Parallels or VM Fusion

[Tanvir]

Hi

I need to install Windows XP onto my MBA too run excel (until 2011 comes out, as I use Macros), a Softphone and possibly Webex.

Would you recommend using Parallels or VM Fusion and why?

The MBA is a 2.13GHz, 2GB Ram and 128GB SSD.

Many thanks

Tan

 

[MacDawg]

You will get various opinions on this
And there are many threads you can MRoogle to find previous discussions

Both do the same job for the most part
Both have their fans, just like Ford and Chevy, etc.

Both have a free trial, and I would recommend you try them both yourself to form your own opinion

I personally use Fusion, but know others who prefer to use Parallels

 

[Tanvir]

Thanks MacDawg

My biggest issue is which will be less power hungry, as the MBA is relatively light on power, when compared to my MBP which has the 2.53GHz Core 2 duo and 4GB of RAM.

On the MBP I use VM Fusion with 512Mb of RAM allocated to it, if I do the same set up on the MBA, will it suffer from only having 1.5GB of RAM?

Forgive me if I am misunderstanding the RAM allocation bit, as I am a MAC newbie.

Many thanks

Tan

 

[DiamondGCoupe]

Boot camp is best option on MBA.

 

[cleric]

I think vmware is better integrated while ive heard parallels performance is better its definitely a negligible difference with vmware 3.1.

 

[GGJstudios]

Searching the forum with MRoogle will usually find answers to most of your questions:

Parallels vs Fusion, etc.

 

[n2arkitektur]

I've never used VM Fusion, so mine is not an objective opinion. I've used Parallels on my first gen black Macbook for almost four years. I have run Windows XP with reasonable success. I have heard the issue of slowing, with both vm's, is running Vista or Windows 7, but again, I have had no first-hand experience. I would say running Windows XP in Parallels is your best bet if you need to run both OS's side-by-side.

I will say I have been scanning these forums for almost a year waiting for an MBA with more RAM because the performance is still too slow for me.

 

[animatedude]

Boot camp is best option on MBA.

you think?

 

[PhelpsiPhan]

VM ware is the much better program, but i would not reccommend installing windows on an Air Period.

Bootcamp will make the computer burn the surface of the sun

Along with this burning issue(haha) Virtualisation shares resources with Mac OSX so you will be giving windows and Mac only 1 GB of ram each which isnt enough these days...... I would not recommend it!