div>About a year ago I was given a MacBook Pro laptop to use at work. Honestly, this is probably the only reason I would ever have given Apple’s expensive hardware a chance. I have always used PCs. I never could understand why anyone would pay so much more for a laptop with only one mouse button. At first everything felt wrong. The mouse movement, the clicking, and even shortcut keys like copy and paste. All wrong.
But because this was an Intel Mac, I could run also Windows on it. So I installed Boot Camp, Apple’s free program that allows you to run Windows operating systems. While it was nice to have the ability to play games, I wanted something that wouldn’t require me to shut down the computer to switch between Mac and PC.
Enter Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac.
Parallels is software that allows you to run Windows and other operating systems without having to shut down the Mac. So you can leave your Mac applications open and start up Windows XP or Vista through Parallels and switch back and forth. You can even save files from Windows to Mac and vise versa. I have tried it with Windows XP, Vista, and even Ubuntu Linux. It works like a dream. One little caution: It still has a little trouble with some PC games that require DirectX support. So you may want to check the Parallels game compatibility forum thread before you spend the $79. But if you are focused on most other applications, Parallels is downright amazing. If you are not convinced, download the free trial and give it a shot. You won’t be disappointed.
Now that I am getting used to the Mac shortcut keys, I am really liking this MacBook Pro. The built-in Mac applications, such as iPhoto and iMovieHD, are clearly a cut above the equivalent programs found on Windows XP or Vista. And I even found a setting that right-clicks when you tap two fingers on the touch pad. It’s so cool I almost stopped caring about not having a second mouse button. Combine all of that with Parallels I really feel that I have the best of both worlds.
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Tuesday, 21. August 2007
Hi,
I wonder if you noticed any performance hits while using Parallels. Does it seem to you that the Windows programs you tested run as fast on the Mac/Parallels machine, as on a native Windows machine? Thanks
Tuesday, 21. August 2007
Philip,
As long as I am only running one Parallels VM (virtual machine) at a time, I really don’t notice much of a slow down in performance. Vista loads a bit slower than I would expect it should, but I don’t have a similar, non-Parallels Vista install to compare it to. At least for Windows XP the start up time seems just as fast as a normal XP install on a similar machine. My laptop is a 2.0 GHz MacBook Pro with 2 GB of RAM, and I am giving my Parallels XP image 512 MB of RAM. (I have tried giving it more RAM, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference.) Hope this helps.
Tuesday, 21. August 2007
Tom, have you used any VPN software to log into work using using Parallels and have you run any of the benchmark software on the XP version running on Parallels?
Thanks,
Wednesday, 22. August 2007
I would be happy to run some benchmarks and post another article with the results. To get a useful comparison, I will benchmark it running Windows XP through Parallels and then run the same tests on the same hardware running Windows XP natively using Bootcamp. Most of the benchmarking software I have used has been for graphics/gaming, but this test wound need to be more broad, so I will look for other benchmarking software. (I’m open to recommendations.)
I haven’t run VPN software in Windows XP running through Parallels, but the sysadmin sitting next to me doesn’t see any reason it wouldn’t run just fine. Parallels’ default network bridging should be able to handle it.
Friday, 18. January 2008
After months of trying to convert ACT! for Windows data to a comparable contact management program for my MacBookPro, I gave up. Instead I’m considering using Parallels 3.0 and loading ACT!. Anyone done that? Can you send emails, synch address books/PDAs, etc. without problems or significant workaournds? Thanks.
Friday, 18. January 2008
Hi Tony,
Yes, Parallels does a pretty good job of giving you a way to easily job of allowing you to switch over to XP or Vista when you can’t find an equivalent program in OSX. But I am hearing from my sysadmin that Parallels is not as stable on Leopard, so I am probably going to ask my boss for a copy of VMWare Fusion. I hear it is even better, for about the same price. But either Parallels or Fusion should be fine for what you are describing. Good luck!
-Tom
Tuesday, 5. February 2008
Hey Tom,
I was curious, when you devote an amount of RAM to your VM, say Win XP, that’s the amount of RAM that the VM will use, but once I discontinue use of my VM, i.e. shut down Parallels Desktop, will that RAM be reallocated back to my Mac OS? Or will that permanently be set to the VM’s and the VM’s use only? Thanks.
– Derrick
Tuesday, 5. February 2008
It seems to have slowed my processing speed despite the Windows VM being shut down.
Friday, 8. February 2008
Hi derrick,
I’m pretty sure that your RAM would be reallocated to other uses once you shut down Parallels. I haven’t had a chance to test this, so if anyone else has more experience with it feel free to jump in. I am also interested in hearing from others on the Tony’s question of slower processor speeds after running Parallels. I haven’t experienced this on my machine.