Parallels or Fusion better to run BootCamp partition

[hh83917]

I know people on these forums have several experiences with this and this is not a Parallels or Fusion question. What I like to know is, according to everyone's experience, which one of the virtual software runs smoother (stable) or less painful to run a bootcamp partition? I just purchased a 17" Macbook Pro, very happy with it, and I will install BootCamp on it because I might play games with it. Nevertheless, when I want a quick use of Windows, I want to just use the VM to run the BootCamp under OSX 10.5. I'm afraid that Parallels will again speed up the fans and runs sluggishly and Fusion, although runs cooler and less sluggish, will kill the bootcamp partition like others said. Please input your knowledgeable experiences, thank you!

 

[synth3tik]

I don't know about Parallels, but VMWare sees the boot camp partition just as a VM drive. So there will be no difference in performace, besides running it within OS X

 

[hh83917]

I don't know about Parallels, but VMWare sees the boot camp partition just as a VM drive. So there will be no difference in performace, besides running it within OS X

I've used Parallels on a friend's computer before and it is a processor/ram hog and OSX slows down. VMware, from what I heard, runs cool and snappy, maybe because it can utilize both CPUs in a dual core machine. So, that is why I am wondering which will run better when reading bootcamp partitions. I'm pretty sure there will be difference between two of them, but the question is which one will be better?

 

[jdebuhr]

I purchased Parallels in April when I bought my MBP. I download Fusion 1.1 almost a month ago.

I noticed that Parallels uses much more resources when the VM is Idle opposed to when Fusion is in the same state. Both are using my Win XP Bootcamp partition. my Fusion trial is over on the 15th so I will probably buy Fusion, and still ounce between the 2.

Fusion also seems to load much faster as well. I use Win XP from my Software Development Environment and for a few programs not available on OS X.

Hope this helps

 

[akadmon]

Why bother with Bootcamp if your going to run Windows through an emulator

I dumped my BC partition some time ago. Started with Parallels last year, but have since moved on to Fusion. Much "snappier", much more stable than Parallels, IMHO.

 

[ChrisA]

Get VMware's "Fusion". One good thing about VMware is they have a Mac, Windows and Linux product. The company has been around a lot longer, They were selling VMware before Apple made the switch to Intel.

So you can tae your VM image and run it on any machine that can run the VMware player. Parallels is mac only. I've actually set up a VM and sent it over the Internet

 

[hh83917]

Thank you for all of your replies. I don't like to have to use bootcamp since I will have to restart everytime, but I play games and run some stuff that'll need directX that doesn't work on VMs, so I still need to keep a full PC. But since everyone of you guys said VMware is better, I'll be getting Fusion now, thank you all again for the great input!

 

[Pigumon]

Weird, everyone said that VMware runs "snappier" but all the benchmarks tests show that Parallels is actually faster when it comes down to tasks.''

So i guess it depends what matters most to you.

 

[fletchnj]

Weird, everyone said that VMware runs "snappier" but all the benchmarks tests show that Parallels is actually faster when it comes down to tasks.''

So i guess it depends what matters most to you.

Hi Pigumon,

Can you point me to those benchmarks tests results? I'm a new Mac user, and I'm trying to decide which will preform better too.

 

[clevin]

Hi Pigumon,

Can you point me to those benchmarks tests results? I'm a new Mac user, and I'm trying to decide which will preform better too.

yes, data please

Why bother with Bootcamp if your going to run Windows through an emulator

game, game, game

 

[erickkoch]

Here's one I found when researching this myself. Here.

I just switched to Fusion several days ago. Parallels 3.0 was fine up until I upgraded to OS 10.5 then it got buggy. Internet connections stopped working and then Parallels stopped working altogether, kept getting strange virtual disk error messages, uninstalling and reinstalling numerous times didn't fix the problem. So far Fusion is rock solid.

As for which is better, well I prefer the interface on Parallels but Fusion works on my computer, Parallels doesn't.

I run Windows XP, it sucks equally on Parallels and Fusion.

Keep in mind the benchmarks keep changing as each upgrades their software, Fusion is now on 1.1 and Parallels is on 3.XX, keeps changing. Boot Camp beats them all.

 

[Live Steam]

This testing says Parallels is faster than both Boot Camp and Fusion. I guess the testing needs to be standardized to get a better answer.

 

[webgoat]

This testing says Parallels is faster than both Boot Camp and Fusion

LOL to that quote
my answer: FUSION

 

[ewinemiller]

I've used both.

Parallels is a memory and performance pig. It sucks up a ton of RAM even when it's not running a virtual machine. When i run a bootcamp partition under Parallels it tries to reinstall the same XP hotfix (KB890859) over and over again so booting up and shutting down takes way too much time.

Fusion is a lot more responsive and takes less RAM for me, but the shared folders don't work well.

Fusion for the win, but it's still got issues too.

 

[Rizvi1]

This testing says Parallels is faster than both Boot Camp and Fusion. I guess the testing needs to be standardized to get a better answer.

How is parallels faster than Boot Camp? Isn't boot camp a native installation while parallels is an emulator?

 

[hajime]

Pros and cons of running boot camp partition via Fusion

I don't know about Parallels, but VMWare sees the boot camp partition just as a VM drive. So there will be no difference in performace, besides running it within OS X

In that case, do 3D applications run faster if we install the programs under the boot camp partition?

Besides the convenience of running everything within OS/X, what are the advantages and disadvantages of running boot camp partition through Fusion? Can Spotlight search through the the boot camp partition?

 

[boofa]

Sloooow

I have just installed fusion with a bootcamp partition, then insatlled Vista Home Premium and Vista runs so slowly its a pain. Any suggestions?

 

[webgoat]

I have just installed fusion with a bootcamp partition, then insatlled Vista Home Premium and Vista runs so slowly its a pain. Any suggestions?

slow in boot camp or fusion? if the answer is fusion allocate more ram to the virtual machine... i split my 4gb of ram evenly with 2 gb for mac os x and vista ultimate and both run very smooth... also running vista home premium virtually is against the windows eula