aproudmom

Q: parelles vs bootcamp

After purchasing a Macbook I will be completely "Mac'd out"! all Mac devices and my good ol' not so trusty HP. I keep the HP becuase of a system needed for billing for work. This would be the only Windows related system I would need on the Macbook. My question is.....Should I have parelles or bootcamp? I also want to purchase photoshop CS6 for it if that would help determine which one is better.

I dont want to lose the Mac experience one bit so I am fearful because I have never seen what either program looks like or how it works. Thanks

MacBook Pro

Posted on Oct 11, 2012 9:47 AM

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Q: parelles vs bootcamp

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  • by aproudmom,

    aproudmom aproudmom Oct 11, 2012 10:07 AM in response to aproudmom
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 11, 2012 10:07 AM in response to aproudmom

    .....not CS6 but photoshop elements 11.

  • by Courcoul,

    Courcoul Oct 11, 2012 10:19 AM in response to aproudmom
    Level 6 (14,193 points)
    Oct 11, 2012 10:19 AM in response to aproudmom

    If the Windoze instance you need is not for gaming or any other high-performance task, you could experiment and see if the free Oracle VirtualBox virtualizer can fulfill your requirements. That way, you'd only have to spend on the Windows activation license.

     

    As for Photoshop, you can purchase the Mac OS native version and not need Windoze for that.

  • by Austin Kinsella1,Helpful

    Austin Kinsella1 Austin Kinsella1 Oct 11, 2012 10:29 AM in response to aproudmom
    Level 6 (11,514 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 11, 2012 10:29 AM in response to aproudmom

    There is an interesting comparison of Parallels, Bootcamp and VMWare on MacTech, though it is a few years old. I use Parallels for a couple of old Windows applications, running XP. The disadvantage of bootcamp is that you have to choose which OS to run. With Parallels you can have both, and can drag files between them, or copy on one and paste on the other.

  • by Courcoul,

    Courcoul Oct 11, 2012 10:34 AM in response to aproudmom
    Level 6 (14,193 points)
    Oct 11, 2012 10:34 AM in response to aproudmom

    One thing to note if you use a virtualized environment: ADD RAM. Since both the host system, Mac OS X, and all the guests will be running at the same time, having enough RAM to keep everyone happy is paramount so the system as a whole works speedily.

     

    That's one reason why I opted to max out my Mac in that department and install 16GB of the stuff.

  • by Network 23,Helpful

    Network 23 Network 23 Oct 11, 2012 10:51 AM in response to aproudmom
    Level 6 (12,043 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 11, 2012 10:51 AM in response to aproudmom

    The VirtualBox suggestion is a very good one since it's free. If the software you need to run is just a billing system, it might not need Parallels. At least you can try VirtualBox and see if free is good enough.

     

    The problem with BootCamp is that it boots the whole machine into Windows, so you would not be able to use any of your Mac software while using the billing system. The advantage of virtualization (Parallels, VirtualBox, VMWare Fusion...) is that Windows runs inside OS X, so you get to use all your Mac software and simply use Windows as another program on your Mac. That way, you can use the billing system while you are also using your Mac email, web browser, Elements, etc.

     

    If you were doing high-end graphics, you would not want to run Photoshop in virtualization because it might noticeably impact performance. Elements might be OK in virtualization, but since Photoshop Elements 11 for the Mac is under $100, you should get the Mac version. It will preserve your Mac experience and run faster than running Photoshop inside Parallels or VirtualBox.

     

    Final note - if you choose to use virtualization, and have the basic 4GB RAM in your Mac, you might want to upgrade to 8GB RAM or more. Because the cost of virtualization is that you are running an entire OS (Windows) inside another OS (Mac OS X), which means you need enough RAM to run two computer systems at the same time along with other programs you run. And because Photoshop likes a lot of RAM itself, if you wanted to run Windows and Elements at the same time, I'd say have 8GB RAM minimum, 16GB if you want to max it out. RAM is cheaper if you buy it somewhere other than Apple, like crucial.com or macsales.com.

  • by aproudmom,

    aproudmom aproudmom Oct 11, 2012 11:16 AM in response to Network 23
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 11, 2012 11:16 AM in response to Network 23

    This really helps. I  decided to be safe and get 8GB. I will try the virtual box first and if the company is not able to install the billing system I will go ahead and purchase Parallels.

    Does Paralles run on an Ipad?

  • by Network 23,Solvedanswer

    Network 23 Network 23 Oct 11, 2012 11:23 AM in response to aproudmom
    Level 6 (12,043 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 11, 2012 11:23 AM in response to aproudmom

    No, I don't know of any way to run Windows software on an iPad.

     

    There are some solutions where you use the iPad to connect to a Windows PC back at another location and use the iPad to run the Windows software remotely. But of course it requires a constant network connection. I forget what they're called. You can use a VNC app on an iPad to run a remote Windows PC like another one of yours, but I was talking about services where you don't need to have your own PC, you run one of theirs remotely.

  • by aproudmom,

    aproudmom aproudmom Oct 11, 2012 5:36 PM in response to aproudmom
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 11, 2012 5:36 PM in response to aproudmom

    now that i know im getting the macbook pro 8gb upgrade (its cheaper and from what the community says makes no difference than buying outright at 8gb)....which parallels software should i get. the standard or switch to mac edition? i dont see a difference but in price. thanks

  • by Austin Kinsella1,

    Austin Kinsella1 Austin Kinsella1 Oct 11, 2012 5:57 PM in response to aproudmom
    Level 6 (11,514 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 11, 2012 5:57 PM in response to aproudmom
  • by Network 23,

    Network 23 Network 23 Oct 11, 2012 6:27 PM in response to aproudmom
    Level 6 (12,043 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 11, 2012 6:27 PM in response to aproudmom

    aproudmom wrote:

     

    which parallels software should i get. the standard or switch to mac edition? i dont see a difference but in price.

    I'm not familiar with the Switch to Mac edition since I've always been Mac-based, but since you are moving over from a PC, it might make it easier to move everything over.

     

    But do be aware that the latest Mac OS X already has a built-in Migration Assistant to bring in your files and settings from a Windows computer and use that to set up the user account on your Mac:

    About Windows Migration Assistant

     

    I guess the difference is that it looks like Parallels provides a special USB cable to connect your old HP and your new Mac. But if you already have the Ethernet network cable that Apple Migration Assistant supports, you might already be set. It looks like you can migrate over wireless too.