Please help clearing confusion on bootcamp and parallels

[rainman7]

Hi, I am a new Mac user and I am planning to install windows on my MBA because I need to run some specific software for school. I have done some reading on the forum and know that there are mainly 2 options to do so. Bootcamp or running a virtual machine like parallels, but I am still kinda confused and hopefully someone will be able to answer my question. Do I need to make a bootcamp partition first before I install parallels or I can just install parallels as a stand alone software to run windows? If I need bootcamp first, how much hard drive space should I allocate for the partition?

 

[Zerozal]

Parallels and Bootcamp are two different ways of running Windows on a Mac, each with pluses and minuses.

You do not have to create a Bootcamp partition in order to install Parallels. Parallels can run as stand alone software (you do of course need a valid install disk for Windows). However, if you already have a Bootcamp partition, Parallels can use this existing partition for the Windows virtual machine, but again, it's not required.

 

[rainman7]

Thanks for your reply. I think I will go with the virtual machine route. Just wondering if at some point, I feel that running parallels is too slow, is there any way to go back and set up bootcamp instead?

 

[Zerozal]

Thanks for your reply. I think I will go with the virtual machine route. Just wondering if at some point, I feel that running parallels is too slow, is there any way to go back and set up bootcamp instead?

Of course. The two are not mutually exclusive.