~ Parallels and the Windows on Mac...

[Shady899]

A couple questions.
I am getting a MacBook Aluminum $1,299,00 today after school and I am wondering...
Is Parallels any good?
Is windows on a mac good?
Is it worth the 32GB on HD space for the windows?
Should I do it on a laptop? (maybe because not so much HD space)
Should I use a external HD to do it?

Please give me aswers, thanks!

 

[themoonisdown09]

I use Parallels with Windows XP and it's good for running the occasional Windows application. If you are planning on playing lots of Windows games, then I wouldn't bother with Parallels, I would just use Boot Camp (it comes with Mac OSX).

I don't use a partition for Windows XP, I use mine as a virtual drive. My virtual drive is only 15GB and that seems to be enough for what little things I need to do in Windows.

Unless you think you will be using Windows often, there is no need to get an external hard drive just for Windows.

 

[Shady899]

Well I play games on windows like Counter-Strike: Source but it runs on Mac Im pretty sure so I can just play it with the mac but I thought it takes up 32GB of your HD?

Thanks for the reply though.

 

[silverblack]

I use VMWare Fusion, so I cannot comment on Parallel. A new version of Parallel just came out, and you should be able to find reviews around.

Generally, running different OS with VMs is best when you need to switch back and forth between the OSs. But the 2 OS will surely slow down each other. If you are playing games, and not needing to zip back and forth, performance would be better if you use bootcamp and run only Windows (and boot camp free too).

Also, the result may be different depends on whether you are using XP or Vista. As for the size, I just did a fresh install of XP(SP2). After running all the Windows updates (except SP3), the size is under 3 GB - although this will get larger as you install more apps.

(I believe the 32GB you mentioned is needed for boot camp, for which you need to partition your HDD before installing Windows. You don't need this for either VMW Fusion or Parallel. Your VM exists as one big file/folder).

You can choose either to store the VM locally or externally. Both worked for VMW Fusion, and would imagine it to work for Parallel.

PS. I thought you were going for the white MB, what happened?