If you need to switch back and forth a VM might be your best bet. Me being 99% Windows, BootCamp has become my friend.
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Waiting for the 2019 MBP [Merged]
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If you need to switch back and forth a VM might be your best bet. Me being 99% Windows, BootCamp has become my friend.
Install bootcamp, and use parallels as well. When or if you need performance, then you can reboot to bootcamp. On other occasions you can simply use parallels. When I'm on a MBP, that's how I do it
Yes, AMD is moving to 7 nm. Both for CPUs and GPUs.
There is no sign that there will be any Semi-Custom design from AMD for Intel on this process node.
Having tried both, I think VM is better unless you need the performance. You can avoid some weird issues with drivers, sleep/power usage, fans, display resolution/mouse sensitivity weirdness, I/O device issues etc by using VM (Not to say these are permanant issues via Bootcamp - but the whole experience was a lot more smoother via VM for me).
You also have the benefits of not just using both side by side, but also being able to transfer things between them, be it files, be it "Copy Pasting" between the two OS. There is also the nicety of not having to have a fixed partition of your SSD being assigned to Bootcamp.
There are a host of other advantages, too many to list to be fair!
Bootcamp is a must for gaming, but it isn't great (it gets loud, it gets hot and after a while it seems some throttling results in frame losses) but YMMV.
Yeah, I know about that, but for my VM, I have the image a lot smaller, and its easier to back up.Install bootcamp, and use parallels as well. When or if you need performance, then you can reboot to bootcamp. On other occasions you can simply use parallels. When I'm on a MBP, that's how I do it
I'm leaning towards VM over bootcamp. I'm not interested in gaming, but that does mean spending $$ on vmware. I haven't used vmware in so long, I've fallen out of the upgrade pricing window. Plus they usually update vmware in the fall around the time macOS is updated. I may wait until then to spend the $$
Parallels pricing/upgrade strategy is nothing short of parasitic. I'm glad that since I have a desktop Win10 machine I extracted myself from this cycle.
I agree, I didn't like the whole subscription/price model and to be honest that is probably what made me try bootcamp in the end. It is a shame that I was spoiled by the VM experience.
I'm not a fan of parallels. I've used Vmware and Virtual box, the latter is free but not has feature rich as vmware.
I once lost all data in a Parallels VM (not BootCamp based). Since then I always use BootCamp as a bases of my Windows VM, even if it eats into my SSD space more. This was 6 years ago with Parallels 5. And I don't think that software is better today.
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Is the performance difference actually still that big? I'm genuinely curious, I know that virtualization software will naturally perform a little worse than installing a system natively like via Bootcamp, but the thing is that Apple's Bootcamp drivers haven't been so great in recent times either. Parallels' virtualization on the other hand is pretty tightly optimized (obviously, since that software is their main horse that earns them money, whereas keeping Bootcamp up and running is more of a byproduct for Apple's software engineers and not something they focus their attention on). Parallels usually advertises some sort of performance boost in almost every single big upgrade, whereas the Bootcamp drivers oftentimes didn't really allow the machines to run to their full potential under Bootcamp, so much that users even come up with their own drivers to improve that (e.g. for the iMac Pro).Install bootcamp, and use parallels as well. When or if you need performance, then you can reboot to bootcamp. On other occasions you can simply use parallels. When I'm on a MBP, that's how I do it
So the question is, is Bootcamp really that much faster nowadays than Parallels that it's worth using even though Parallels has a ton of convenience and quality-of-life features in comparison? I recently tried out the newest version of Parallels on my new MBP and was blown away by how seamless, polished and well-integrated everything is. I was originally intending on only trying it out and then installing Windows via Bootcamp, but now I'm strongly leaning towards chugging down the cost of a Parallels license and just going with that instead. Outside of performance which I myself can't really judge, Parallels seems like the vastly superior option to me at the moment (assuming of course that the cost for it is no issue).
I also backed up my Parallels VM regularly, but that day I was travelling and working a full day without backup. At the end I just closed the lid of the Macbook Air 13 (2010 model) I had at that time. It did wake up, but the VM was lost. I tried everything the Parallels help suggested, just to lose a lot more time. The way I used the Air (just closing the lid, reopening and continuing to work) never had let me down before, which was a great relieve after using Windows notebooks before. Now I think if this happened again I should be able to get most of my recent data back from the Bootcamp partition.I use VMware and it hasn't ever let me down. Plus its fairly easy to backup the VM, since its just a directory on your drive
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Using Windows in a VM has a big advantage for my workflow: I need to use VPN to connect to the company network from home. When I do this from macOS or Windows in BootCamp mode, my local network is no longer accessible (printer, server, private mail etc.). When I connect from the VM, everything in my local net is still accessible through macOS.
I really loved using Parallels VM with my bootcamp, but I had one issue that drove me crazy. I would always be asked about validating my Windows 10. Apparently Windows 10 through Parallels VM thought I was using my valid license on another machine. Since the VM had to emulate the hardware. Did anyone else run into this with Parallels through bootcamp? Does VMware have this issue?
YES! It was an earlier version of Parallels but I was constantly having to reverify it. It was super annoying
I use VMware and it hasn't ever let me down. Plus its fairly easy to backup the VM, since its just a directory on your drive
I was a big fan of VMware until I found a Windows program it just couldn't run due to the way it handled the network connections. Neither the program support team or VMware could provide any answers so I tried it on Parallels and it worked first time. I'd much rather use VMware, but its just not an option for me.
There's also Virtual Box, which is free. I use that for some Oracle appliances
I have a $1200 Apple gift card I've been building up for a new Mac for awhile. Nothing they released has really grabbed me. This MBP i thought might be it but so many issues. Maybe I'll use the gift card for my new phone/Apple Watch and buy a pc laptop and save the $$$
What specifically deterred you from the 2018 MBP?
I have to say this refresh is probably one of the biggest ones in recent years, due to the inclusion of an additional 2 cores and the ability to have more then 16GB of ram (a feature I don't need). Except for the under powered GPU, this laptop stacks up nicely against other coffee lake laptops.
I agree it does, although at least for me nothing has grabbed me from the Windows side either (yet).
The dGPu issue I am not worried about, because I understand that no matter what dGPU they put in people will always be upset, because they will limit it to ~35w. You won't see a big difference to the curent one or some Vega 35w dGPU. If someone wants a strong dGPU, they are looking at the wrong laptop (or should focus their attention to e-GPU's).
Other than Cannonlake, I ask myself what could have swayed me to buy this years MacBook, and it actually isn't much!
- Screen resolution upgrade to 4K, to increase text cripsness or watch native 4K video's
- FaceID or a 1080p+ FaceTime camera so that conference (Jabber,Skype) and FaceTime is actually pleasant to use
Still, it is a solid laptop for anyone needing a MacBook and imo it still edges out the XPS 15/Razer Blades etc on balance for me.
I had been stuck in the 'waiting for the perfect tech' loop since 2012 or so, but I finally broke down and bought the new MBP. I received it a few days ago and it's been perfect so far - I'm really glad I went ahead and purchased it.
It's always good to wait if you can, but sometimes you gotta just be happy with what is here. The 2018 MBP is an awesome machine from what I've found so far, and sure it is going to have limits due to thermals/throttling/whatever, but in real world use cases I'm not seeing much of that. Even when running multiple containers, databases and other resource intensive applications it is holding up as well as I need.
Now that being said...I'll still be joining you guys in this thread. Ice lake had been my target in the recent past in terms of what I'm waiting for, and I still plan to upgrade to that once it is finally released. So hopefully we start to see better news from Intel/10nm.
It's always good to wait if you can, but sometimes you gotta just be happy with what is here. The 2018 MBP is an awesome machine from what I've found so far, and sure it is going to have limits due to thermals/throttling/whatever, but in real world use cases I'm not seeing much of that. Even when running multiple containers, databases and other resource intensive applications it is holding up as well as I need.
Now that being said...I'll still be joining you guys in this thread. Ice lake had been my target in the recent past in terms of what I'm waiting for, and I still plan to upgrade to that once it is finally released. So hopefully we start to see better news from Intel/10nm.
Just out of curiosity - why would you pick a Mac if you are using Windows 99% of the time?
I use Windows all the time, but I am tempted to switch to Mac so that I can sync between iPhone, iPad and Mac, and use Windows on Mac when needed or until I get used to Mac OS but then I tend to hold back because I can't justify the price given Windows laptops are also good quality and much cheaper.
I use Windows all the time, but I am tempted to switch to Mac so that I can sync between iPhone, iPad and Mac, and use Windows on Mac when needed or until I get used to Mac OS but then I tend to hold back because I can't justify the price given Windows laptops are also good quality and much cheaper.
What are the chances of getting a ProMotion display on a MBP next year? Basically 120 Mhz - do we think that is in the cards?
It’d be nice, and we are starting to see 144hz entering the mainstream on windows laptops so Apple may choose to go with it for the 2019 model as the big new feature before the redesign (like the 2015 got the force touch trackpad)
yeah I've been scrounging around for data on how much more power it would require and I'm not super convinced that's the big barrier since iPad turns down the refresh on the display when it's not needed. perhaps outside of it's own chips its hard to control power usage around the screen?
And yeah most of the high end laptops are getting up to 144.
My issue is it's much more fun to read on my iPad w/ the 120 than my laptop - and that really shouldn't be the case given it's a 2017 mbp.