Keep Parallels running all the time?

[3bs]

Does anyone keep Parallels running on all the time? I just started using it for Windows 7. Are there any negatives to this if I don't have anything open in Windows? I am using a mid 2012 11" MBA with top specs (i7, 8GB RAM) and it would be nice if I could have Windows on all the time as a Fullscreen app.

 

[Jessica Lares]

Does anyone keep Parallels running on all the time? I just started using it for Windows 7. Are there any negatives to this if I don't have anything open in Windows? I am using a mid 2012 11" MBA with top specs (i7, 8GB RAM) and it would be nice if I could have Windows on all the time as a Fullscreen app.

That's the whole point of letting it open your Windows apps in OS X with the coherence feature. But sure, it should be fine in fullscreen with that 8GB you have. I've done it before on my MBP.

 

[3bs]

That's the whole point of letting it open your Windows apps in OS X with the coherence feature. But sure, it should be fine in fullscreen with that 8GB you have. I've done it before on my MBP.

I was very impressed with the coherence feature and Parallels in general but I prefer having it in a mission control space of it's own.

When I set it up I used my boot camp partition. It said that I'd have to activate Windows again. Does that mean I can only use this version of Windows on either Parallels or Boot camp? I'm using an OEM System Builder Pack of W7 and I think that's supposed to be only installed on one machine and I read that using VM's like Parallels makes it seem like I'm using another machine.

 

[Jessica Lares]

I was very impressed with the coherence feature and Parallels in general but I prefer having it in a mission control space of it's own.

When I set it up I used my boot camp partition. It said that I'd have to activate Windows again. Does that mean I can only use this version of Windows on either Parallels or Boot camp? I'm using an OEM System Builder Pack of W7 and I think that's supposed to be only installed on one machine and I read that using VM's like Parallels makes it seem like I'm using another machine.

I have no idea. When I tried it with boot camp, I used it on my other Mac and that was when they were having issues with the partition getting corrupted, so I haven't gone that route since then.

Couldn't you just deactivate it in boot camp then go back and re-activate?

 

[3bs]

I have no idea. When I tried it with boot camp, I used it on my other Mac and that was when they were having issues with the partition getting corrupted, so I haven't gone that route since then.

Couldn't you just deactivate it in boot camp then go back and re-activate?

I'll give it a try. If it keeps running smoothly in Parallels maybe I'll get rid of boot camp altogether since I probably won't be needing the full resources for anything I'll be using Windows for.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

If you have a machine with dual-graphics (MacBook Pro) I would recommend against it because merely having Parallels open is sufficient to force OS X to always use discrete graphics... But with an Air, you've only got the one GPU anyway. It will use a small amount of RAM, but not enough to worry about except under the heaviest of loads.

 

[3bs]

If you have a machine with dual-graphics (MacBook Pro) I would recommend against it because merely having Parallels open is sufficient to force OS X to always use discrete graphics... But with an Air, you've only got the one GPU anyway. It will use a small amount of RAM, but not enough to worry about except under the heaviest of loads.

Is RAM the only thing I should be concerned about?

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Is RAM the only thing I should be concerned about?

Again, unless you're on a dual-graphics system where you are concerned about keeping the graphics on internal; yeah. It will use a few cycles of CPU, too, but not enough to be even remotely worrying.

 

[3bs]

Again, unless you're on a dual-graphics system where you are concerned about keeping the graphics on internal; yeah. It will use a few cycles of CPU, too, but not enough to be even remotely worrying.

Another question. The Function keys don't seem to be working. They were a while ago but now they won't work. I tried rebooting but they won't work in boot camp but work in Parallels.

Edit: repairing the drivers seems to have fixed it.