Need suggestions for running Windows software

[jephotog]

I am returning to mac after a 11 year hiatus. I just bought a MBPr. I also have a PC desktop for photo processing and just the large screen needs.

I have a few needs for some of my old windows apps. I particular is the Adobe Suite I own which is the CS4 version. I own it outright but my PC license won't work on the mac. I don't want to pay for an upgrade or subscribe to the CC service, as the CS4 fills my needs.

If I am only going to use the windows for the Adobe suite would bootcamp be most efficient and economical way of doing so? What would I gain by purchasing parallels?

I am also looking at some business accounting software like quickbooks which I had used in the past. But can't find a way to buy one copy to use on both my PC and MBP. I am considering one of two ways to get around this. Install it on my home PC then run it remotely through my mac, or install another copy of quickbooks on bootcamp. Any suggestions either way on this?

 

[KdParker]

I am returning to mac after a 11 year hiatus. I just bought a MBPr. I also have a PC desktop for photo processing and just the large screen needs.

I have a few needs for some of my old windows apps. I particular is the Adobe Suite I own which is the CS4 version. I own it outright but my PC license won't work on the mac. I don't want to pay for an upgrade or subscribe to the CC service, as the CS4 fills my needs.

If I am only going to use the windows for the Adobe suite would bootcamp be most efficient and economical way of doing so? What would I gain by purchasing parallels?

I am also looking at some business accounting software like quickbooks which I had used in the past. But can't find a way to buy one copy to use on both my PC and MBP. I am considering one of two ways to get around this. Install it on my home PC then run it remotely through my mac, or install another copy of quickbooks on bootcamp. Any suggestions either way on this?

Depends on if you want to toggle back and forth between Windows and OS.

Parallels with allow you to do that, where as boot camp will force you to log out to switch operating systems.

I personally get along fine with just boot camp.

 

[balamw]

What's your workflow like when you run CS4? Do you multitask at all and do other things as well, or are you dedicated to CS4 for that time?

How's your internal storage situation too? Will you be cramped or have plenty of room on your rMPBP.

In general a VM solution will let you run those apps side by side with your Mac apps and will take up less room on your SSD as you don't have to partition a fixed amount of space dedicated to Windows. Performance though may suffer a bit, but given that these are older apps I would assume that they will run OK for you.

YMMV.

B

 

[jephotog]

What's your workflow like when you run CS4? Do you multitask at all and do other things as well, or are you dedicated to CS4 for that time?

How's your internal storage situation too? Will you be cramped or have plenty of room on your rMPBP.

B

I have a 512GB SSD 16GB of Ram on a 15" MBPr. My last PC laptop was falling apart so I was not using it much for photography. I am basically using Lightroom for downloading and organizing my photos, which I plan to be placing on an external HD. I do use some HDR processing with specific software and use some of the other functions of Adobe CS but Lightroom and HDR accounts for 90% of my workflow. I could easily do that on Bootcamp then reboot for my other needs like sharing the images online after a reboot.

Maybe use one of the free VMs for quickbooks? I really only use quickbooks for invoicing which will then get emailed so it would b nice to use keep it under the OSx via a VM.

 

[snorkelman]

I'd grab a 30 day trial of parallels or VM Fusion and have a play with those

Instant switching between apps/OS, sharing clipboards, ability to back up windows just by throwing a virtual hard disk file over to another drive.

Having to reboot into another OS isnt a huuuge hassle, but I'd only resort to it if particular app left me with no other choice.

 

[nerowolfe]

Maybe use one of the free VMs for quickbooks? I really only use quickbooks for invoicing which will then get emailed so it would b nice to use keep it under the OSx via a VM.

Definitely give that a try. Virtualbox is free. See if it meets your needs performance and compatibility-wise.

Parallels Desktop 8 is cheapo. $35 is not free but not expensive either. Later versions tout Yosemite compatibility and performance gains as reasons to upgrade, but because of a bug that's been causing major slow downs with PD10 I've gone back to PD8, and to my surprise it's running just fine...can't guarantee it'd work with future updates to OS X though. PD9 runs fine a well ($42 on amazon). Version 10 costs $67 atm.

Bootcamp is free. But you'd have to restart your computer to run Windows, and the hassle of partitioning your HD and stuff. It offers the best performance and compatibility and it's free, but unless you're running demanding software/games and aren't happy with windows performance using a VM or in the rare odd case of compatibility issues you may want to make it a last resort.