I just purchased Parallels version 5 for my iMac 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 / 16GB memory / Mac OS 10.6.8.
I notice there is a 32 bit and 64 bit version of Windows 7.
I am not sure which bit version to use or which is more stable. What are the pros and cons of either?
iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
Both are stable. Use the 64 bit. It can use more memory. There is no reason to use 32 bit Windows unless you are installing Windows natively on a non 64 bit computer.
First off, Parallels Desktop is currently on Version 7, so your version 5 copy might not run too well on the newer OS you are running.
I have a maching similar to yours, and my response is "what do you need?" I have 2 Windwos 7 Pro instances setup on my MacBook Pro (quad Core i7, 16GB RAM), and I installed both of them as 32 bit versions. One is for work remote support, and the VPN client they require doesn't support 64 bit Windows (I'm lucky to get Windows 7 support at all there), and the other instance is for running only a couple small apps, none of which need 64 bit, so I didn't bother giving either virtual machine more than 3GB, or more than 32 bit Win 7.
Parallels/Windows 7 - 32 bit or 64 bit?
