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Can anyone educate me on Parallels Desktop 15? How is it?

W

William Payne

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 10, 2017
931
360
Wanganui, New Zealand.
Hello. I am a very happy Mac user. However as I delve into 3D Cad software I’m wanting to try out some of the software that’s windows only. I don’t care about gaming.

I was going to build a pc to use alongside my Mac but have just learnt about the parallels software and would love to hear people’s user experiences.
 
At the price paid for Parallels, you can buy a decent external SSD and run Windows of it.
 
bogdanw said:
At the price paid for Parallels, you can buy a decent external SSD and run Windows of it.
Click to expand...

You mean with Bootcamp?

Bootcamp on an external is not straightforward to set up (see threads about it) and Bootcamp setup, maintenance and backup is more trouble than Parallels.

I have used both and settled on Parallels. Performance in Parallels is better than most people realise and plenty adequate for all except gaming uses.

Yes, Parallels is more expensive but worth it for me. VMWare is cheaper, but I have no experience of it so can't comment. Would be worth looking into.
 
If you're just looking to investigate how CAD works in windows, then parallels may be a decent option as opposed to building a new machine. If you're looking to use a windows based CAD application (as opposed to "trying it") then a dedicated machine will be better imo.

Bootcamp is an option as well, but as you mention windows on external drives isn't as simple as installing macOS on an external drive. Plus you could also run into driver issues with Bootcamp, I've always had minor headaches thanks to poor drivers from apple. In the end if you're looking to be somewhat serious with CAD running on windows, a dedicated machine is the best imo
 
Mike Boreham said:
You mean with Bootcamp?Bootcamp on an external is not straightforward to set up (see threads about it) and Bootcamp setup, maintenance and backup is more trouble than Parallels.
Click to expand...
No, I mean Windows to Go on the SSD, Boot Camp drivers can be downloaded from Apple and installed afterwards.
 
Right now I’m running fusion 360 which is fine on a Mac. I might download the trials of parallels and some windows software and see how they perform in that environment.
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I have no problem with paying for software that I’m going to use long term so I’m happy to see what’s out there.
 
I’ve recently installed Windows 10 1909 on a Samsung MU-PA500B SSD to be used on a MacBookAir 8,2. The MacBook booted just fine from the SSD, after allowing booting from external media https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208330, and I installed the drivers extracted from the appropriate pkg https://gist.github.com/nuomi1/16133b89c2b38b7eb197
Windows to Go is just a way of installing Windows on an USB drive, there are many more solutions:
Rufus https://rufus.ie
WinToUSB https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/index.html
I think it might be possible even in a similar way to this https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/h...build-a-bootable-iso-from-your-macs-terminal/
 
The main reason parallels appeals to me is that I can do everything involving the windows apps while still in the Mac OS. They just open as a window like any other application. No rebooting.
 
William Payne said:
The main reason parallels appeals to me is that I can do everything involving the windows apps while still in the Mac OS. They just open as a window like any other application. No rebooting.
Click to expand...
That is elegant and useful for most apps, but 3D Cad software usually requires more graphics power than a virtual machine can provide.
 
Thanks guys. I have decided that long term my best thing to do is to invest in a workstation grade windows system to go alongside my Mac. I don’t mind that as it will allow me to keep work and personal seperate. Plus I realised I can get a workstation spec windows laptop cheaper than just the buying workstation parts for a PC build. It’s nice to have a selection of good quadro equipped laptops these days which is handy for driver/customer support purposes.
 
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