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I just don't see it, what am I missing, is Parallels that much better than Boot Camp?

dcl

dcl

macrumors regular
Original poster
Yes, I like of having XP boot up within Mac, and I would consider that a big benefit over Boot Camp, but what else?

Boot Camp was so easy to install, and I didn't have to do much tweeking after loading XP.

Parallels installs Ok, but in XP I can't burn DVD's, it won't see my external HD, and it takes a little to get file sharing set up properly.

What else am I missing ?
I can still get Parallels at a discount, just not sure it's worth it.
Boot Camp is still free and works much better for me in Mac & XP.
 
the benefit of Parallels is that you don't have to reboot and leave your current work environment.
if you have to do anything intensiver or for a longer period of time, Boot Camp is the better option for you. but if say you just needed to test websites in IE6 or whatever on Windows, Parallels would be the better choice.

its all boils down to usage.
 
If you need to swap regularly between XP and OSX, Parallels is better
If you want to run other OS's such as older Windows or Linux, they won't run under Boot Camp.
If you don't need high perfprmance from XP (e.g just using a couple of small apps), then there's no point in inflicting a reboot on yourself to access them.

If you need high performance, and rebooting is not a problem, then Boot Camp is the way to go. It sounds like you've made up your mind anyway, so save the money and go with Boot Camp.
 
yeah, i use bootcamp if i want to run simulations on MatLab and stuff. I would like to use Parallels just for running Messenger Live but i figured it wouldn't be worth the price!
 
i use bootcamp, as well. parallels ran a bit sketchy on my system for whatever reason, plus i really needed XP to be fast and stable, as I wanted to be able to use CS2 in it (to avoid rosetta).

i think i'd mind the rebooting more if macbook's didn't have such fast start-up times... 🙄 🙂
 
j26 said:
If you want to run other OS's such as older Windows or Linux, they won't run under Boot Camp.
Click to expand...

Except with the now FREE Virtual PC 2004!!!! (This is what I've done to run some DOS games)
 
mlrproducts said:
Except with the now FREE Virtual PC 2004!!!! (This is what I've done to run some DOS games)
Click to expand...

FREE for PC users not MAC 🙄


Anyway Burning DVDs parallels requires you to instead of burning directly to choose the option of burning an image or saving the dvd extracted data to a folder. Simply put this image or folder into your shared folder, click back on OSX desktop and open the folder and burn the DVD image/folder with toast or such. Not a biggy issue at all.

Parallels is still young, and will matuer. They are already working on accelertating the GFX and such.

With virtualization now ruled out of being included free with 10.5 it looks like for OS within OS - parallels will be the way apple will be pushing for a good while yet.
 
MacRumorUser said:
FREE for PC users not MAC 🙄
Click to expand...

Will VPC (for PC) work under Boot Camp?

Incidentally, what do people think the likelihood is of being able to have both Boot Camp and Parallels installed at the same time?
 
Hi guys n girls,

Sorry I'm a bit of a Mac noobie, so could somebody just explain what parallels is? I get the impression its something similar to boot camp?

Cheers
 
whooleytoo said:
Will VPC (for PC) work under Boot Camp?

Incidentally, what do people think the likelihood is of being able to have both Boot Camp and Parallels installed at the same time?
Click to expand...

I would think it would, a Mac with XP on it is just another Windows machine. What I would like to see is the PC version of VPC working in XP via Parallels. Then you could have say Red Hat Linux running within XP running within OSX - be a bit of a laugh, like when people use iTunes for Windows running in VPC on their PPC Macs.
 
whooleytoo said:
Incidentally, what do people think the likelihood is of being able to have both Boot Camp and Parallels installed at the same time?
Click to expand...
No problem with the iMac. I have it that way. Works well.
 
dcl said:
Yes, I like of having XP boot up within Mac, and I would consider that a big benefit over Boot Camp, but what else?

Boot Camp was so easy to install, and I didn't have to do much tweeking after loading XP.

Parallels installs Ok, but in XP I can't burn DVD's, it won't see my external HD, and it takes a little to get file sharing set up properly.

What else am I missing ?
I can still get Parallels at a discount, just not sure it's worth it.
Boot Camp is still free and works much better for me in Mac & XP.
Click to expand...

I think it is a matter of your specific needs for windows. If you are like me and want to play games and burn cd's and dvd's then you need boot camp but if you just want to run a windows app or browse a non mac friendly site then parallals is the better choice.
 
I use VPC2004 under WinXp on my Macbook to play FFVII under Windows 98SE.

The soundcard support is pretty bad so all the midis are out of wack :/
 
I just noticed that on the Apple site, it says you can run Windows on Intel Mac, and has a footnote saying you need Parallels (see here). Why doesn't it mention Boot Camp, and didn't it do so before?
 
That's probably because Boot Camp is still in the Beta period. I am sure once Boot Camp is available in 10.5, then Apple won't advertise Parallels.
 
Mac Rules said:
Hi guys n girls,

Sorry I'm a bit of a Mac noobie, so could somebody just explain what parallels is? I get the impression its something similar to boot camp?

Cheers
Click to expand...
Boot Camp is a utility by Apple which allows you to install Windows on a Intel-based Mac (Mac Mini 2006, iMac Core Duo, MacBook, MacBook Pro as of 23/07). It sets up a dual-boot enviroment, so you have to restart to use it. It will be part of OS X 10.5 Lepoard as a 100% finished feature.
----------------
Pros: Full speed, "easy" to install (for Windows), can be used for games
Cons: You gotta reboot, its Windows (security (or lack thereof), spyware, viruses, ect), limited drivers (no Apple Remote, iSight-yet), beta software (not finished).



Paralles for Mac uses Intels Virtulization technology, which allows 2 or more OS's to run while OS X is running as a primary OS, and Windows/Linux/whatever as an "app" within a window.
--------------
Pros: Can run several OSs at once, no need to reboot
Cons: No 3D acceleration (ie, no games), no DVD burning

When to use Boot Camp: If you don't mind rebooting to use Windows, if you plan to game, or generally high preformance
When to use Parallels: If you need to switch between OS X and Windows frequently, want to use OSs other than Windows XP/Linux (Win95/Win95/ect)

Hopefull this clears some things up, but I've probably missed some things. Theres more than enough info right here at MacRumors to be getting along with ATM.
 
dcl said:
Yes, I like of having XP boot up within Mac, and I would consider that a big benefit over Boot Camp, but what else?

Boot Camp was so easy to install, and I didn't have to do much tweeking after loading XP.

Parallels installs Ok, but in XP I can't burn DVD's, it won't see my external HD, and it takes a little to get file sharing set up properly.
Click to expand...

I have Parallels but likely will not install it in its present form. One main use of having XP on the MacBook is to rip CDs to MP3 with Audiograbber. Another is to rip DVDs with DVD Shrink. Support to the DVD burner and USB devices is vital to me. And it takes only 30 sec or so to do the OS switch.

So far BootCamp meets all my needs. Eventually Parallels may get developed to the point it becomes my choice.

Phil
 
HI guys..

Newbie here (& overall tech-bafoon). I posted this same query elsewhere on this site..but this may be a more appropriate thread. So...am i on the same page as you guys regarding parallels NOT being able to run programs like DVDSHRINK? I mean i do have parallels up & running...and it "seems" to be working alright. Successfully downloaded DVD SHRINK (& nero7 demo etc..). *BUT...having all sorts of problems with actually using shrink: disk recognition problems; analyzing & preview problems; 4+ hour back up times...

I've heard that parallels has many problems in recognizing a cd/dvd drive for what it actually is. So...am I screwing things up here? Should i be able to use DVDSHRINK on parallels...or should i just give up & intsall bootcamp? Cuz, i'm really getting sick of searching all over for an answer (esp. difficult when you're as computer illiterate as i am!).

THANKS,
josh
 
Anything that normally requires raw level hardware access (like DVD ripping/CD audio ripping) will not function properly under DVDShrink, EAC, etc etc. It just won't work properly because of the need to use virtualization drivers to get the devices working at all.

If you're wondering about DVD ripping, use Mac The Ripper and rip the DVD contents to the hard drive into a shared folder with XP (under Parallels, this is easy to assign shared folders that both OSes can use together). After the content is on the drive inside the shared folder, fire up XP if it's not already running, fire up DVDShrink or whatever program you're using, load the content, specify an output location (not the XP drive since it's typically small unless you dedicate a HUGE amount of space to it which is really impractical), then let it rip.

You'll end up with the resulting compressed content ready for burning with whatever OSX burning app you like.

Hope this helps...
bb

ps
I'm currently staring at dual 20" LCDs: on the left is the iMac itself, running OSX. On the right is XP running full screen at about 98% of native speed. It works flawlessly, and for DVD crunching duties, I use Mac The Ripper to rip, then DVD2OneX (DETOX) under OSX because my Wife has a 20" iMac also and I use DETOX's built-in ability to work with the power of her Core 2 Duo processor as well as mine at the same time. It's distributed DVD compression, and it's a lot faster than just my machine alone. Hers works as a slave device to mine, and I can compress a DVD9 down to DVD5 in under 10 minutes, most of the time much faster than that. Only works for content already on the hard drive however, so the time ripping with Mac The Ripper has to be factored in.

I just made a backup of Smallville Season 1 Disc 1, the content is about 7.65GB in size. It took 8 minutes and 16 seconds to crunch that down to DVD5 format, with everything included (I never remaster the content, that defeats the purpose of backing up the DVDs, right?), so I'm damned happy with how my dual Core 2 Duo iMacs are working. 🙂

8.64 GHz of distributed DVD crunching power... gotta love it

pss
Ripping the DVD content to the hard drive with Mac The Ripper 3.0r13e took about 41 minutes with my Plextor 18x Firewire enclosure drive... wish that aspect was faster, but from what I've read across different forums is that Plextor has their drives firmware locked to a max of 12x DVD ripping speeds. Bleh... if anyone knows a workaround, let me know will ya...
 
Hi Br0adband!

Wow..thanks for all the info. Really nice of you. O.k...first...the main reason i'm trying to run shrink (or really any pc / windows ripping program) is because it can be used in conjunction w. "ANYDVD". Dunnoh' if you're familiar w. that program..but it'll remove the copy protection on ANY dvd...*aka..the new Sony disks. *But...it only works w. windows. It doesn't rip or compress or anything..but it just kind of "invisibly" removes the copy protection so that shrink (or whatever ripping software you use) can go to work on the rest. Unfortunately (and i'm about 99% sure on this) there's nothing like that for mac yet. Yeah, i use mactheripper in conjunction w. popcorn..but can't rip any Sony disks...and there's alot of sony movies i really want. Plus..as you know, mactheripper (& popcorn for me) is so slow...and sometimes has glitches...whereas anydvd & shrink (& nero) just run flawlessly on everything (well, almost all the time). But looks like you got a great system going w. your wife's computer...but, me, i'm flying solo w. my mac mini.

Hmmmm..."Maybe" there's a way i can just insert the disk w. Anydvd functioning and just save it as a file or something to my shared folder. I don't know? I"ll see if something works.

But...i guess...MAIN POINT BEING: You really can't do stuff like rip (let alone burn) movies under virtual settings like w. Parallels? I mean...i should quit this neverending search right? Just go ahead w. Boot Camp if i wanna' run shrink & programs like that? At this point, i'm a bit bummed that Parallels kind of sucks....but it does have its uses. At any rate i'm just happy to get a decisive answer so i can just go ahead and set up bootcamp.

**Lastly....SAME PROBLEM W. MY EXTERNAL PLEXTOR!!! Got it as it's "supposed" to read & write at 16x (& of course is mac compatible). But, man, fails at least half the time when using mactheripper...and really isn't very fast (actually the opposite)...not to mention how picky it is with media. So i don't have any answers for you in that department.....But do you recommend any good external dvd burners that actually work & work well w. macs? I'll just sell this one on ebay and go buy a new one if i have to. I essentially never even use it. Just use the slow built in matshita in my mac mini.

Thanks again!

josh
 
Well, like I said, you can do all the stuff you want with OSX and XP in Parallels, it just takes longer.

I've been doing more research about why the Plextor drives are slow doing rips and the conclusion I'm coming to is that it's slower to ensure accurate bit rips, like when doing audio rips too. I bought a Plextor this time out because I've owned their products in the past and they never failed me, so I tend to stick with what works.

You can do all that stuff with OSX and XP in Parallels, just gotta be more patient. If you have a Plextor external and it works, keep it, no sense dumping it and spending more money. It is a Plextor, yanno. 🙂

And yes, I've heard of that software, just not something I use. I can wait for accurate rips, "speed ripping" isn't that much of an issue. I've been sitting here today just putting one in, rip it, take it out, put in the next, etc. I have 44 DVDs on the hard drive and I'll set up a batch later tonight for DETOX... when I wake up, it'll be all done and ready for burning. 🙂

Hope this helps...
bb
 
jackc said:
I just noticed that on the Apple site, it says you can run Windows on Intel Mac, and has a footnote saying you need Parallels (see here). Why doesn't it mention Boot Camp, and didn't it do so before?
Click to expand...

It *did* say Boot Camp, but they changed it to Parallels once it was released. Personally I don't really think they should be endorsing an app that doesn't feel like a Mac app, but maybe that's just me.
 
But if Parallels gets more people - people hesitant to leave Windows with the flick of an off switch or push of a button - and buy more Macs, isn't that good for all parties involved: the consumer gets a more reliable machine, Apple gets more business, Parallels gets more business, and dare I say it, so does Microsoft, especially where licensing is concerned with the upcoming release of Vista?

Best of both worlds squared, I'd say.

bb
 
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