Parallels, Fusion, or Boot Camp on Leopard

[genereyes]

Not more than a day remaining until Leopard is on sale... so here are some questions I hope someone has some insight into...

Current setup to run Windows on my MBP: I used to use the beta of Boot Camp, got rid of that, and now am running WinXP in Parallels 2.5.

I plan to Erase and Install Leopard tomorrow after buying it at the store in Tysons.

Question

What will be the best way to run Windows in Leopard? Should I put Parallels 2.5 back on my MBP? Should I upgrade to Parallels 3? Should I instead get VMWare Fusion? Or perhaps going back to Boot Camp is in order (even though I don't want to reboot to use the occasional Windows app)?

What do you think?

Thanks in advance!


(hehe, saying "Question" earlier made me feel a bit like Dwight from The Office, but that's off topic... )

 

[Ariez]

Boot camp for serious stuff.

Fusion for virtualization.

 

[Cerebrum]

Yep, boot camp will be solid for stuff you'll need heavy hardware support.

 

[genereyes]

I actually won't need "heavy hardware support". I develop on my work PC, so I won't need an IDE on Windows on my Mac. I play games on my other home PCs (one WinXP, one Vista) and more often than not play on my Xbox 360, so gaming isn't a concern either.

Thinking about it, the only real uses I have for Windows on my MBP are to connect to the odd web site that is best viewed in IE, to use Streets and Trips GPS, and to use Office 2007.

iWork 08 is great for home use, so I'm not using Office 2007 as much... But if anyone has any ideas for the first two, especially GPS, I'm all ears. Any Mac OS X equivalent GPS program recommended? If not, which is really better, Parallels or Fusion?

 

[tersono]

You'll see a lot of Parallels vs Fusion argument, but they both work well. Fusion's a better choice if you want to run a wide range of OS's, but as we're talking XP/Vista here, then go with whatever you feel comfortable - personally I think that Parallels has the better user interface, but I wound up buying Fusion anyhow - go figure (in my defence, I've used VMWare for years, so it was largely habit)

The other posters are quite right, though - if you want to use Windows at anything like max performance (for gaming, particularly), then go the boot camp route. Personally I've got XP installed under bootcamp, but usually run it via Fusion, which I've pointed at the Boot Camp partition. That way I have the option to dual-boot if I really need it.

 

[Phatpat]

Related question, which I'll try to get answered here before starting a new thread:

Parallels or Fusion, which works better with Boot Camp?

I have boot camp installed and working. I use it at work every day, but 95% of the time I don't think I really need the extra performance over virtualization. So I think it would be nice to get Parallels or Fusion and use it to run my existing boot camp partition in OS X. I know these programs sometimes create activation issues, but which will be less troublesome if I'm switching from virtualization to boot camp every few days?

 

[SafariX]

I have Parallels 3.0 installed booting my bootcamp partition of my 2.2 C2D MBP. Is Fusion faster than Parallels?

 

[jiE]

Related question, which I'll try to get answered here before starting a new thread:

Parallels or Fusion, which works better with Boot Camp?

I have boot camp installed and working. I use it at work every day, but 95% of the time I don't think I really need the extra performance over virtualization. So I think it would be nice to get Parallels or Fusion and use it to run my existing boot camp partition in OS X. I know these programs sometimes create activation issues, but which will be less troublesome if I'm switching from virtualization to boot camp every few days?

You cannot use the same windows installation for both parallels/vmware and bootcamp. It requires one each.

 

[Airforce]

You cannot use the same windows installation for both parallels/vmware and bootcamp. It requires one each.

You can use a bootcamp install of windows xp with parallels.

 

[gloss]

You cannot use the same windows installation for both parallels/vmware and bootcamp. It requires one each.

Pretty sure you can now do this on both VMWare and Parallels.

 

[Phatpat]

Yep, I agree with gloss. Anybody actually done it with both? Or know which is best?

 

[tersono]

Pretty sure you can now do this on both VMWare and Parallels.

Yep, you can

 

[tersono]

Yep, I agree with gloss. Anybody actually done it with both? Or know which is best?

Sigh. There IS NO BEST. It depends on your personal preference and your particular needs - each one has some areas that are better than the other. VMWare handles a wider range of OSs and the latest beta supports Dx9 up to a point, making it a little more games compatible. Parallels has a far superior UI and in some cases can be faster.

You pays yer money and you takes yer choice, but there is no definitive 'best'. Download both. Try 'em. Make your own evaluation

 

[DaveF]

How's Parallels 3 working with Leopard? Is it compatible as Parallels claimed?

 

[OllyW]

How's Parallels 3 working with Leopard? Is it compatible as Parallels claimed?

Mine's working fine

 

[TimJim]

Boot camp install no matter what, because you can always later install parallels and use the boot camp partition.

If your into games don't bother with vc or parallels. If your just going to be doing things that don't require a lot of anything, install windows on boot camp, then buy parallels and use that. That way, you always have the option to use boot camp.

 

[psingh01]

Just upgraded to Leopard with Parallels build 3214. Works just fine, I just had to reboot the session cause it stayed "stuck" when it first loaded up.

 

[DaveF]

Thanks for the comments on Parallels & Leopard!

 

[jonnysods]

Related question, which I'll try to get answered here before starting a new thread:

Parallels or Fusion, which works better with Boot Camp?

I have boot camp installed and working. I use it at work every day, but 95% of the time I don't think I really need the extra performance over virtualization. So I think it would be nice to get Parallels or Fusion and use it to run my existing boot camp partition in OS X. I know these programs sometimes create activation issues, but which will be less troublesome if I'm switching from virtualization to boot camp every few days?

Hey man, you can use VMware with the BC partition and no activation issues, it was seamless for me (and faster than parallels).

 

[webgoat]

Hey man, you can use VMware with the BC partition and no activation issues, it was seamless for me (and faster than parallels).

yeah boot camp + vmware fusion with an oem xp pro disc is what i set up yesterday w/ activation issues taken care of for both os and microsoft office... running windows full screen with fusion giving it its own "space" is awesome!

just make sure you install vmware tools before you activate within fusion, then restart and activate by phone.. say you only installed it on one computer, its been installed more than once, yes you upgraded the hard drive, no you did not upgrade the mother board and the machine will give you a new number

i'm using vmware fusion version 1.1rc1 build 61385, windows xp pro sp2 oem, mac os x version 10.5 leopard

 

[hddad8080]

PC xp to Mac Leopard

I will need to transfer my programs and OS from a XP pro to the new Mac I ordered on 10/26. My major concerns are extensive Lotus 123 spread sheets and photographs. I will want to work on these within the new Mac. All are on NTFS hard drives (internal and external). Other than or in addition to "Boot Camp" I am considering the Fusion products. Since this is my first Mac I would welcome any advice and any potential problem areas which I might stumble into. To me VM is "black magic". I guess I'm not too old to learn.

 

[majordude]

I have no faith in Parallels after all the networking issues I had with one of the updates. I am an owner and wish they fixed v2 instead of venturing into v3 and screwing the pooch.

I have been using VMware for about two months (trial version and then the beta once it timed out) and it is MUCH more stable than Parallels.

I just did a fresh install of Leo and wonder if I should install the trial of the release (v.1) or get the beta (v1.1) which may work better with Leo. Which would you guys recommend I install?

 

[webgoat]

I have no faith in Parallels after all the networking issues I had with one of the updates. I am an owner and wish they fixed v2 instead of venturing into v3 and screwing the pooch.

I have been using VMware for about two months (trial version and then the beta once it timed out) and it is MUCH more stable than Parallels.

I just did a fresh install of Leo and wonder if I should install the trial of the release (v.1) or get the beta (v1.1) which may work better with Leo. Which would you guys recommend I install?

if using leopard then use the 1.1 release candidate beta
http://www.vmware.com/beta/fusion/

 

[hddad8080]

How about using VMConverter to make a virtual image of XPpro/Vista within the PC. Installing VM Fusion in the Mac and then copy the PC virtual image from the PC to the Mac. I have not tried this yet since my IMac is enroute. It is my understanding using this technique you won't need an XP install disk for either copy/vm migration. I would be interested for opinions on this as I am not very versed in VM.
Thanks

 

[genereyes]

Thanks for the information, guys!

If the need arises for Windows on my MacBook Pro once again, I will get Fusion. I did not like the sluggishness and unstableness of Parallels 2.5 (not to mention its hunger for all system resources).