Parallels or Boot Camp?

Im looking to buy a MacBook Pro (my first Apple Computer) and I want to run Windows XP with it. I know that parallels runs windows within the Mac OS while Boot Camp runs either mac os or windows. However, which is better? Does Parallels slow the system down or hamper performance by running two OSs at the same time? Would the macbook pro 2.2GHz model be sufficient for running parallels? Also, is parallels relatively easy to use? Thanks!

 

Cpu is not an issue for Parallels, it will use the Intel VT feature to use as little cpu cycles as possible (basically 90% as fast as bootcamp). Ram is a concern though, max it out (maybe from a 3rd party if apple's selling the ram for too much). Parallels is a lot more polished and convenient, you could have a Safari window and an IE windows side by side for example. Whereas with Bootcamp you'd have to save all your work and reboot between the two. The only advantage of bootcamp is if you want to play Windows games, I don't think Parallels supports that.

 

Boot Camp is free. I suggest trying it first. If you find the concept of rebooting to get into Windows annoying, then just go buy Parallels.

Technically Boot Camp is faster, but with the newer models I really don't think you'll see anything appreciable unless you're gaming or doing high-end work. And yes, Parallels supports games...it runs anything Windows.

I've been using BC on my 2.2GHz MBP for about two weeks now without any major issues.

 

Parallels has accelerated graphics support?

 

I have parallels with my macbook, 2ghz and 1gb ram. It's fast enough for me. Of course 2gb would be preferable but it beats rebooting the computer and going into bootcamp. Since all I do inside windows is office work and chat and what not it isn't really a resource hog, everything runs fine. It depends on what you plan to do with it.

 

I think the new beta does.

 

Parallels originally did not support graphics, but the latest version of Parallels, Parallels 3 supports graphics. So you can technically game in Windows through Parallels, except it'll take a lot of resources.

 

Yeah Parallels 3 does, but I'm not sure exactly to what extent and how usable it is.

When I got my Macbook I used BootCamp at first. It works well, but I did quickly tire of the reboot routine and slight data access annoyances between OSes, which led me to getting Parallels.

It really depends on how you plan to interact between Windows an OS X; if you'll be running just Windows for long dedicated sessions, BootCamp should be fine. But if you want to be able to quickly interact between Windows and OS X, or (for me especially) want a more seamless way to access the same data from either OS, I think you'll be better off using Parallels.

And there's certainly nothing to stop you from having both.

 

In the case of running Parallels 3, perhaps installing at least 3GB of RAM will be sufficient?

 

i personally would much rather use boot camp.

 

You can always do both. Load Bootcamp and then have Parallels use the bootcamp partition as the VM (rather than a virtual file image).

Just installed both on a 2.4G Macbook Pro with 4Gb RAM. Runs really well!

 

first off, i think vmware's fusion is better than parallels.

thats just my opinion.

second- install and setup bootcamp first. then, you can simply select to have vmware (or parallels) to boot from that. its actually a better use of space than storing the entire windows operating system and drive in a state you cannot use outside of the virtual machine.

fusion can do the coherence thing; they call it unity. both do some things better/worse than the other. but personally, i think vmware edges out parallels. you WILL notice a speed difference in desktop apps and just working and such. a lot of that is due to the fact that you have to dedicate ram to each operating system. if you give 1 gig to windows and 1 gig to osx, you just cut your ram for windows in half (compared to boot camp)

 

I second, i have been using VMWare Fusion, and though it is still in Beta, i found it better than parallels. Also, if you pre-order it, its half the price.

 

I'm running Parallels 3.0 on a MBP 2.4 ghz with a (user installed) 250 gig 5400 hard drive.

I'm have a vm (virtual machine) setup for both WinXP and Vista because I have some apps that will not currently run in Vista. Both work extremely well - better than on a regular PC in my opinion - although somewhat slower. Just to temper that a little, somewhat slower than version 2.5 of Parallels, which is what I started with.

However, I have had no issues running VPN, a Novatel USB720 EVDO modem, and a wide variety of apps.

The convenience of being able to switch between operating systems or using all 3 simultaneously is a HUGE time-saver and I'm sure that there are few people that need this kind of a setup. As a software developer, I MUST have it and I've been very happy with Parallels.

I've got Fusion, but haven't installed it yet. I'm still waiting for someone to say that Fusion is definitively better than Parallels before I even try it.

I thought about partitioning the drive and using Bootcamp, but there is a downside to it. I can backup my entire virtual machine to an external driver periodically and if I run into an issue that it won't boot or gets corrupted, I can simply copy the backup on and I'm right back where I was before the corruption. I can also copy it to another laptop WITHOUT re-installing everything if something goes wrong... and it always does. I've done this too.

I'm not saying everyone should setup their computer the way I do, I'm just saying that there is a lot of flexibility with my setup.

Eventually, I will move to Vista 100%, but I'll probably have to wait a few more months and then simply delete my XP vm and I've got all my disk space back. Too simple!

 

There are two posts above you that say VMware is better, and this is the third. I will admit I have not used Parallels in some time, but I am really liking VMware. And the best part is that if you buy it during the beta you are getting it for half the price of Parallels.

However, you won't know if you don't try it. So take this as a great time to image your OS X drive and try it out. If you don't like it and fear it will leave a lot of stuff in your OS after uninstall, blast your image back on.