Parallels vs Boot Camp

[The Shady]

Hello all,

I am about to purchase a new C2D MBP as soon as my ADC goes through. I will need to install Windows XP on this machine to run Visual Studio .NET for school. I want to know the pros and cons of using Boot Camp over Parallels or vice versa. I know that Boot Camp comes with OSX (thus free) and Parallels is extra. I also know that Parallels is like a virtual machine and thus you don't get full hardware utilization. However, you can have OSX and Windows running at the same time. Boot Camp however is like a dual boot. To switch from one OS to another, you need to restart. This gives full hardware functionality. Anything else I'm missing?

Also, can I access files on my Mac partition in a Windows partition. Things like files, music, movies.

System specs willl be C2D MBP - 2.16 GHz - 1GB RAM - 120GB HDD

Many thanks.

 

[72930]

know that Boot Camp comes with OSX (thus free)

It does not come with OSX, but is available as an unsupported beta download. Why not try boot camp first, and see how it goes, and also get the parrallels trial, and see which one you prefer.

 

[balamw]

Also, can I access files on my Mac partition in a Windows partition. Things like files, music, movies.

Parallels proviced a shared folders function that allows you to access (read and write) any OS X files you wish to share with your Windows Virtual Machine. You set up specific folders that look like a network drive to Windows.

To access your OS X files under Boot Camp requires MacDrive which costs about as much as Parallels does. So it really comes down to: Do you need the hardware support that Boot Camp provides (i.e. 3D graphics, or other unsupported devices...)

B

 

[The Shady]

say i want both parallels and boot camp so i use one when i need quick apps and boot camp for games ... can they share the same installation or will each of boot camp and parallels need their own installation. thanks

 

[clevin]

say i want both parallels and boot camp so i use one when i need quick apps and boot camp for games ... can they share the same installation or will each of boot camp and parallels need their own installation. thanks

they can't share the installation. so you are spending double disk space.

 

[Foggy]

I prefer parallels from the fact I dont have to reboot my machine to access XP, the problem is the two applications I need under windows both dont seem to work properly over parallels (both are linked to bits of hardware over USB) so have gone down the boot camp route.

 

[Gosh]

Parallels was my choice - I can't conceive of re-booting when I want to dip in and out of Windows and sometimes I want a Windows app and I don't want to shut down my Mail or Safari or Eye TV to do that - infact I might want to cross reference info on my Mac.

Also leaving Windows in a subordinate position is where it should be - I don't tax it much and it doesn't crash much!

Parallels for me - maybe for you!