So I need to be able to run Windows on my Mac, primarily for school-related reasons (need IE & Office 2007). I have a 15" MBP, 2.53ghz, 4gb ram, 250gb hdd. I just bought Parallels 5 and I plan on getting Win 7. But as I read about Parallels on this forum, I found something that said Parallels only taps into 512MB of the MBP's RAM. Is that right? I know the simple things I need for Windows will run fine on Parallels, but what about Morrowind? That's the only PC game that I play (on PS3 for the rest). I want to make sure that it will run smoothly and I know that a lot of people on here play that game. Is Boot Camp the only way to go if I want to play Morrowind? Does anyone use Parallels to run that game? If so, what has your experience been like? It's an old game with relatively small system requirements, but still. Would love to hear back on this. Thanks for the help.
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Morrowind in Parallels 5?
- Thread starter bailmdb
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Morrowind is an old game, it even runs on my 2006 iMac with everything maxed out at 1680x1050. I'd imagine you'd get a similar level of quality to that, though ideally it would be better to run it under Bootcamp. Whenever I run "virtualisation" software on any of my Macs they use up the same resources for something that looks "meh" that looks brilliant when under Bootcamp.
Thanks for the info. I've read about some people installing Parallels and running Windows that way for the simple programs, but then also having Windows under Boot Camp for games and other graphics intensive apps. Does that mean that I would have to install Windows twice, once for Parallels and once for Boot Camp? Sorry, but I'm very new to running Win on a Mac. Thanks again.
If you want to game, install Windows under Bootcamp. Once it is installed with Bootcamp, you can run that partition in Parallels or Fusion. This way you get the best of both worlds, but you'll have to activate twice.
Don't bother with gaming under Parallels, it will, most likely, work, but it will run like a lame dog. Just stick with Bootcamp for gaming. In parallels you can do work, like excel, or word, and a LOT of other things, but the video is virtualized and thus runs like a slug. I do a ton of code and semiconductor design in a virtual windows box; and it is awesome. Being able to run different versions of windows is very important, same thing with running different unix versions, all of which are supported by virtualization.
If you haven't purchased anything, I would recommend Fusion over Parallels because of some stupid bugs in Parallels that can be show stoppers (ok, it has been for me, parallels just won't run my bootcamp partition and this is a known bug that has been in parallels since version 1 and is still on going with no way to fix it). I have both Parallels and Fusion and I have to say that Fusion is just a bit more polished then Parallels.
Don't bother with gaming under Parallels, it will, most likely, work, but it will run like a lame dog. Just stick with Bootcamp for gaming. In parallels you can do work, like excel, or word, and a LOT of other things, but the video is virtualized and thus runs like a slug. I do a ton of code and semiconductor design in a virtual windows box; and it is awesome. Being able to run different versions of windows is very important, same thing with running different unix versions, all of which are supported by virtualization.
If you haven't purchased anything, I would recommend Fusion over Parallels because of some stupid bugs in Parallels that can be show stoppers (ok, it has been for me, parallels just won't run my bootcamp partition and this is a known bug that has been in parallels since version 1 and is still on going with no way to fix it). I have both Parallels and Fusion and I have to say that Fusion is just a bit more polished then Parallels.
Is the issue with Parallels not running the Boot Camp partition something particular to your model or Mac or your OS version, or is it something that is pretty much across the board for all Macs? Are you just getting around it by making yet another disk partition for Parallels? I only have a 250GB HD. Not that that's small, but still. The ONLY games I plan on ever playing on my Mac are Morrowind and maybe Diablo 2 LOD. Maybe. So If I install Win 7 in Boot Camp, how large of a partition would you recommend?
One last thing. I'm guessing that Fusion will allow access to your Boot Camp partition? Thanks for the info.
Parallels and Fusion are basically the same product just by different companies. Yes, both will (or should) be allowed to use the BootCamp partition to run. My problem isn't related to a specific machine or version, well we can't say that because the support team at parallels doesn't seem to know what the problem is or how to fix it.
They have some suggestions, but none of them work for everyone, an many nothing works. I paid full price, TWICE for parallels and all I get from support is "We donno". They *WON'T* get a penny from me anymore.
just my 2c
i run both parallels 5 and bootcamp
for serious games of course bootcamp is the choice
on the other hand though i have to say i have been surprised how well some games run under parallels. i usually dont actually play stuff there unless its a bit older - but honestly a lot of stuff actually works well. (not the graphical speed and everything of bootcamp/native but if you just want the game itself and dont care about the flash - it works)
on the other other hand, i dont think its a good idea to go out and buy parallels because you want to be able to play one particular title. the reason is although ive been very surprised how well it performs, tghere are no guarantees any particular title will run well enough for you, and the company isnt in a position to bugfix for specific titles really
on the whole issue of installing windows and possibly some games twice once in bootcamp and once for parallels or fusion - both p and f can use your bootcamp partition/install of windows, and apparently that woks well. i have to say in my case i have always kept the two completely separate. basically even though im told it works, i want to keep my bootcamp windows "gaming pure" and the parallels install is really for smaller things or testing or stuff like that, ie if i get spyware or some other problem i dont really care; but i dont want any of those problems on my bootcamp/"real windows PC" heh
my 2c
i run both parallels 5 and bootcamp
for serious games of course bootcamp is the choice
on the other hand though i have to say i have been surprised how well some games run under parallels. i usually dont actually play stuff there unless its a bit older - but honestly a lot of stuff actually works well. (not the graphical speed and everything of bootcamp/native but if you just want the game itself and dont care about the flash - it works)
on the other other hand, i dont think its a good idea to go out and buy parallels because you want to be able to play one particular title. the reason is although ive been very surprised how well it performs, tghere are no guarantees any particular title will run well enough for you, and the company isnt in a position to bugfix for specific titles really
on the whole issue of installing windows and possibly some games twice once in bootcamp and once for parallels or fusion - both p and f can use your bootcamp partition/install of windows, and apparently that woks well. i have to say in my case i have always kept the two completely separate. basically even though im told it works, i want to keep my bootcamp windows "gaming pure" and the parallels install is really for smaller things or testing or stuff like that, ie if i get spyware or some other problem i dont really care; but i dont want any of those problems on my bootcamp/"real windows PC" heh
my 2c