Performance difference btwn running native vs. VM?
I had been running a boot camp install of XP Pro via Fusion on my MBP until something went awry where the Helper VM can't unmount the partition to process it. (Much back 'n forth on the VMware support boards and still no fix)
Anyhow, now that my new Mac Pro has arrived, I'd like to give Fusion a second chance. One of my co-workers showed me his current setup on his MBP and he's running XP via Parallels simply as a virtual machine. Being new to the use of virtual machines, I mistakenly got hung up on thinking that I needed to go the Boot Camp route to do this, however, after seeing how flawless XP was running as a VM I wonder should I just install XP into a VM and bypass Boot Camp altogether?
Essentially, is there a substantial performance difference between running XP Pro natively via Boot Camp VS. as a VM from within Parallels or Fusion?
I should also mention that I'm highly interested in running the 64bit version of XP Pro, as I do high-end 3d animation work in ZBrush 3.1 and Maya. I would also like to enjoy the occasional HL2/Team Fortress 2 type of games, but primarily I'd like to be able to run the few windows only 3d apps in 64bit XP Pro.
I suppose that considering I'll now have such a large OS/Apps drive, I could always create a Boot Camp partition and try both options. I'm just wondering if anyone has tried out my exact scenario and could provide some detailed and accurate real-world feedback.
Thanks,
-Steve
