Haswell Macbook Pro Retina 15" 2.6/16/512 & Gaming via Parallels

[morrison22]

Hello everyone! Question: Do you think I can get by using Parallels for playing a game like Rift for Windows on this machine at a decent speed? I am trying to avoid bootcamping if possible. This will be my first MacBook Pro/Mac Machine ever, and this is also my first post. Been reading the "waiting for haswell" thread for a few months. You guys crack me up. I can't wait to get the MacBook Pro I ordered on the 22nd.

Thanks for any advice regarding bootcamp and parallels... I would love to use the the macbook pro for gaming as well, so I need the all so familiar Windows 7 on there. That's why I am asking

 

[Pikkuroope]

Do you have any real reason not to use bootcamp? Other than just saying that you'd like to avoid it? With these disk speeds it takes you maybe 30 seconds to switch. Using virtual windows to game is like shooting yourself in the leg to purposefully slow you down. That is, if you don't have any real reason for it.

 

[morrison22]

Well, I am going to install virtual instruments to use with Logic Pro X that will take 200 GB of space on Mavericks. I am also planning on storing lots of music movies and tv shows on the ssd (150-200 GB). I want to make sure I have sufficient space for any additional programs I install. With Parallels, I understand you can increase/decrease Storage space as needed so that would be ideal.

 

[johnnylarue]

Well, I am going to install virtual instruments to use with Logic Pro X that will take 200 GB of space on Mavericks. I am also planning on storing lots of music movies and tv shows on the ssd (150-200 GB). I want to make sure I have sufficient space for any additional programs I install. With Parallels, I understand you can increase/decrease Storage space as needed so that would be ideal.

Just put fewer music, movies, and tv shows on the SSD and use an external drive instead. And/or make a more conservatively-sized Bootcamp partition and only keep a couple of games installed at a time.

After all, with all of those virtual instruments installed, it would be a shame if you let games and movies distract you from your important compositional pursuits!

 

[morrison22]

Just put fewer music, movies, and tv shows on the SSD and use an external drive instead. And/or make a more conservatively-sized Bootcamp partition and only keep a couple of games installed at a time.

After all, with all of those virtual instruments installed, it would be a shame if you let games and movies distract you from your important compositional pursuits!

Oh, I intend to make some great compositions. No worries there.

So here is the other thing... I bought a 3 TB Airport Time Capsule and an Apple TV. In regards to my media: What do you think is the best way to go about it... Relocate the iTunes Home folder to the TC, or install something like PLEX and store the media on the TC.

Also, what partition size/configuration would be sufficient for a Windows 7 vs 8.1 installation? And Can I resize the partitions easily when required if end up using BootCamp or do I need to decide from the start what I will end up needing in Windows?

 

[johnnylarue]

Oh, I intend to make some great compositions. No worries there.

So here is the other thing... I bought a 3 TB Airport Time Capsule and an Apple TV. In regards to my media: What do you think is the best way to go about it... Relocate the iTunes Home folder to the TC, or install something like PLEX and store the media on the TC.

Also, what partition size/configuration would be sufficient for a Windows 7 vs 8.1 installation? And Can I resize the partitions easily when required if end up using BootCamp or do I need to decide from the start what I will end up needing in Windows?

Hmmm... with my current setup, I keep my iTunes home folder on my MacBook, but the majority of my media files are on an external drive. (I think it's also possible to have two active iTunes Library folders, but this is something I've never investigated.)

As a rule, keeping your startup disk uncluttered is a good way to keep your machine running smoothly, so I'd recommend using your TC (and its fast new ac wifi!) to its potential. It would take me a couple of years to fill 3 TB, but your mileage, as they say, may vary.

Resizing a boot camp partition can be done, but it's not something I would make a habit of doing. And it's not exactly a tidy, one-step process:

http://guides.macrumors.com/Extend/Resize_Boot_Camp_Partition

 

[macitude]

Which works better, bootcamp or parallels?

 

[iKrivetko]

Which works better, bootcamp or parallels?

How did you even come up with this question? Running a virtual machine will naturally be slower than just running an OS.

 

[Pikkuroope]

Which works better, bootcamp or parallels?

Which works better? As in performance? Bootcamp is obviously much better for performance. Virtualization might be convenient if you're just doing some simple stuff or you just need to use some windows software real quick. Normally you're only giving parallels one core of your processor anyways.

 

[morrison22]

Hmmm... with my current setup, I keep my iTunes home folder on my MacBook, but the majority of my media files are on an external drive. (I think it's also possible to have two active iTunes Library folders, but this is something I've never investigated.)

As a rule, keeping your startup disk uncluttered is a good way to keep your machine running smoothly, so I'd recommend using your TC (and its fast new ac wifi!) to its potential. It would take me a couple of years to fill 3 TB, but your mileage, as they say, may vary.

Resizing a boot camp partition can be done, but it's not something I would make a habit of doing. And it's not exactly a tidy, one-step process:

http://guides.macrumors.com/Extend/Resize_Boot_Camp_Partition

I think I will use iTunes for Music, and PLEX for Video. Store Music on the SSD and video on the TC. Hmmmm I can't wait to get this all set up. I thought I read somewhere that you cant use the TC for Time Machine Backups AND use it for Data at the same time unless you partition it? I am not sure about this as I have not had time to research it yet, but I will eventually figure that out this weekend. I just want to get Plex up and running so I acan stream to my AppleTV and assure I am storing my media properly and allowing backups to function correctly as well. And of course, gaming when I am able to, on my Windows Partition via Boot Camp.

 

[psychedelia]

.

 

[johnnylarue]

I think I will use iTunes for Music, and PLEX for Video. Store Music on the SSD and video on the TC. Hmmmm I can't wait to get this all set up. I thought I read somewhere that you cant use the TC for Time Machine Backups AND use it for Data at the same time unless you partition it? I am not sure about this as I have not had time to research it yet, but I will eventually figure that out this weekend. I just want to get Plex up and running so I acan stream to my AppleTV and assure I am storing my media properly and allowing backups to function correctly as well. And of course, gaming when I am able to, on my Windows Partition via Boot Camp.

Yeah, you'll have to partition the TC if you want to use it for backup and regular storage. But with 3TB to work with, I think you can find a comfortable compromise.

Remember too that Time Machine can be set to remember as far back as you want it to, but generally speaking I've never found an instance where I've needed to go back MONTHS to retrieve something I accidentally deleted or lost. For your 512GB, having 1TB allocated to Time Machine and limiting how far back it goes accordingly should work fine for you.

 

[faslane]

Re: Paralells gaming on haswell.....NO!Use Boot Camp..three times the speed.

Hello everyone! Question: Do you think I can get by using Parallels for playing a game like Rift for Windows on this machine at a decent speed? I am trying to avoid bootcamping if possible. This will be my first MacBook Pro/Mac Machine ever, and this is also my first post. Been reading the "waiting for haswell" thread for a few months. You guys crack me up. I can't wait to get the MacBook Pro I ordered on the 22nd.

Thanks for any advice regarding bootcamp and parallels... I would love to use the the macbook pro for gaming as well, so I need the all so familiar Windows 7 on there. That's why I am asking

VERY doubtful it'd run to your liking. I wouldn't recommend the Parallels route. It's software emulated and while good for some uses BootCamp will take full advantage of your hardware (Your MAC IS a Windows machine in BootCamp) it's not emulated or virtual in any way and will be MUCH MUCH faster.

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Oh, I intend to make some great compositions. No worries there.

So here is the other thing... I bought a 3 TB Airport Time Capsule and an Apple TV. In regards to my media: What do you think is the best way to go about it... Relocate the iTunes Home folder to the TC, or install something like PLEX and store the media on the TC.

Also, what partition size/configuration would be sufficient for a Windows 7 vs 8.1 installation? And Can I resize the partitions easily when required if end up using BootCamp or do I need to decide from the start what I will end up needing in Windows?

I would put all the media on the Time Capsule. You can then have a quick easy external backup for one, and you are going to stream anyway to get it to play in iTunes. Your library will undoubtedly grow so you want to start with a ton of space anyway. What I do is turn on home sharing (required to stream fro iTunes to AppleTV). and in iTunes I make a link to the move instead of copy it to the home folder. So, for instance all my movies are on an external hard drive. I open iTunes and click on movies to highlight that area. Then I hold option or control when dragging a movie into the main iTunes movie window and when dragging it says "make link" this will point iTunes to the movie without copying it to your iTunes library hard drive (unless of course it's on the TC, then you don't have to worry about space anyway). and when I open AppleTV to movies/home video etc. the new movie is im my list. If it isn't I simply refresh the library on AppleTV with a simple restart of the device. I'd recommend just using iTunes and the TC full of your media. I don't think PLEX works on non-jailbroken AppleTV but could be wrong. AND you'll have an external drive full of media you could always take with you should you ever want to if going away for the weekend and want your media with you to watchmovies or whatever. Cheers