Does parallells desctop 7 use Invidia graphics card, or Intel hd graphics

you are in a forum for workstations, closer to PC tower, not notebooks etc. as your asking about Macbook Pro.

Use Apple Bootcamp and setup windows natively. you run directly on hardware. you can then also use your VM if you want and run Windows as guest OS.

There is a forum for Bootcamp. Ought to check that, and of course Parallels own forums.

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1461

Helpful Apple Support Resources (Forum Overview)

• Boot Camp Support
• Boot Camp Manuals

Boot Camp 4.0, OS X Lion: Frequently asked question

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/boot_camp_install-setup_10.7.pdf

create a Windows support software (drivers) CD or USB storage media

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4407

The Boot Camp Assistant can burn Boot Camp software (drivers) to a DVD or copy it to a USB storage device, such as a flash drive or hard drive. These are the only media you can use to install Boot Camp software.

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4569

Installation Guide

Instructions for all features and settings.

Boot Camp 4.0 FAQ Get answers to commonly asked Boot Camp questions.

Windows 7 FAQ Answers to commonly asked Windows 7 questions.

http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/

Ok then, let me run what you're written through my interp-o-tron processor (patent pending). You're asking if you can use parallels (or vmware fusion, or Boot Camp)

to run windows stuff on Mac. yes. I've never heard of nVidia Optimus, but yes, it will use whatever graphics card is in your MacBook Pro, whichever that is. I haven't ever heard of a user-replaceable graphics card for any Mac Laptop. I have heard of an external graphics card you can add to your laptop, but that is, as far as I know, windows only. There is no Mac equivalent. IF you were to run Parallels or whichever software on your Mac, which had a graphics card built in, then you could assume that such software would have Windows capable drivers, and, as such, would take advantage of the graphics card. OS X will run on Macbook Pro and desktop machines just fine. It will have drivers for the graphics card, or the built in integrated card, so naturally, your gaming mileage will vary. yes, you can run Windows in Parallels or vmware fusion, or BootCamp if you so desire. yes, you can switch, but Windows doesn't come preinstalled as a default. As you have found out, you have to do that yourself, partition your Hard drive, etc, etc. Then you can, I think, run Windows or OS X as you wish. Oh, 2 things: I don't think there is a BIOS on Mac, at least not one that's user accessible, and this is a forum for Mac Pro's, not Mac Book Pro's. This is a very common error, Napoleon. Next time, please post your question in the correct forum, or it'll be your Waterloo

JOhn B

OP was referring to an issue, quite real, with how Apple does not support Intel 4000 graphics and nVidia. Especially lack of support for Windows 8.

Create a partition so you can use Windows and install natively and only then use and install a VM and it will pick up the native partition. You don't run games and resource intensive programs in a VM on a laptop

The whole thing is best moved and answered in Bootcamp forum, ie,

https://discussions.apple.com/community/windows_software/boot_camp

http://www.guru3d.com/news/intel-whql-graphics-driver-windows-8-download/

I think what happens is that after you install windows, and then run the windows support CD, the main boot camp setup script seems to stop on the nvidia driver install--everything else installed correctly.

GRAPHICS SOLUTION (by ineidzcode)

I have the link to Boot Camp forum.

This forum is for full size 65 lb towers with a single or dual Xeon Intel server processor.

Notebooks?