Bootcamp/Fusion Question

[NovemberWhiskey]

I am planning on buying a MBP, and I have heard that when you use Bootcamp and/or fusion, you must choose how much RAM you want to dedicate to each OS.

So if I get 4 Gb of RAM, and want to split it evenly, does this mean that I will ALWAYS only have 2Gb for Leopard and ALWAYS only 2Gb for Windows? Or do I get the full 4 Gb back when I am only running Leopard?

 

[aaronw1986]

I am planning on buying a MBP, and I have heard that when you use Bootcamp and/or fusion, you must choose how much RAM you want to dedicate to each OS.

So if I get 4 Gb of RAM, and want to split it evenly, does this mean that I will ALWAYS only have 2Gb for Leopard and ALWAYS only 2Gb for Windows? Or do I get the full 4 Gb back when I am only running Leopard?

only the case with fusion, not boot camp.

 

[ziggyonice]

Boot Camp and Fusion (or Parallels, for that matter) work in two different ways. Boot Camp is free, built into Mac OS X, and runs Windows at native speeds, meaning no slowdown whatsoever. Fusion or Parallels are virtualization software, meaning that you're going to have to purchase them for one, but also there may be some slowdown depending on what you're using them for.

Boot Camp simply requires space on your hard drive. You dedicate how much of your hard drive you want available for Windows, and how much for Mac. The computer has to be restarted each time you want to switch operating systems -- therefore you won't even be messing with the amount of RAM dedicated to the OS.

Using virtualization software, on the other hand, does require you to dedicate a portion of RAM to it. Because virtualization software runs at the same time as Mac OS X (not native speed), it's running two operating systems at once, plus any additional programs. Because of this, having more RAM will be beneficial for the computer to run smoothly despite having two OSes run simultaneously.

So it's really up to you to choose which you'd like to run -- Boot Camp at fast speed, but having to restart to switch OSes. Or virtualization (like Fusion or Parallels) that run slower, but are able two run OS X and Windows at the same time.

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

So do I dedicate the memory only when I am running Fusion, or is it dedicated all the time after I initially set up the program?

Or is Fusion something that just runs all the time in the background?

 

[aaronw1986]

So do I dedicate the memory only when I am running Fusion, or is it dedicated all the time after I initially set up the program?

Or is Fusion something that just runs all the time in the background?

If you use fusion, you choose when to use it. it will only use ram when you start it to run windows.

 

[MacDawg]

It is not a one time choice, you can change the amount of RAM you dedicate
And as stated, it only uses the RAM when running Fusion

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[Ivan P]

So do I dedicate the memory only when I am running Fusion, or is it dedicated all the time after I initially set up the program?

Or is Fusion something that just runs all the time in the background?

Fusion is an application. You have to open it yourself, then you select what Virtual Machine you want to run (so if you've used Fusion to install, say, Windows XP and Windows Vista, it will give you the option of opening either of these), then selecting one will boot up that OS in a new Window while you continue using OS X - basically, you'll be using Windows as if it is a standard application on your Mac.

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

Thanks!