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Discussion in 'Buying Tips and Advice' started by thefil, Jun 11, 2007.

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  1. thefil, Jun 11, 2007

    thefil macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2007
    #1
    Long-time windows user ever so close to getting my Macbook Pro for university. I just have a few questions I was hoping the friendly people here would answer before I make the purchase (none of these are deal breakers - more like things that would be nice to have). Here goes:

    1) Once I have my Macbook, I'll be moving my old desktop to my basement. When I first started notebook shopping, I expected to get a Vista unit and use the old machine as a file server. However, now I'm wondering - can a notebook running OSX read folders being shared over a network by a Windows machine? Or is there no communication between the two?

    2) Bootcamp, Parallels, and VMWare... first a question for all three: Is there ANY performance hit from any as opposed to running Windows XP (Or Vista) on an independant machine? I assume no fot bootcamp, but I'm not sure about the other two.

    3) Bootcamp/Parallels/VMware part two: What's the best option for the occasional gaming? Can I rely on Parallels or VMWare to deliver 3D performance or should I just Bootcamp into Vista?

    4) Part Three: Can an OS installed under Parallels ALSO be loaded through Bootcamp or vice versa? Or do I have to rely solely on one solution?

    *edit* 5) Would you recommend upgrading the RAM if I want to run both OSs in parallels? If so, what should I go to? I'm thinking 3GB, but I'm not sure if that will cut it.

    Oh, and I'm typing this from the newly released Windows version of Safari :) Buh-bye Firefox, you're not the prettiest girl on the block anymore...
     
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  2. zap2, Jun 11, 2007

    zap2 macrumors 604

    zap2

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2005
    Location:
    Washington D.C
    #2
    1) You can network them together, not simple as all Macs, but easy enough. Here is a guide how to network them http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=54704&highlight=Newtorking+PC+with+Mac

    2) BootCamp, no. Your running XP/Vista on a X86 PC, basicly ignoring OS X all together. Parallels+VM Fusion, yes. Because some of the computer is runnning one OS, the other part of the computer is running another OS. VM Fusion/Parallels asks how much you want to allow to be used to power XP/Vista...1 core or 2, how much RAM, hard drive size etc. The more you allow it to use, the faster XP/Vista/Other OS will be, but OS X will slow down when your using XP/Vista. Still the over all speed is fine. I have XP on my Core Duo Mac Mini 1.66GHz w/ 1.25Gb of RAM, and I can run XP full screen no problem

    3)BootCamp is the best, but Parallels just released support for 3D gaming. Not sure how good it is, and VM Fusion can use like DirectX 8.1(Which is kind of old) Personally I'd use Bookcamp for games.

    4)Nope...sorry. Cool idea, not sure if its possible as an addition one day to Parallels/ VM Fusion, but for now, its a no go.

    5) As I said easlier, I can run XP on my Core Duo 1.66Ghz, fast enough for most stuff. I normal go full screen mode, mostly because I'm only playing around in XP. 3GB I'd imagine would be enough, but running "both OS in Parallels"(assuming you mean Vista and XP at the same time) would be hard. Thats 3 OS at a time, no easy feat.
     
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  3. psychofreak, Jun 11, 2007

    psychofreak Retired

    psychofreak

    Joined:
    May 16, 2006
    Location:
    London
    #3
    2GB will be a great amount of RAM...3GB is often expensive overkill...

    A lot of people think they'll be using Windows all the time when they switch...most don't...
     
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  4. thefil, Jun 11, 2007

    thefil thread starter macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2007
    #4
    Actually, I just wanted to run OSX and Vista/XP at the same time, not all three.

    And I do figure I'll be using Vista quite a bit; not for any applications specifically, but rather for when I want to play Half Life 2 and suchnot :p
     
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