Need some suggestions

[mmahnacnud]

Hi folks I am new here. I am a novice Mac user and need some suggestions on installing Windows on my Mac.

Is Parallel the way to go? Or VM Fusion?

What version of Windows 7 (i.e., home, home premium, ultimate... etc.) should I install to get maximum performance in terms of speed?

Should Windows be 32 or 64 bits?

Any other setup tips?

Some background ... I am planning to buy a new MBP 17" with an SSD and upgrade to 16gb of ram. There is only 1 application that I must run in windows and I need this program to run fast.

Much appreciated!

 

[johnhurley]

Hi folks I am new here. I am a novice Mac user and need some suggestions on installing Windows on my Mac.

Is Parallel the way to go? Or VM Fusion?

What version of Windows 7 (i.e., home, home premium, ultimate... etc.) should I install to get maximum performance in terms of speed?

Should Windows be 32 or 64 bits?

Any other setup tips?

Some background ... I am planning to buy a new MBP 17" with an SSD and upgrade to 16gb of ram. There is only 1 application that I must run in windows and I need this program to run fast.

Much appreciated!

Does the program/application you are going to run under windows require heavy graphics capabilities or just "usual" type performance?

Things that push graphics capabilities will run somewhat better in parallels 7 or latest vmware. Lots of people here like one or the other better but both seem to be pretty well supported.

There is a free alternative called virtual box ( from Sun microsystems now owned by Oracle ) that also works pretty darn well ( supposedly ) but may have some issues with high demand graphics applications.

Start by coming up with a backup strategy first before you start experimenting too much.

I would recommend you think about buying a book on mac os x Lion. I like two of them first is mac os x lion the missing manual second is mac os x lion for dummies by Bob Levitus.

On a new system I would not install anything but win 7 64 bit personally. You should make sure you put antivirus stuff into your win 7 environment. Most win 7 users get by ok on "home premium" but I prefer pro.

 

[mmahnacnud]

Hi John,

Thanks for your insight. The program I need to run in windows is a trading software called Tradestation. It is not graphics intensive, but requires constant downloading of real-time stock exchange data. Processing power is not crucial as I do all my back testing on my home PC desktop.

I need both OSx and windows to run at the same time, and after reading reviews from other members, I am going to use Parallel.

Since my need is very basic for windows, what do I gain by going from home to home premium to pro to ultimate ...etc.?

Thanks!

Duncan

 

[johnhurley]

Since my need is very basic for windows, what do I gain by going from home to home premium to pro to ultimate ...etc.?

Probably not much for you ... here is one comparison of the versions windows 7 versions

Not sure there is a "home" version ( some kind of starter name but not easy to get ).

If you are needing a new license most inexpensive purchase is if a college student is available. Otherwise amazon and buy the OEM version ... but typically the OEM version price on amazon between home premium and professional is 10 dollars or less.

The ultimate version is the one that does provide hard drive encryption capabilities etc but not sure that is something you want to try going thru a vm kind of setup.