Hi, Ill be getting a new macbook pro very soon.

However I would like to find out the difference between booting Windows from Bootcamp and from Parallels.

I understand that Bootcamp will be able to run windows exactly like a PC.. with full performance and all. And certainly there are some drawbacks that Parallels have compared to Bootcamp. Otherwise I suppose everyone would be using Parallels now.

Question is what are the disadvantages of using Parallels compared to Bootcamp?

Thanks in advance guys.

the memory will be share when u turn on the parallels.
example, if u have 2 gig ram it will be share between mac n windows...
so far i m fine with bootcamp...

come to Machines Sunway Pyramid and I can show you the power of Parallels Desktop

for macbook ... Parallels runs very very weak ... due to the absent of the Graphics Card .

this is not true

please check out www.youtube.com
search for "parallels desktop for mac"

see the demo on the parallels and you will understand parallels better. Those are independent post.

I tried both and I find VMWare Fusion's better. To each its own I guess.

trickflip, I'll assume you don't know how virtualization (Parallels/VMware) works. What it does in essence is it sends all instructions meant for the CPU, straight to the CPU itself without any translation done. This works very well for things that require calculations eg. regular programs.

However virtualization does not work for all components, and some instructions have to be translated. Biggest example here is graphics. Apps that depend a lot on the graphics hardware eg. games will run slower because there is translation involved, the graphics instructions aren't sent directly.

I bought Parallels at one point, then switched to VMware Fusion when it came out. I use Windows on VMware for stuff that doesn't require graphics eg. the Garmin Mapsource app for my GPS plus some Java apps that work best in IE. I reboot into bootcamp for games eg. Far Cry and Need For Speed.

i ve tried both parallels n vmware fusion.i would say d later one is better.but with parallels, there is a function which ables you to right click on any file and choose to open with programs on windows or mac...

I running vmware in my macbook. Running office application in vmware(winxp) and running PS CS3 in leopard. The performance still great, probably alit bit lag when I switch from one app to another app. Overall, can tahan. Totally ram for my mb is 1.5Gb. Virtualization focus more on your RAM and Processor. Not really for gpu

I was using both parallels and vmware. Seriously, i prefer vmware, it hog your resource less. And no to the graphic card thing. It doesnt really matter that much compare to the memory you have. The more ram you have, the better performance you will get.

The downside of these virtual thing is, you cant run any game that needs activex later than 8.1 something. Though there are beta that supports up to 9. Still, not advisable, especially those fps game. you will only see still pictures after still pictures for game like doom. *tried that before.

Cons? most games cant be played. Pro? if you are just doing those office suite stuff, no problem.

and one more thing, you can have more partition on the same drive.

And one more thing, vmware can use 2 cores of the processor, whereas parallels only use single core of the processor

Wow.. great feedback guys. Thanks alot!!

At least now I understand how this virtualization thing works. Also seems that most of you prefer VMware's Fusion...

Will go in that direction if i decide to go with virtualization.

Once again.. thanks alot for the valuable info.

Speaking of Fusion, how do you drag files from your guest (Windows) to your host (Leopard)?

I can drag files from Leopard to Windows easily, but not the other way round. Any way to do that?

there is a portal to do that.
found on the windows side, and also the mac side.

Just drag the file in there. and you are good to go.

Just browse the folder like any other folder, but in this case, you can browse anywhere in the mac, and drop your files there. So it's kind of very specific, but if you choose to decide to drop on desktop, just go find, MainDrive>Desktop.

This post has been edited by shoguniphicus: Nov 25 2007, 10:47 PM

Not much differences when I use parallels, games run a little slower and that's about it

Anyone uses Codeweaver Crossover here? Appreciate for any feedback.

Thanks.

The last time I try before, while i still using hackintosh. Launching an application takes quite a long time. I think i launch utorrent. And I also try WC3 in crossover due to no UB patch yet. The performance quite good in my hack, just the launching takes longer time. That time i play hamachi with my friend. Not much to say la. If you lazy to install winxp/vista, then probably you can try crossover. On the other hand, many applications still unable to support.

Thanks for the feedback. I want to use it mainly for IE only.

Crossover is a stripped down of windows 95/98, forgot which one. Yea, application launches, will take more than it should. in fact, when i was installing. it looks like forever.