HI... I am a newbie to mac... I planned to order one soon in next few days... One problem i facing is dono whether to intall parallels or bootcamp in my new macbook... It will be a 2.4ghz with 2gig ram and 160gig... I planned to install 3 os that is Linux & XP & Leopard... I install XP because i am afraid that i dono how to use Linux or Macs because i never tried before... As for Linux, i plan to learn something new from the open source... I did some research and they said that paralles will be unable to play games... It slow down notebooks and minimize effect of graphic card... Worst MacBook only come with a GMA950/Intel Graphic Accelerator x3100 which i consider is quite... ... ... Lame... well i play warcraft and Half life... I wanna know if that i install Paralles do i need to allocate 512 ram respectively for Linux and XP? Then if thats true i am left with 1 gig ram on Leopard and it will be laggy... I presume... If i suspend the Paralles in sleep mode can i multitask smoothly on Leopard? Seriously i multitask alot(i think thats alot)... I can convert music or video, then watch video halfway on youtube, download program, leave warcraft in pause mode, opening a music player, msn, and then sharing program that is always constantly downloading stuff and several webpage that i was browsing... or should i use a bootcamp? Btw anybody knows the price for bootcamp and paralles respectively? Any help would be much appreciated as i am dreading on which 1 to install now... The retailer promises Paralles software with mac office together with the 2.4ghz white penryn core 2 duo mac for 5k... Worth?

Again, thanks for those that read my topic and to those that helps.

Sorry for any mistakes.

Cheers...

BootCamp does come with Leopard. u can simply boot to different OSes.
Buy Parallels if u wanna run two OSes simultaneously.
Other than that, also have another solution. Myb this will help :

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/604350

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/604350

for me i prefer VM ware and Parallel than boot camp

since Boot camp can only run 1 OS at one time

you have to ask yourself first what u want to achieve....
biggest question is do you need to run both OS at the same time.

I would recommend using VMWare with Bootcamp. You install your different OSs with bootcamp. Whenever you need to run MacOs with the other OS concurrently, then use VMware to boot the bootcamp partition...and make sure you max the RAM.

Parellel or VMWAre is convenient....no need to boot....two or 3 OSes can runn.....upgrade bigger ram.....but let tell u my xperience....since got my macbook....installl runnning xp/ubuntu/vista.....i still use back Leopard for most my day to day work....websurfing, word processing, photo edditing,video.....so on.....well....is very subjective which OSes u finally comfortable with....gaming...tried with my macbook..intel graphic....played doom3.....lag really lag....not meant for gaming la..of course.....is all up to u once u've tried all the OSes.....Ubuntu is fun..and is free!!!

Thanks for commenting... What am i really concern that is if i install parallels and allocated 512 ram each for linux and xp... with 1 gig ram left will it be laggy? i have a feeling that i will like leopard too... haha... xp is mainly for documentation cause i afaid my university computer is not compatible with mac office... can i still play games and multitasks in leopard just as i mentioned?

game again?

virtualization sure will be "lag" abit la. And Parallels can't play games, only older games can support plus it is NOT recommended. Games? Go for bootcamp

Virtualization also need larger RAM

I meant to play games on leopard not inside parallels... And paralles can run 3 oses same time? upgrade from 2 gig to 4 gig is certainly very expensive....

you want to play game and run the OS at the same time? why on earth u want to do that lah.....well unless you are only playing solitaire

RAM upgrade....can be NOT expensive....take your own risk though

I upgraded my iMac to 4GB just using normal value ram which is like RM150/2GB

The reason i was comfortable doing it was, i did some serious engineering level research...

the value ram that we use normally and the "Mac" ram had the same values especially with the timing tables,

i compared between the default ram(hynix) that my imac came with, the kingston value ram, mushkin mac ram, and corsair mac ram
all of them returned the same results, all the specs were exactly the same....

not satisfied, i ran some memory test and stuff like that....all of them returned the same, i tested on both osx and windows

further research revealed that when mac switched to intel platform...the memory controllers are made for compatibility with industry-standard PC2-5300 modules which means ANY of the ram should work....during the power pc days, u really needed the mac ram as the bus where different....but nowadays its not relevant....all the mac stores in malaysia will scare u saying that will melt lah, all kinds of story....just go to machines and see what they tell you....

the only fellow who told me its the same thing its that shop in ikano...

so why does mushkin and corsair sell this mac ram....only different is they have actually done testing on mac systems before it was sold, hence it is so called confirmed, and becuase of that they sell it at a premium

some dude asked me, he heard people have problems when they plug in value ram and get kernel panic....let me ask u something, if u install a faulty ram in windows, u also get a blue screen, simplest answer ram got problem....

however, there are performance rams, which has different timing cycles, which gives out better performance, i have seen a kingston version and the dude in ikano said he sell those to the customers that use the mac for pro uses...and guess what at the price of the so-called mac rams...

anyway, i do not guarantee, for some reason, you upgraded and burnt your notebook/pc....in engineering point of view, its the same bloody thing

To the threadstarter, I would suggest the following:
(1)Make 1 bootcamp partition on your macbook to install Windows XP.
(2)Install Parallels
(3)Install Linux on a virtual hard disk (Parallels can do this)
(4)Point your parallels to your bootcamp partition, so that you will also be able to run Windows via parallels.
(5)Max out your memory at 4GB
(6)Install a Mac version of Warcraft on your Mac OS operating system.

Reason for (1):
- You would need to run Windows via bootcamp if you wanna play halflife. Playing halflife via Parallels in not really recommended.

Reason for (2):
- Seems like you wanna run multiple Operating Systems at once. The only way to do this is if you have virtualization software. Can't do this on bootcamp.

Reasons for (3):
- Linux of bootcamp is possible, but not officially supported. I've never tried it myself, but you might have difficulties finding bootcamp drivers for linux.
- Since you're new to linux and just wanna learn more about the OS, installing on a virtual hard disk would be a better choice as you can easily delete the .hdd file if you decide not to use it anymore.
- Don't waste creating another partition on your hard disk just for linux, coz the more partitions you make, the more usable space you lose on your hard disk.
- Doesn't seem like you're gonna be running graphics-intensive applications on linux, so there's no need to dedicately run linux via bootcamp. Most probably you're gonna use linux less and less once you're more familiar with Mac OS.

Reason for (4)
- When you need to use windows for university/documentation work, you can run windows via parallels. This is a lot more convenient, as you don't have to reboot and can multi-task with your Mac OS applications at the same time.

Reason for (5)
- You sound like a heavy multi-tasker. There is no doubt that the extra memory would be helpful. It isn't that expensive to bump up the memory, not sure of the exact current prices but each 2GB stick would be less than RM150 if i'm not mistaken. You need to get 2x2GB sticks as the MacBook only has 2 slots.

Reason for (6)
- I wouldn't recommend you to install warcraft on windows and run it via parallels. Run it natively on Mac OS, then you would be able to pause it midway and do whatever multi-tasking you wanna do.

To answer your various questions:
"I wanna know if that i install Paralles do i need to allocate 512 ram respectively for Linux and XP? Then if thats true i am left with 1 gig ram on Leopard and it will be laggy... I presume... If i suspend the Paralles in sleep mode can i multitask smoothly on Leopard?"
You can allocate more or less for each operating system, that is entirely up to you. The memory you allocate is not permanently used by Linux/Windows. It will only be "taken away" from Mac OS when you actually run the OS. If you are not running the 2 virtual operating systems (eg: if you suspend Windows in sleep mode), Leopard still has access to the whole 2GB. On 2GB, running a single virtual OS would be laggy already, even more if you decide to run 2 virtual OS (Mac OS + Windows&Linux ) simultaneously. That's why I would really suggest you to upgrade to 4GB

Btw anybody knows the price for bootcamp and paralles respectively?
Bootcamp is free, it is part of Leopard.
If I'm not mistaken Malaysian retail price of Parallels 3.0 is RM299. Not sure whether OEM packs are available at a cheaper price. Buying a digital download online would be cheaper.
Take note that you will still have to get a Windows XP license. Home edition is somewhere between RM200-RM300 i think.

The retailer promises Paralles software with mac office together with the 2.4ghz white penryn core 2 duo mac for 5k... Worth?
If you're sure you're getting original & licensed Parallels & Office for Mac, then yes it is definitely worth it. However, I highly doubt that your retailer will be installing original versions coz' the MacBook alone is RM4599, Parallels would be RM299, and cheapest option for original Office is RM619 for 3 installations.

Since your retailer is most probably gonna install unlicensed versions, then it is not worth it to pay the extra RM400 for software that you may find difficulties updating in the future. I am not suggesting you to install pirated at all, but your retailer is ripping you off RM400 by doing something that you can actually do yourself.

agree with lailaikatong.

well said there lailaikatong

@lalaikatong

OMG!! what a freaking long post!! @_@!!!!@_@/@_@

hehe... I'm in the mood to post long posts tonight I have my reasons for doing so, but I prefer not to disclose it at the moment. Let's just say I'm putting something into practice.

you have done very very well. I m impress.

wahaha lai lai katong u are my saviour... the only person that nearly answers everything haha... thanks u alot... THANKS X 1000... err the retailer promise me that because 6 ppl buy macbook together... they offer us student price... so include macoffice and parallels only 5k they charge.. i think so many ppl buy he wont cheat ba... btw thank u so much... and i gonna install fake xp... hahaha cause i jsut wanna ensure some word doc can be done on xp... my college all windows no mac... and mac ram 1 stick only 150? but last time i go ask upgrade from 1 gig to 2 gig already 499 le... and one thing... err... wats virtual harddrives? im noob on this... sorry... and i dont really understand 4... cause i never use paralles and bootcamp before... sorry for being such a noob... btw maybe i install half life on mac as natives.. can be installed right? my main intention install xp is just incase i was stucked in mac can go refer back to old system haha

Just upgraded my macbook to 4 gig using Kingston KVR only RM 280. Bought from LYP. Nothing problem.

yes. I also have 4GB RAM running on y macbook. it's good. I am going to increase the to the bigger 7200RPM HDD. that will surely helps the performance.

Glad that I could help, Forsworn...


If that's the case, sounds good Insist that each of the 6 of you get different registration keys for Parallels, and insist that each of you get the installation disc for Office 2008 with different serial numbers.


that was last time.. this is now ram prices have gone down, presenting an opportunity to upgrade at a lower cost...


Whenever you wanna install an operating system, you have to do it on a partition that does not already have an operating system. A virtual hard drive is like a "virtual partition", which means you don't actually split the disk into 2 partitions, but you create a virtual hard disk file that acts as a guest operating system...

If you're familiar with zip files, it's sort of similar.. It's a single package file that contains whatever you wanna put on that virtual hard disk.. In your case, your linux operating system & files will be kept inside that single file, acting as a virtual hard disk that can be launched with Parallels... If you wanna uninstall the operating system, just delete the single file... It's as easy as that


AFAIK, there's no half life for mac... You'd still have to install it on windows, and run windows natively (via bootcamp) when you wanna play half life..

does all Mac come with bootcamp when sold???....bootcamp seems to work like partition....but can Mac OS be deleted after installing Windows OS or vice versa?????