Parallels destop or Boot Camp?

I'm in the market for a new MacBook and would really like access to all those Windows games out there. But I am unsure if Parallels Desktop or Boot Camp would be best the best program to get the best quality out of the games. I don't need it blazing fast and I don' t want to waste my money getting something that basically doesn't work. Thanks to anyone who can help.

Boot Camp if you'll be playing Windows games on your MacBook.

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Parallels 7 or boot camp on snow leopard

I own a MacBook Pro 13 [mid 2009]. I've upgraded it to 8gb ram.
My problem is I'm not able to decide if I should install windows 7 using parallels 7 or boot camp.
Also will it slow down the machine.
And I also need help in installing windows7.

If you use boot camp you will then have a Dual Boot system running each OS separately. If you use Parallels you will be running Win 7 on top of OS X being able to use both OSs at the same time.
BC Win 7 will have complete access to all hardware and resources
Parallels Win 7 will only have access to the VM resources, and physical hardware resources, you assign to it through Parallels. It would be slightly slower and make OS X run slightly slower. But you don't have to leave one OS to go to the other. Also with a VM install of Win 7 you don't have to pre define and use up as much physical hard drive space. The VM install will only use the amount of physical hard drive space as the VM needs. Expanding when needed and otr you can expand it or create a second Virtual Disk. Can't do that with BC.
Pluses and Minuses with both types of installs.

Parallels install after Boot Camp

I have a new Macbook Pro on the way and am trying to figure out the best way to install Boot Camp and Parallels and only activate my copy of Windows XP one time. Do I install Boot Camp first? Parallels first? Any help from someone who has done this would be very helpful.

I suggest you download the Boot Camp software from Apple and read the documentation carefully. Visit the Parallels' site where you can also download a copy of the documentation and read it carefully. Both docs explain how to install the software. The Parallels' doc will explain how to use a Boot Camp installation for a VM. However, if you use Boot Camp there's no need for Parallels (and vice-versa.) Having both is a duplication of effort that's really not necessary.
If you need information or support for Parallels then visit their forum: http://forum.parallels.com/. The Apple Discussions does not provide support for Parallels.
For Boot Camp support visit the Boot Camp forum which is a separate forum in the Apple Discussions.
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I have to run Windows for work, which is best Parallels, Fusion, or Boot Camp? I won't need to share anything with the Mac Side.

I have to run Windows for work, yuk! Which is best Parallels, Fusion, or Boot Camp? I will not need to share anything with my Mac side as I will just be running one program to chat on the web and send Emails.

Parallels, Fusion and VirtualBox are all virtualization applications, they 'virtualize' (create) a Windows environment on your Macs OSX operating system.
Boot Camp makes a compatible partition on your hard drive so you may install windows on it directly.

Parallels vs. Boot Camp

Unfortunately we find ourselves in need of Internet Explorer as a site required for work has been built for that browser only. Therefore we're trying to decide whether Parallels or Boot Camp is best for us. Accordingly I have spent hours over the last few days pouring through discussion post after discussion post...
Boot Camp seems to be more safe and secure as any viruses etc... will apparently only infect the Windows partition on my hard drive. Does this mean the remaining OS X partition will be unharmed even if a serious, hard drive crashing virus is caught?
Parallels seems to be more convenient by running inside OS X instead of requiring rebooting back and forth. But following the above thinking, this could expose the OS X hard drive to viruses. Am I understanding this correctly?
In either case how critical would it be to also run anti-virus software when working with IE? Again, it would appear this is more critical if going the Parallels route. Right? And does the AV run more efficiently on Boot Camp or Parallels, or vice versa?
Is this safe? Are we risking headaches in our Mac environment? Or should we simply resign ourselves to maintaining a Windoze machine for EI purposes only?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Cheers, Geoff.

Before you go either route, Boot Camp or Parallels, you might want to give this a try.
I have never actually done this, but remembered reading about it through the years. And I do not know whether this works with the current versions of Safari. But it might be worth a try.
In the past there was a way to change settings in Safari so that it identified itself as a different browser when visiting web sites. This would get around a web site which is programmed to only work with a particular browser. Once connected, Safari may or may not work with that web site, but at least it can connect.
Since this is a subject about which I have no first-hand knowledge, I did a search for "browser spoofing" on the websites for Macworld magazine and the Mac Observer. There you will find several articles on the subject.
Might be worth a try if you haven't done so already.
Arch

Osx and xp, parallel desktop or boot camp?

Hello
i use ESRI ArcMap on a windows computer and i'd like to get rid of this machine as soon as possible, 'cause it's really the only application i'm using on it.
unfortunately VirtualPC was too slow to use, since the GIS-application itself already used a lot of power.
so how about parallel desktop? is this emulating xp or are both os's bootet from beginning? and what about performance?
thank you so much for your help
senex

Hi senex
I'm not using any of the new generation of methods of running Windows and Windows apps on Macs, but I'll tell you what I know. Firstly, Boot Camp, Parallels and Crossover all only run on Intel Macs.
Boot Camp runs Windows XP on its own partition of your HD, it runs at full PC speed, so performance is no issue, and you can only be booted in Mac OS X or in Windows at any one time.
Parallels runs Windows XP in a window within OS X, so you can use both OSes at the same time. Windows XP takes a slight performance hit in Parallels, and I've seen reports that Windows apps run at about 95% of the speed you would normally expect to experience, which the majority of users find perfectly acceptable.
Crossover runs Windows apps without any need for Windows XP to be installed. It is still quite early in its development and not fast enough or sophisticated enough yet to compete with the above two solutions.
Hope this helps.
Matthew Whiting

Parallels vs. Boot Camp question

Is it possible once a Parallels VM has been setup, to run Bootcamp and have it recognize the Parallels partition? ie, do I need to reinstall all my Windows/Vista applications that I set up on the Parallels machine again in Boot Camp? Any help on how I can make this painless?

No, but Parallels can use your Boot Camp partition.
For answers to questions about Parallels please use their Forum. The Apple Discussions is for Apple products.

Internet OK w/ Parallels but not Boot Camp

Background:
Last week my WDS network consisting of 3 Airport Expresses (802.11g) got snarled up to the point I had to reset the entire system. Prior to this I was able to get Internet via Boot Camp, Fusion (on my Mac Pro), or Parallels (in my MacBook Pro).
*Current problem:*
After the network was restored I had to reenter my WEP password/code into all my machines. On my MacBook Pro, however, I cannot get Internet with Boot Camp. When I try to "repair," it times out and tells me it can't find the IP. (It has no problems "seeing" my network, it just won't get online).
However, when I use Windows via Parallels 2.5 (which uses this Boot Camp partition) I have no problem getting online. *The problem only exists when using Boot Camp on the MBP.* (I have no problems getting online via Fusion or Boot Camp on my Mac Pro either, just to eliminate my ISP, modem, and base stations).
But now that I've narrowed down the issue to just Boot Camp on my MBP I'm not sure how to proceed. I'm not much of a Windows troubleshooter. Any ideas how to get Internet back?

Same general problem, but I'm using a Mac Pro that previously connected without a problem under BC.
For my case, I removed then reinstalled Vista to a larger partition. I can connect to the network, but not the internet. Parallels and OSX have no problem (though I have to select the connection in OSX after booting to Vista and back).
I'm using WPA+TKIP

Sucess: Installed XP SP 3 + Parallels 3.0 + Boot Camp 1.4 BETA drivers!

If you're looking at this topic, you're in for a treat!
It is true, I upgraded my XP SP2 to SP3 without updating to Boot Camp 2.1.
Heck, I don't even have 2.0 installed! I have the last beta 1.4 on my SP3.
Now.... here's how I did it!
*THIS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART! DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO RISK HAVING YOUR COMPUTER NOT BOOT!*
I also do not guarantee this will work for you and highly recommend using a copy of Winclone. If you have Tiger like me... find a copy of WinClone 1.6.6. It seemed to do the trick for me, and luckily I did not have to use it.
First you need to do the following registry edit, which I found on Microsoft's website. It reads as follows:
This issue affects Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional operating systems running through Apple Boot Camp.
If you attempt to install this release candidate on an Intel-based Apple computer (Mac Pro, Mac Mini, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or iMac) that is running Windows XP SP2 through Boot Camp, installation may fail with the error "Out of disk space". ...
To avoid this, manually create a necessary registry key as follows:
To create the registry key
Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEYLOCALMACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup
On the Edit menu, point to New, and click String Value.
In the text box under the Name column, type BootDir and press ENTER.
Right-click the name BootDir, and then click Modify.
In the Edit String Value dialog box, type the drive letter for your system drive, and then click OK. For example, if your system drive is C:, type C:\.
Close Registry Editor.
After you have created this registry key (or if you created this key when you installed a previous version of this Service Pack), you can proceed with the installation.
OK... now I was not able to get SP3 to install under a normal boot... I used msconfig to do a semi-clean boot.
Click Start, click Run, type msconfig, and then click OK.
Select "Selective startup" and uncheck all of the boxes EXCEPT "Load system services".
Restart.
Go to http://update.microsoft.com (as usual) and follow all instructions.
The installation can take a VERY long time. It took about 30 minutes for me. But others have reported several hours. Also, upon first and second boots the system boots VERY slowly. On the third boot, you'll notice that your system is actually booting faster than it did with SP2. At least it did for me. And heck, maybe I'm imagining it, but I think EVERYTHING works faster now...
Upon successful installation, you just need to run msconfig (if it doesn't automatically) and select "Normal boot".
Parallels installation:
If you have Parallels 3.0, I was able to get it working with Build 5600 now currently available on their website.
If you get a blue screen upon Parallels boot, just go to the configuration editor. Select the Hard disk. Go to the advanced tab and select "Cleanup Boot Camp partition..." It will boot correctly and install the latest boot camp tools upon your next boot.
Tada!

I believe that you need to have BootCamp 2.0 installed in order for that update to work.
~Lyssa

Using Windows based software on a MAC: Parallel Desktop or Boot Camp

Why would a third party propriety Database Base (Royalty Data Vault, by Orlando Products.com) work in the Windows OS on a MAC using Boot Camp, but not be able to OPEN in a Windows VM using Parallel Desktop?
MacPro Mac OS X (10.4.6) Parallel Desktop vs BootCamp

So you said that it works on bootcamp but not on Parralels. This is because Boot camp works directly through your apple hardware, whereas parallels works through an Emulation environment. The company that produced Paralells si coming out with a new Version of Parallels that is in a BETA version currently. It will actually let you Run Parralells from your Bootcamp Partition, without installing the OS twice. It is also supposed to fix some minor bugs, and supply it with a little more compatibility.
But you have to remember that BootCamp is still a BETA software, and that Parallels doesn't take advantage of your mac's hardware directly, so currently you could be having problems on both. I would buy both programs when each are fully UN-Beta this spring.
As for getting your problem solved now, you can't be promised anything, simply becaus of the above reasons. But good luck. And so you know you can install the BETA version of Parallels if you want to try it and see how it works.
Hope this helped.

Fusion vs. Parallel vs. Boot Camp for Windows 7. Probably a dumb question.

OK, here is my question. I want to install Windows 7 on my MacBook Pro. The primary reason is to run Excel 2007 for work. Not intensive games or anything like that. Excel for Mac does not always transfer well to Excel users at the office, and I spend double time reformatting, etc. Anyway, I wanted to know do you have to use bootcamp along with Fusion or Parallels Desktop 5 or can I use one of these independently? It looks like on Parallels website that it is independent. Of course bootcamp is free, but I really am tired of waiting for these drivers (Something we all agree on.) If I use Fusion or Parallels, which do you recommend? Again, all I am really doing is running office documents.
Here are my system specs:
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,5
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.26 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP55.00AC.B03
SMC Version (system): 1.47f2
Serial Number (system): WQ937*66D
Hardware UUID: 84DA3741-0B85-5107-8281-CE2E623D4A6E
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled
Thanks again for any comments!!
<Edited by Host>
Clay Wagner

You could handle it in almost any variation you want. With only 2GB of RAM though, the virtual machine will not be very snappy. If I were in your shoes, I'd probably just do boot camp, since it's going to be just as quick to boot with the option key and select windows to do excel stuff, then reboot back to mac when you're done, since it'd be free and give you the best performance.
If you're not too worried about it running slow (1GB for the virtual machine would be pushing my patience to the limits and i wouldn't run it with any less, nor would I take any MORE away from OS X) then you could go with just a virtual machine, no need to boot camp it at all if you didn't want to, just do a normal virtual machine build from within whichever app you chose. So if that speed issue isn't a problem, just to do MS Excel sometimes in a windows environment, I'd just do the virtual machine only, save having to partition the drive at all with boot camp and such.
Now, there's a lot of back and forth on the current versions of parallels and fusion. I spent a week or so with both when each new version was released testing, because I do have a boot camp windows 7 partition and sometimes do it virtually rather than booting into it (but I have 4GB of RAM so it's a little more usable for me). I found that my experiences paralleled a lot of the people out there. Parallels had a bit better graphics response, but fusion for me boots it quicker, and i have no problems at all running anything I want with it. Parallels I had some performance issues outside of the video subsystem that just frustrated me too much. Both have their flavor of a "coherence" or whatever they call it mode, where you could actually not even have the virtual machine "visible", you'd just see your Excel application running on your dock like any native OS X app does. And they both did a good job of that for me (that's actually how I run my Outlook since I really can't stand Entourage).
So any answer will be a "valid" answer, but you're really the only one who can say whats going to be the "right" one for you.
Hope this helps a bit.
John

Help...parallels/hard drive/boot camp

Help, I have been trying to install parallels and needed to re-boot my computer, re-install start-up disks etc. It used almost all of my available hard drive space. Is there a way to wipe out the hard drive to "out of the box status" as you can do with a pc? Then I can re-install just the programs I need. I have things backed up to time machine as well as an external disk.

Your system info confirms you have a MacBook. Therefore, you need to repost over in the MacBook Forums.
This area is for G5 iMac (non Intel) issues.

I have parallels 7 and windows 7, how do I use Boot Camp and windows

I have Parallels version 7 installed on my MacPro5,1 mid 2010 (3.2ghz quad core) OSX 10.6.8
My question, can I run Windows from the Parallels 7 using Boot Camp app, or do I have to install it with Boot Camp on a different partition ?
I have never used Boot Camp before so this is puzzling ?
I want to run a few of my PC games better than in Paralels 7 .

I thought the Mac were finicky with which hard drive they use.
I remember getting a 3.5 floppy for my IIe then many years later getting a 80meg HD then up to a IIgs ( loved that thing). Formatting and rebuilding HardDrive swapping out the smaller HD's..
Then a Mac IIci, last was wife's QuickSilver before this MacPro5,1..
It seemed so simple back then before serial- ATA, then. Started learning Windows vista (2008) on my mom's Asus laptop now Windows 7 ?
Getting more Mac like all the time... A friend who tried the Sata 3 and blew something on his pc laptop fixed it..
Thank God formatting drives is easy, only back up the data you need before doing anything with a drive..
Thanks again for the information and Merry CHristma and a Happy New Year !!

Newbie question: Running Parallels from Boot Camp on separate drive

All: I'm new to the Mac world, so bear with me. I'm awaiting arrival of a Mac Pro that has two separate 250GB drives. I plan on running Parallels because there are certain Windows apps that I need to access periodically--but not enough to open up Boot Camp separately. Someone suggested the following, but I need help in figuring out how this works:
+"...install Boot Camp on another internal drive (Since you have 4 drive sleds build into the Mac) and run Parallels from that Boot Camp volume. This way you have a dedicated drive for Windows, so its faster and its not using the boot drive at all. You can boot to it natively if you really need the speed and power for gaming or just use Parallels when your in OS X."+
So in other words, if I already have two drives, I can have my main drive running normal Mac apps, and then if I need to run Windows, I install Parallels and all my Windows apps, along with Boot Camp and Windows XP, on the second drive and use it from there whenever I need to run Windows??

I don't think BootCamp allows an installation on another drive, but Parallels and other software will.
You might repost this in the BootCamp forum where there are many more users running Winders under all kinds of 3rd party software.
Here's the link:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=237

Running Windows, Parallels? Boot Camp?

I've used boot camp very successfully with my mac desktop, but I'm hoping to receive a macbook (the black one) for christmas, and I'm hoping for a better option when using windows. I tried parallels with one of my older, clunkier macs (the one that's full of my movies, music, etc.) and it ran very slow, and it was nearly impossible to run other programs alongside it. Has anyone else had this problem, or is it fairly easy for you to run Parallels with other programs? I really love the malleability of parallels compared to boot camp. The idea of partitioning a large portion of my hard drive in a fairly permanent way is not very appealing to me. Any suggestions?

Windows on Intel Macs
There are presently several alternatives for running Windows on Intel Macs.
1. Install the Apple Boot Camp software. Purchase Windows XP w/Service Pak 2 or Vista. Follow instructions in the Boot Camp documentation on installation of Boot Camp, creating Driver CD, and installing Windows. Boot Camp enables you to boot the computer into OS X or Windows.
2. Parallels Desktop for Mac and Windows XP, Vista Business, or Vista Ultimate. Parallels is software virtualization that enables running Windows concurrently with OS X.
3. VM Fusionand Windows XP, Vista Business, or Vista Ultimate. VM Fusion is software virtualization that enables running Windows concurrently with OS X.
4. CrossOver which enables running many Windows applications without having to install Windows. The Windows applications can run concurrently with OS X.
5. VirtualBox is a new Open Source freeware virtual machine such as VM Fusion and Parallels that was developed by Solaris. It is not yet fully developed for the Mac - some features are not yet implemented - but it does work otherwise.
6. Last is Q. Q is a freeware emulator that is compatible with Intel Macs. It is much slower than the virtualization software, Parallels and VM Fusion.
Note that Parallels and VM Fusion can also run other operating systems such as Linux, Unix, OS/2, Solaris, etc. There are performance differences between dual-boot systems and virtualization. The latter tend to be a little slower (not much) and do not provide the video performance of the dual-boot system.
See MacTech.com's Virtualization Benchmarking for comparisons of Boot Camp, Parallels, and VM Fusion.
Boot Camp is only available with Leopard. The Boot Camp Beta that was used with Tiger has expired and is no longer available for use. So contrary to the other poster's comment, Boot Camp isn't truly "free." You must purchase Leopard to get it.

Parallels destop or Boot Camp?

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