Will my mbp(OSX) get slower if i install Parallels??

When Parallels is running, OSX will be slower...

I recommend NeoOffice, as its free, and you don't need Windows...unless there's a specific reason you need Microsoft Office. I use NeoOffice, but may buy the next Microsoft Office:Mac when it comes (hopefully later this year)

OS X will only be slower when Parallels/WinXP are running. Installing them won't make a difference.

When you run Parallels/WinXP it creates a 'virtual machine' which you allocate a chunk of RAM. Default is 512MB. So if you start with 1GB in your Mac, that only leaves half for OS X, which will slow down *if* you have OS X apps open that want more than 512MB.

there is also the very real possibility of spontaneous combustion!

for the most part WinXP under Parallels is FASTER [depending of course on the PC your comparing it to]

but so far programs on my Mac under Parallels run 2.8x faster than they did on my PC

Plus you can tell Parallels who gets priority OSX or XP

psychofreak said:

When Parallels is running, OSX will be slower...

I recommend NeoOffice, as its free, and you don't need Windows...unless there's a specific reason you need Microsoft Office. I use NeoOffice, but may buy the next Microsoft Office:Mac when it comes (hopefully later this year)

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Are you on the pay roll for Neooffice? Or just a really big fan?

XheartcoreboyX said:

thats awesome! so when i want to use office i can make parallels gives more priority to win =D...

but,
*is parallels completely safe to be installed on mac?
*how much space does it take(with winxp installed on it)?
*does installing in on my mac makes mac boot slower?or make it work slower(when parallels is closed!)[dump question i know =P but want to be sure]??

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Parallels is safe to install, as long as you outfit your XP virtual mchine with some anti virus. If you need a good AV, your new University probably provides you with one.
Parallels takes up little space, I believe it is about as much as whatever software you have on there, plus the XP operating system. You can probably get away with <5 gigs.
Parallels will not slow down your starup, or your os x when it is not running.

One thing you might want to do is only allocate a little bit of RAM (like 256 or something) to you parallels VM. 256 is the minimum for RAM listed on the MS website for office. That means you would only lose 256 megs of ram on your os x when parallels is running.

SDDave2007 said:

for the most part WinXP under Parallels is FASTER [depending of course on the PC your comparing it to]

but so far programs on my Mac under Parallels run 2.8x faster than they did on my PC

Plus you can tell Parallels who gets priority OSX or XP

Click to expand...

Oh, and I am not sure about this. You may be comparing your XP on an old windows box to XP on a new MBP, in which case the MBP would run it faster. Parallels XP speed is near native, but is not perfect. There have been quite a few benchmarks displaying this.

john2006wright said:

Are you on the pay roll for Neooffice? Or just a really big fan?

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Although we now know why the OP needs MS:Office, I just don't see why many people feel they need a MS product, when there is a great free UB alternative.

As you MBP presumably has 2GB RAM, Parallels with XP will run fine. Remember that if Office is the only software you will be running in Parallels, you don't need Windows anti-virus/spyware, as you won't need the internet in your VM, so it will be quite fast

Why do you prefer running Parallels + MS_OfficeWin + XP to simply running MS_Office_OS_X?

psychofreak said:

Remember that if Office is the only software you will be running in Parallels, you don't need Windows anti-virus/spyware, as you won't need the internet in your VM, so it will be quite fast

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It sounds like he might need to access the Internet for what he will be doing, exams, etc. I could be wrong, but AV is deffinitely a good choice for any Windows machine/VM. Better safe than sorry.

netdog said:

Why do you prefer running Parallels + MS_OfficeWin + XP to simply running MS_Office_OS_X?

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The software has to be exactly the same, for exams.

I still recommend NeoOffice for your non-exam work, as it is easier than booting up XP

jdavtz said:

OS X will only be slower when Parallels/WinXP are running. Installing them won't make a difference.

Click to expand...

Probably not a noticeable difference when Parallels is not running, but there are hooks into the OS X kernel and there is some overhead all the time.

You might take a look at VMWare Fusion. All reports are that Fusion is more stable than Parallels 3.0 and performs better.

XheartcoreboyX said:

thats awesome! so when i want to use office i can make parallels gives more priority to win =D...

but,
*is parallels completely safe to be installed on mac?
YES
*how much space does it take(with winxp installed on it)?
You decide by creating a virtual hard disk up to 128gig. nice thing is the HDD images are dynamic so they only grow when they need to.
*does installing in on my mac makes mac boot slower?or make it work slower
NO
(when parallels is closed!)[dump question i know =P but want to be sure]??

Click to expand...

guess I need to say something outside the quote!

I intend to install Windows XP and I also only really need to use a few programs, so was thinking about using Parallels.

I've already partitioned my drive with Boot Camp. Should I install XP on that partition and then install Parallels? Or should I kill the partition and use Parallels to install XP?

Is it a very complicated process? I'm vaguely computer literate but I get confused easily, haha. Any advice appreciated.