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Newb question on running windows 7 on Mac

G

Gadgetech

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 3, 2011
8
0
I've just read the basics on running windows on a mac and have a couple questions.

1. What size should the partition be if I use boot camp? The only thing I can think of that I'd run on W7 right now would be Office 2010.

2. Since the above usage shouldn't have huge demands on resources I question if I even need to use Boot Camp and Parallels would be enough?

I'm not a Mac newbie per se since I've had an iMac to run pro tools le (which is a joke b/c I haven't even used it that much) since just before the switch to the intel chip but I am a newb when it comes to the best way to run W7 on the new iMac the wife and I are getting so any suggestions or anything I wouldn't have covered in the basic information supplied on this site in regards to running W7 on the Mac, I'd appreciate.
 
Go for at least a 50 gb partition, 70 gb would be safer when you install more programs, music, outlook inboxes, etc.

However, you might just consider installing office 2011 for the Mac. It's a pretty good alternative to the windows version.

Gadgetech said:
I've just read the basics on running windows on a mac and have a couple questions.

1. What size should the partition be if I use boot camp? The only thing I can think of that I'd run on W7 right now would be Office 2010.

2. Since the above usage shouldn't have huge demands on resources I question if I even need to use Boot Camp and Parallels would be enough?

I'm not a Mac newbie per se since I've had an iMac to run pro tools le (which is a joke b/c I haven't even used it that much) since just before the switch to the intel chip but I am a newb when it comes to the best way to run W7 on the new iMac the wife and I are getting so any suggestions or anything I wouldn't have covered in the basic information supplied on this site in regards to running W7 on the Mac, I'd appreciate.
Click to expand...
 
parallels or VMware fusion are both better than bootcamp. It sucks restarting everytime you want something on the "other" computer.
Unless you do crazy excel stuff or us Access than you would probably be fine on Mac Office 2011.
 
calaverasgrande said:
parallels or VMware fusion are both better than bootcamp. It sucks restarting everytime you want something on the "other" computer.
Unless you do crazy excel stuff or us Access than you would probably be fine on Mac Office 2011.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure why but I just can't get used to Excel in Mac. I was brought up and trained in Excel 2003/2007 on Windows machines and there's something different about the interface. Some of the other Windows features (e.g. Solver, some of the data analysis tools) aren't available or well implemented in the Mac versions. I just got 2011 but am still finding that I prefer to use the 2010 version through Parallels (or Boot Camp) if I need to do work.
 
Parallels/VMWare/VirtualBox should be fine for your needs.

Just make sure you don't starve the VM or the host OS of resources. i.e. make sure you give both OSes at least 2 GB of RAM, preferably more.

If you're buying a new iMac, a third party upgrade to 8 GB of RAM is only an extra $120 right now from OWC and is well worth it if you are going to be running a VM often. http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/iMac/2010/DDR3_21.5_27 EDIT: Forgot the 2010 iMacs have 4 slots. This would be an upgrade to 12 GB, 8 GB would only be $49 from OWC.

B
 
Thanks for the input so far, its very helpful. I do plan on upgrading the ram and $150 for 12gb is awesome. I was looking last night after my post and I don't believe the Zune software will run on Mac so let me ask this. Is it possible to store all of my music on an external drive only or should I give the partition another 25gb or so? I'm not exactly clear on where the data is stored if I run only parallels. The iMac will have a tb so space won't be too big an issue until I start using Photoshop (which I plan on a cross platform swap to Mac). In regards to using Office for Mac 2011, I get Office 2010 at no cost so until that silver spoon is gone, I plan on eating with it.


Sent from my WP7 using Board Express
 
Gadgetech said:
I'm not exactly clear on where the data is stored if I run only parallels.
Click to expand...
You don't actually need to partition anything if you will be using Parallels exclusively.

Parallels creates an image of a Windows (NTFS) hard drive within your Mac OS X (HFS+) partition. To OS X it looks like one big file. When you are running Parallels, you can share Mac OS folders to Windows to be seen as network shares. (Parallels shared folders).

The easiest way to make your music available to both OSes is to use that folder sharing capability where possible.

B
 
balamw said:
You don't actually need to partition anything if you will be using Parallels exclusively.

Parallels creates an image of a Windows (NTFS) hard drive within your Mac OS X (HFS+) partition. To OS X it looks like one big file. When you are running Parallels, you can share Mac OS folders to Windows to be seen as network shares. (Parallels shared folders).

The easiest way to make your music available to both OSes is to use that folder sharing capability where possible.

B
Click to expand...

Man, thanks for the info. Further confirmation that Parallels will do it for me.
 
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