Questions about Parallels

[klaze]

I was thinking about getting Parallels soon but I just have a few questions. I haven't touched my OS X side since the start of school in September because I had to use Boot Camp, but I finished this semester and would like to get Parallels so I could do more things on the OS X side.

1. How would playing a game on Parallels be like? A game such as Starcraft 2, or World of Warcraft?

2. Would it be better to play the games on Bootcamp?

3. Could I do everything on Parallels(Win 7) and for gaming use Boot Camp?

Thanks!

 

[Richard1028]

2. Would it be better to play the games on Bootcamp?

To get the full benefit of your mac's hardware it's always best to run demanding games in bootcamp.

3. Could I do everything on Parallels(Win 7) and for gaming use Boot Camp?

Not sure what you're asking here but yes, you can have both boot camp and parallels installed. You just can't run both at the same time.

 

[McRCN]

I would agree that games would be better in Boot Camp, it would likely be more stable and faster.

Parallels is a virtual machine, so you can still use it with Boot Camp (just not at the same time). With Parallels, you just open the app (when on the Mac) to enter Windows.

Boot Camp creates a physical partition on your hard drive, so it is like having 2 computers. One partition for the Mac and 1 for Windows. You have to boot from one partition to the other to go to Mac to Windows and vice versa.

 

[klaze]

Thanks for the replies guys.

So I could just put games on the boot camp and office, other programs on parallels? How does the distribution of hard drive space work? Example: Giving my boot camp 50gb and giving parallels 50 gbs? Thanks!

 

[McRCN]

When you partition your hard drive for Boot Camp you will tell it how big to make the drive.

Parallels is not a drive, it is just a virtual machine. Basically a window that is open. You just set up how much ram to dedicate to the window. I run it using 2 GB and it seems to work fine. You can run most programs fine. When the window is open you can run any software anything you like.

Parallels is a pretty neat concept, you will understand it better once you get it loaded. Just install Parallels and then install Windows 7 (or whatever version you have).

I like Parallels in the Mac/Win mode since you can go back and forth between Mac and PC without rebooting. If you create a document say, it is stored on the Mac side.

 

[klaze]

When you partition your hard drive for Boot Camp you will tell it how big to make the drive.

Parallels is not a drive, it is just a virtual machine. Basically a window that is open. You just set up how much ram to dedicate to the window. I run it using 2 GB and it seems to work fine. You can run most programs fine. When the window is open you can run any software anything you like.

Parallels is a pretty neat concept, you will understand it better once you get it loaded. Just install Parallels and then install Windows 7 (or whatever version you have).

I like Parallels in the Mac/Win mode since you can go back and forth between Mac and PC without rebooting. If you create a document say, it is stored on the Mac side.

Thanks for clearing that up, I just wanted to get Parallels because I have Office 2008 for Mac but I haven't touched it yet because my school requires PC laptops and I don't have Office for the Window side.

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

my school requires PC laptops and I don't have Office for the Window side.

Just because your school says they require PC laptops doesn't mean you need a PC. You should be just fine running Mac OS so long as they don't need some sort of specialized Windows only software.

 

[klaze]

Just because your school says they require PC laptops doesn't mean you need a PC. You should be just fine running Mac OS so long as they don't need some sort of specialized Windows only software.

I had to work with Microsoft Access, GNS 3, Systems Architect and other softwares. It's much easier to follow the instructor because they all work on Win7.

 

[klaze]

When you partition your hard drive for Boot Camp you will tell it how big to make the drive.

Parallels is not a drive, it is just a virtual machine. Basically a window that is open. You just set up how much ram to dedicate to the window. I run it using 2 GB and it seems to work fine. You can run most programs fine. When the window is open you can run any software anything you like.

Parallels is a pretty neat concept, you will understand it better once you get it loaded. Just install Parallels and then install Windows 7 (or whatever version you have).

I like Parallels in the Mac/Win mode since you can go back and forth between Mac and PC without rebooting. If you create a document say, it is stored on the Mac side.

Hi, I just installed Parallels 6 (14 day trial version) and everything is loaded. I wanted to try it out before I buy the Parallels Desktop 6 Switch to Mac Edition.

My question is it normal for the CPU Usage to be 70%+ all the time? I put 2gb Ram for Parallels. I also opened my Word from Office 2008 and it was kind of laggy. Thanks!

 

[alust2013]

Hi, I just installed Parallels 6 (14 day trial version) and everything is loaded. I wanted to try it out before I buy the Parallels Desktop 6 Switch to Mac Edition.

My question is it normal for the CPU Usage to be 70%+ all the time? I put 2gb Ram for Parallels. I also opened my Word from Office 2008 and it was kind of laggy. Thanks!

Virtualization software (Parallels) does suck up a decent bit of CPU and a LOT of ram as well. I'd cut the ram in parallels back to 1.25GB or so, and that should run faster

 

[McRCN]

Hi, I just installed Parallels 6 (14 day trial version) and everything is loaded. I wanted to try it out before I buy the Parallels Desktop 6 Switch to Mac Edition.

My question is it normal for the CPU Usage to be 70%+ all the time? I put 2gb Ram for Parallels. I also opened my Word from Office 2008 and it was kind of laggy. Thanks!

It will depend on your computer and ram too. I running it on an i7 iMac with 12 GB of ram, so I have a lot of horsepower. I also run Parallels with 2 GB of ram.

CPU usage will just depend on what your running. You may want to shut everything down and restart your Mac. Try running some different programs and see if you get the same type of CPU rate. Probably best to only multitask within Windows when you have too. Shut down any programs running you don't need. Remember it is just a virtual machine and not a full blown computer.

Hopefully the trial version Parallels is the full program and it has all the updates installed too.

 

[klaze]

It will depend on your computer and ram too. I running it on an i7 iMac with 12 GB of ram, so I have a lot of horsepower. I also run Parallels with 2 GB of ram.

CPU usage will just depend on what your running. You may want to shut everything down and restart your Mac. Try running some different programs and see if you get the same type of CPU rate. Probably best to only multitask within Windows when you have too. Shut down any programs running you don't need. Remember it is just a virtual machine and not a full blown computer.

Hopefully the trial version Parallels is the full program and it has all the updates installed too.

Hey, thanks a lot for the reply. I just have one more question.

If I download something for 10 gb on Parallels, would it use the Mac hard drive or the boot camp hard drive? Thanks.

 

[McRCN]

Hey, thanks a lot for the reply. I just have one more question.

If I download something for 10 gb on Parallels, would it use the Mac hard drive or the boot camp hard drive? Thanks.

If you are running Boot Camp, the files should be in Windows. In Parallels, it would depend if you are running it in the Mac/Win mode or not. If so, it is on your Mac. I never run it in the Windows only mode, but I would assume it is in Windows.

 

[klaze]

If you are running Boot Camp, the files should be in Windows. In Parallels, it would depend if you are running it in the Mac/Win mode or not. If so, it is on your Mac. I never run it in the Windows only mode, but I would assume it is in Windows.

Hey thanks.

I downloaded something on Parallels, around 2gb. When I checked my hard drive, it showed 30 gb left on Windows, and 115 on Mac. Then I went on Bootcamp to checked the hard disk space, and it showed 28gb left and 117 left on Mac.

Why do they show different sizes?