/beta/fusion/I could not get Parallels to work with my Vista Boot Camp Partition. supposedly it does, but i found many users with the same problems i was having. +1 vote for VMWare. runs good and it's $80 cheaper than Parallels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scot Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 Parallels 3 is a much better product than the 2.x generation. Fusion is nice, but it's not as mature as Parallels. I'd give Parallels a second shot.-- Scot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeoEng51 Posted August 3, 2007 Author Share Posted August 3, 2007 Thanks to everyone for their comments and answers to my original question. I did take the plunge and buy a MacBook Pro about 6 weeks ago (just before they came out with the new model ( However, I've installed Parallels 3 and like it a lot. The one comment I had was to install as much memory as your computer will take - it can use it!Also found the idea of putting the windows disk image on an external drive intriguing, but I wonder how much that would degrade the operating speed?Thanks again to everyone.....cheers......John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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