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MK25toLife

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2007
255
1
I am brand new all this and am try to do as much research as I can. I plan on getting a Mac but I just want to know what's the difference b/w the two. Is one better than the other? I have some programs on my PC that I would like to install on my new Mac once I get it and I want to know what's the best program that would enable me to do so. Any advice would be extremely grateful, thanks!
 

WildCowboy

Administrator/Editor
Staff member
Jan 20, 2005
18,485
2,986
In the simplest terms, Boot Camp requires you to reboot your computer whenever you want to switch between OS X and Windows, while Parallels allows you to run both side-by-side. (Windows runs under virtualization within OS X.)

Have a look at some of the guides linked at the top of this forum index page for more info.
 

Sherman Homan

macrumors 6502
Oct 27, 2006
463
0
Fundamentally, BootCamp means booting in Windows; Parallels means running Windows as a program in OS X. There are lots of reasons pro and con. Speed, ease of use, functionality. It all depends on what you want Windows to do.

Edit: WildCowboy's typing foo is very strong!
 

EvilDoc

macrumors 6502a
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 6.12) T-Mobile Dash)

It depends on the progran, you could use parrelles but your programs wont run at native speed. But with boot camp its just like running Windows on a Pc. For example if i want to run office 07 i just use parrells, but if i want to play a game or anything "intense" i would reboot into and use Windows via boot camp. I hope this helps ;-)
 

invasian

macrumors regular
Jun 7, 2007
184
0
Houston
here's what i think the best solution is:

install windows via bootcamp...you can then use parallels or vmware fusion to virtualize it if you don't want to reboot into windows.

this gives you the best of both worlds.

if you need speed and functionality, then reboot into windows with your bootcamp partition.

if all you need is to do something really quick or whatever, then you can just use parallels or vmware fusion.

personally, i have not had to reboot into windows and have been able to do whatever i want to using vmware fusion. of course i don't game in windows...only playing starcraft right now and its available on mac
 

MK25toLife

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2007
255
1
I'm somewhat confused, will I be able to install programs that are .exe files? The guy at the Apple store told me I wouldn't be able to. Most of the programs that are available online are .exe, take for example some random program that shows you how to play piano chords. Can someone explain this to me?
 

WildCowboy

Administrator/Editor
Staff member
Jan 20, 2005
18,485
2,986
I'm somewhat confused, will I be able to install programs that are .exe files? The guy at the Apple store told me I wouldn't be able to. Most of the programs that are available online are .exe, take for example some random program that shows you how to play piano chords. Can someone explain this to me?

Right, Windows programs are typically in .exe format, and you'll need to run Windows in some capacity in order to use them. Boot Camp, Parallels, and VMWare will all allow you to do that, although in slightly different ways.
 

panzer06

macrumors 68040
Sep 23, 2006
3,286
230
Kilrath
And while we're on the topic, VMware is better than Parallels. Thread over.

:p

Do you really like it better? I have Both but have only installed Parallels. Version 3.x seems to work well except it kills Bluetooth in Bootcamp

I have VMWare on my W2K3 server running Linux and another W2K3 instance and iit works very well.

hmmm, I may backup my Windows partition with Winclone and try VMware.

Cheers,
 

invasian

macrumors regular
Jun 7, 2007
184
0
Houston
I'm somewhat confused, will I be able to install programs that are .exe files? The guy at the Apple store told me I wouldn't be able to. Most of the programs that are available online are .exe, take for example some random program that shows you how to play piano chords. Can someone explain this to me?

Yes.

Bootcamp: All it does is create a partition on your hard drive so that you can install windows onto that partition. When you turn on your mac, you hold down the option key, and you get to choose which you want to boot into, either OSX or Windows. If you choose windows, then windows boots up as if you are on a PC notebook. Everything is the same.

Virtualization through Parallels/VMWare Fusion: This allows you to run windows inside of OSX without having to boot into windows as described above. This means, that you can boot into OSX, then run windows in it's own window. If you have a bootcamp installation of windows (as described above), then these two software will recognize it.

Let's say you have Fusion...you start that program, choose to start up your bootcamp windows partition, a window comes up and windows starts up in it. You can work in Windows as if it you had booted into it as described above. Anything you do (installation of software, etc) is as if you had booted into windows.

take a look at the pic:

that's fusion virtualizing windows...you can do anything you would normally as if you were running windows normally.

23ehoq
 

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,987
4,559
New Zealand
Do you really like it better? I have Both but have only installed Parallels. Version 3.x seems to work well except it kills Bluetooth in Bootcamp

I tried Parallels but didn't like the UI. I knew VMware was coming so I waited for it, we use it at work and the ability to move VMs back and forth is priceless :)
 

Freyqq

macrumors 601
Dec 13, 2004
4,038
181
Bootcamp is for gaming..it is native as if you are running windows on a PC..it is putting 100% of the resources into running Windows
vmware/parallels is for convience - you use only part of your resources to run windows so its slower..but you get the convience of running it side by side with osx.
 
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