Finally received my 15 inch MacBook Pro!!

Hey everybody

I've been a long time PC user and finally got sick and tired of
windows crashing on me all the time!!!

I'm a 3D designer and our company even spent 8 grand to build me a work station and even this work station that I'm typing on right now crashes all the time..
+ the 64 bit version of Windows isn't compatible with our HP Z2100 Large Format Digital Photo Printer and some graphic software that I need

Anyways, I finally received my 2.4GHz MacBook Pro with an upgraded
160GB Serial ATA Drive@7200rpm yesterday!!

So before I re-read the sticky post : Running Windows on a Mac: Boot Camp, Parallels & VMware Fusion

A few quick questions..

1. Should I install Bootcamp first and than Paralles or VMware?

2. Lets say I install windows XP via Bootcamp first, than will Paralles or VMware use the same copy?

3. Paralles/VMware Which one is better?

4. iLife 08 was announced yesterday. Should I play with the iLife that comes
with the computer first and than upgrade?

5. If I do want to upgrade, do you guys think there might be a chance to
get a free upgrade since I just got my computer?

Sorry for all the questoins.. but
Thanks for helping a new Mac user out

 

Why would you install Bootcamp and then Parallels or VMware? The purpose of each program is to run Windows with Mac OS X still present. It just depends on how you want to run each Windows OS, whether you want to reboot and run it by itself (Bootcamp) or run Windows while Mac OS X is still running (Parallels/VMware).

 

Huh? You have to install Parallels or VMWare after Boot Camp if you want to use the boot camp partition with them.

But anyway, there are definitely uses to have both Boot Camp and some sort of virtualization (and in fact both Parallels and Fusion allow you to use the Boot Camp partition, as stated above).

Boot Camp for intensive apps or games. Fusion or Parallels when you don't feel like rebooting and only need to run some lighter apps in Windows.

1

Boot Camp first. Then Parallsls or VMWare and select the boot camp partition to use as your virtual image.

Yes

Depends on use. I like Fusion better (2 cores, etc.), but Parallels supports DX9. On the other hand, you wouldn't reasonably expect to game in either, so that's a moot point.

Yep. If you find you don't need it, why pay the $80?

If you ordered it on 8/7 or later, you can upgrade for $10. Otherwise you pay the full $80.

 

Thanks for the info Taelrak!

 

I thought Parallels was installed on the Mac OS X Partition?

And I like how taz98spin bolded your name only Taelrak...lol..

 

Yes, both Parallels and Fusion are installed on the OSX partition. However, if you have a Boot Camp partition set up, you can set that partition as the virtual image for Parallels and Fusion (i.e. instead of creating a new virtual image). That way you don't have to install everything twice, and your changes will be saved whether you use virtualization or boot camp.

 

Ha, sorry~ but I was a little with what you wrote.