Parallels Desktop or Bootcamp?

[JazzyFizzle]

Hey, I have a few questions about Parallels & Bootcamp.

1) I have Bootcamp installed. Can I use my partition for Parallels & keep all my data, or will I need to back it all up and reinstall?

2) What is the performance difference between Parallels & Bootcamp? I do a lot of 3D game art, photoshop & occasionally play games such as BF3 & Skyrim on Bootcamp. Will Parallels suffer to run these games?

Thanks!

 

[wy328]

Hey, I have a few questions about Parallels & Bootcamp.

1) I have Bootcamp installed. Can I use my partition for Parallels & keep all my data, or will I need to back it all up and reinstall?

2) What is the performance difference between Parallels & Bootcamp? I do a lot of 3D game art, photoshop & occasionally play games such as BF3 & Skyrim on Bootcamp. Will Parallels suffer to run these games?

Thanks!

1. yes.Parallels can make a virtual pc using bootcamp partation.
2. Parallels can be used to play some 3d games, i paly cod4 on it, not smooth like bootcamp but palyable...
my suggestion:use Parallels directly, make a virtual pc using bootcamp partation is not a stable option,everytime you boot,the system need to detect & install drivers for diffrent devices between a real pc & Parallels.
windows can not suffer this for a long time....

 

[piatti]

So is Parallels better than the bootcamp option?

 

[techguy20]

So is Parallels better than the bootcamp option?

It's better in a sense that you don't have to restart and boot into the Windows partition - you can work in both environments simultaneously and cooperatively.

However, for very processor- and graphics-intensive tasks, I would recommend using Bootcamp over Parallels since Windows is running natively.

I do have a setup with a virtual machine that uses my Bootcamp partition. That way, I can use Windows within OSX, but I can also just boot into the Windows partition when I need to, and the same documents/applications are still there.

 

[francis21]

It's better in a sense that you don't have to restart and boot into the Windows partition - you can work in both environments simultaneously and cooperatively.

However, for very processor- and graphics-intensive tasks, I would recommend using Bootcamp over Parallels since Windows is running natively.

I do have a setup with a virtual machine that uses my Bootcamp partition. That way, I can use Windows within OSX, but I can also just boot into the Windows partition when I need to, and the same documents/applications are still there.

I'd recommend what he said already: run Windows 7 on Parallels when you need access to some not-so-intensive programs and leave other heavy duty programs running on Bootcamp.