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questions about windows runing on Mac

W

wowmacer

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 21, 2010
7
0
Hi I ordered my first MBP 13'' the basic one and i have few questions regard to run windows on MAc. Since i am a student I have to use MS office2007 for most of my assigment. So, I planed to install win7.

1. Which win7 should I get? X32 or X82?

2. Which i shall choose, VM 3 or Parallel 5?

3. How many ram shall I dedicate to win7 in order to keep both os run smoothly?

Thank you for answering my questions.
 
This is a general rule of thumb as I understand it.

32-bit limited to 3.7GB(?) of RAM
64-bit 4GB+
 
Hellhammer said:
Why do you have to use MS Office 2007? Wouldn't Office for Mac be okay? I would try CrossOver, it lets you run many Windows apps on OS X
Click to expand...

My major require marco on excel, however, mac office doesnt sopport it and all the textbook was base on ms office 2007. So, 2007 is the only choice that i can go to.
 
Thank you for all the replay. I really should spend some time on digging the Mac and all the thread.
 
wowmacer said:
Hi I ordered my first MBP 13'' the basic one and i have few questions regard to run windows on MAc. Since i am a student I have to use MS office2007 for most of my assigment. So, I planed to install win7.

1. Which win7 should I get? X32 or X82?

2. Which i shall choose, VM 3 or Parallel 5?

3. How many ram shall I dedicate to win7 in order to keep both os run smoothly?

Thank you for answering my questions.
Click to expand...

I use Office Mac interchangeably with Office Windows. The only issues I ever get are occasional formatting changes in PowerPoint from one version to the other.

Having said that, no problem installing Windows 7 via Parallels. Works fine, very flexible.

Get the 32-bit version. RAM allocation isn't anything you have to worry about. In the event you're actually talking about hard drive space, it depends on what you're going to be doing. Lots of images, more hard drive space. If it's mostly documents, give it about 50 gig of hard drive space.
 
Hmac said:
I use Office Mac interchangeably with Office Windows. The only issues I ever get are occasional formatting changes in PowerPoint from one version to the other.

Having said that, no problem installing Windows 7 via Parallels. Works fine, very flexible.

Get the 32-bit version. RAM allocation isn't anything you have to worry about. In the event you're actually talking about hard drive space, it depends on what you're going to be doing. Lots of images, more hard drive space. If it's mostly documents, give it about 50 gig of hard drive space.
Click to expand...

Thank you! suggestions really help.
 
Hmac said:
Get the 32-bit version. RAM allocation isn't anything you have to worry about. In the event you're actually talking about hard drive space, it depends on what you're going to be doing. Lots of images, more hard drive space. If it's mostly documents, give it about 50 gig of hard drive space.
Click to expand...

May I ask why on earth are you recommending 32-bit Windows?!?! Sure the RAM limit is not going to bother OP but if he ever wants to install it to other computer, the 64-bit is a lot better
 
Hellhammer said:
May I ask why on earth are you recommending 32-bit Windows?!?! Sure the RAM limit is not going to bother OP but if he ever wants to install it to other computer, the 64-bit is a lot better
Click to expand...

Speed difference will be negligible, there can be driver compatibility issues with the 64 bit version.

Why do you think the 64 bit version is a lot better?
 
If your MBP has 4 GBs of RAM, just use the 32-bit version as you can't assign all the RAM from your physical machine to your virtual machine anyway.

In the end it's your choice, and it doesn't really matter that much to be honest.
 
Hellhammer said:
May I ask why on earth are you recommending 32-bit Windows?!?! Sure the RAM limit is not going to bother OP but if he ever wants to install it to other computer, the 64-bit is a lot better
Click to expand...

So, x64 will be better? when it comes to battery life, which could done a better job x32 or x64.

Besides, Mac is the only computer that I will be using, cuz my 2years old acer was totally dead, which is also the reason i decided to switch to Mac. So, instal win 7 to other computers would not need to be considered.

Thank you

mikeo007 said:
This made me laugh. For future reference it's: x86 (32 bit) or x64 (64 bit)
Click to expand...

ha, seems I am really outdated.
 
Hmac said:
Speed difference will be negligible, there can be driver compatibility issues with the 64 bit version.

Why do you think the 64 bit version is a lot better?
Click to expand...

Because it can use more than 3GB of RAM. Majority of sold W7s are 64-bit as 4GB is pretty much the standard nowadays. 64-bit XP and Vista were bit laggy but W7 is very good. Most drivers are available in 64-bit too and even more will be if people buys the 64-bit and forces companies to support it.

Simply, it's just "future-proof" and IMO buying 32-bit OS is ridiculous, unless you have a reason for that

BTW, I think that retail version comes with both, 64-bit and 32-bit disk
 
Hmac said:
I use Office Mac interchangeably with Office Windows. The only issues I ever get are occasional formatting changes in PowerPoint from one version to the other.

Having said that, no problem installing Windows 7 via Parallels. Works fine, very flexible.

Get the 32-bit version. RAM allocation isn't anything you have to worry about. In the event you're actually talking about hard drive space, it depends on what you're going to be doing. Lots of images, more hard drive space. If it's mostly documents, give it about 50 gig of hard drive space.
Click to expand...

ALright someone who posted about Parallels! I have a copy of both Office 08 and office 07, its good to hear they are interchangeable.

With the parallels or vmfusion, do you have to setup another partition to virtualize or do you just load on OSX, and run? Sorry I am awaiting my software as we speak so not quite sure. Do you have a separate oartition for Win7? I believe you really only need an extra partition if you are running bootcamp in which you boot strictly into win7/or OSX am i right?

Is Office 2007 supported by Win7 64-bit? Id assume it is but want to double check. I was not aware that the MBP could run a 64 bit version of Win 7 good to know!

Hellhammer: "BTW, I think that retail version comes with both, 64-bit and 32-bit disk "

Yes Win 7 does come on both 32 and 64 bit!
 
roxygal9 said:
ALright someone who posted about Parallels! I have a copy of both Office 08 and office 07, its good to hear they are interchangeable.

With the parallels or vmfusion, do you have to setup another partition to virtualize or do you just load on OSX, and run? Sorry I am awaiting my software as we speak so not quite sure. Do you have a separate oartition for Win7? I believe you really only need an extra partition if you are running bootcamp in which you boot strictly into win7/or OSX am i right?

Is Office 2007 supported by Win7 64-bit? Id assume it is but want to double check. I was not aware that the MBP could run a 64 bit version of Win 7 good to know!
Click to expand...

You have to make a partition for Windows I think, as it can't install on HFS+.

Hellhammer: "BTW, I think that retail version comes with both, 64-bit and 32-bit disk "

Yes Win 7 does come on both 32 and 64 bit!
Click to expand...

Thanks for clearing that! I always use OEMs so wasn't sure does the retail version include both as OEM doesn't :cool:
 
Hellhammer said:
You have to make a partition for Windows I think, as it can't install on HFS+.

Really? I have to do a partition, bummer :(

Thanks for clearing that! I always use OEMs so wasn't sure does the retail version include both as OEM doesn't :cool:
Click to expand...

Yea, I wasnt to sure about this either, but sure enough Win7 comes in 32 or 64 bit form. I didnt want to deal with the hassle of OEM, but I did get a full version of Win 7 for 150, from Amazon hat isnt to bad.
 
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