Mac Pro vs iMac Using Parallels

[blasto333]

Mac Pro dual 2.33 ghz
2gb ram

vs

iMac 24' 2.16ghz
2gb ram


How will the performance compare when using Parallels? If they are relatively close the iMac 24' is a better purchase choice for me. (Of course when the new models come out)

 

[trainguy77]

How will the performance compare when using Parallels? If they are relatively close the iMac 24' is a better purchase choice for me. (Of course when the new models come out)

This depends on what your doing in parallels and what else your doing at the same time on the system. The Mac pro is a faster system no doubt.

 

[iW00t]

Plz do not insult the Mac Pro by comparing it to such a lousy computer, thanks

 

[blasto333]

This depends on what your doing in parallels and what else your doing at the same time on the system. The Mac pro is a faster system no doubt.

Apps in Parallels
Visual Studio 2005, Visio, MS Office, Firefox, IE...

I have a mac mini now and it just kills my system when I launch parallels. (That must not happen)

 

[trainguy77]

Apps in Parallels
Visual Studio 2005, Visio, MS Office, Firefox, IE...

I have a mac mini now and it just kills my system when I launch parallels. (That must not happen)

That may be a RAM issue it would recommend no less then 2gb of RAM for parallels. So do you plan on running all those things at the same time? And what type of OS X apps would you run at the same time?

 

[blasto333]

Not at the same time, 2 at the most. (In parallels)

On the mac I would have iTunes and Safari. (at the same time)

I just need my computer to be reponsive!

 

[dmw007]

Mac Pro dual 2.33 ghz
2gb ram

Do you mean dual 2.66GHz?


I would imagine that either computer would work fine for you blasto333.

 

[user13]

That may be a RAM issue it would recommend no less then 2gb of RAM for parallels.

I second that. It is very important to have not less than two Gigs of RAM when running Parallels - then Windows will run at almost native speed and Parallels will work optimally.
The performance also depends on the type of both Windoze and Mac apps. It has been already said
Mac Pro will definitely work faster.
Mac Pro dual 2.33 ghz
2gb ram - Parallels, I deem, will run well on this machine

 

[blasto333]

I probably should have mentioned this, I plan to run Windows Vista. (I got it for free through my school)

 

[user13]

I probably should have mentioned this, I plan to run Windows Vista. (I got it for free through my school)

Well, I'd take Mac Pro then. I think it will run Vista fine in Parallels

 

[TBi]

Apps in Parallels
Visual Studio 2005, Visio, MS Office, Firefox, IE...

I have a mac mini now and it just kills my system when I launch parallels. (That must not happen)

Remember the Mac Mini has trouble with the VT flag. Basically sometimes it works with full virtualisation and sometimes it works like VPC used to, emulating windows. There has been a lot of discussion about this over on the parallels forums. It seems to be a firmware/bios issue with the Mac mini.

Unfortunately it also affectes the Mac Pro too. So the Mac Pro might run quite slow.

However with Virtualisation then of course the Mac Pro will be faster than an iMac. Not by much mind you.

 

[user13]

Remember the Mac Mini has trouble with the VT flag. Basically sometimes it works with full virtualisation and sometimes it works like VPC used to, emulating windows. There has been a lot of discussion about this over on the parallels forums. It seems to be a firmware/bios issue with the Mac mini

I'll post a link to the Parallels Forum here - http://forum.parallels.com/

It has been really helpful concerning some issues with Parallels I encountered.

However with Virtualisation then of course the Mac Pro will be faster than an iMac. Not by much mind you.

Everything depends on the RAM in fact. The more RAM you have the faster Parallels runs. And 2 Gigs are optimal - this has been the talk of the town on forums lately