Bootcamp, Parallels, or VM Fusion?

macuser1232 · Nov 12, 2011

Hey I was wondering if I should get Bootcamp, parallels, or vm fusion? The reason I need one of those is because I need to run windows to download and use a program called ffviewer to code patches for call of duty. Other reasons I would need to run windows are for some temporary downloads that dont work for macintosh. So which one would be best for just accessing a window that is using windows then closing out of it and going back to OS X without making my macbook pro 13 inch 8 gb of Ram i5 processer run slow.

coledeb · Nov 12, 2011

it depends, what windows os do you want to run?

macuser1232 · Nov 12, 2011

coledeb said:
it depends, what windows os do you want to run?

i guess the latest.

osxx · Nov 12, 2011

Are you going to be running these games as in testing then Bootcamp = free.
Fusion and Parallels are both VM's for quick in and out and will take some ram from OSX to operate at the same time but you do have 8GB's so that should not be a problem.

macuser1232 · Nov 12, 2011

osxx said:
Are you going to be running these games as in testing then Bootcamp = free.
Fusion and Parallels are both VM's for quick in and out and will take some ram from OSX to operate at the same time but you do have 8GB's so that should not be a problem.

well its not really a game. also what do you mean free? I can get bootcamp for free? i want to run both at same time but not use ram so i want it to be fast like usual

osxx · Nov 12, 2011

Applications Folder > Utilities > Bootcamp Assistant and be sure to print out instructions and follow them to the letter.
In that case run one of the VM's but you will have to allocate 2GB of ram for Win7 leaving 6GB for OSX and this only is while Windows is in use as soon as you close all
is back to normal.

coledeb · Nov 12, 2011

the only problem with bootcamp is that you have to boot the mac again to switch from either the mac osx and windows

osxx · Nov 12, 2011

coledeb said:
the only problem with bootcamp is that you have to boot the mac again to switch from either the mac osx and windows

That is correct.

macuser1232 · Nov 12, 2011

osxx said:
That is correct.

ooooooo i dont want that then. i am looking for something that allows me to open a window and install something that windows can download but mac cant and then close the window when im done and go directly back to OS X

coledeb · Nov 12, 2011

I don't know about parallels, but in vmware, you can actually run the windows programs from the mac os without having to run the windows

rainbowcat · Nov 12, 2011

parallels

i use parallels b/c i've 7gb of docs in wordperfect, so i'm always switching back and forth. it's not perfect, but it's easy, runs lightly, and you can run both windows and osx at the same time, and even drag things from one system to another. my experience has been that games do not run full screen on windows when using parallels, but i don't know if they'd run full screen on bootcamp (which requires constant switching and rebooting) or vm fusion either. you might want to check out virtual box as another option.

macuser1232 · Nov 12, 2011

rainbowcat said:
i use parallels b/c i've 7gb of docs in wordperfect, so i'm always switching back and forth. it's not perfect, but it's easy, runs lightly, and you can run both windows and osx at the same time, and even drag things from one system to another. my experience has been that games do not run full screen on windows when using parallels, but i don't know if they'd run full screen on bootcamp (which requires constant switching and rebooting) or vm fusion either. you might want to check out virtual box as another option.

how does virtual box work?

rainbowcat · Nov 12, 2011

i don't know; it was too complicated for me! i can tell you that it's a free download, but the installation was tricky, and i couldn't figure out how to get it going. sorry.

macuser1232 · Nov 12, 2011

rainbowcat said:
i don't know; it was too complicated for me! i can tell you that it's a free download, but the installation was tricky, and i couldn't figure out how to get it going. sorry.

yep because i was going to download the free download but i couldnt figure out the installation

coledeb · Nov 12, 2011

what do you mean by you can't figure out the installation. I can help you with it because I use virtualbox myself

macuser1232 · Nov 13, 2011

coledeb said:
what do you mean by you can't figure out the installation. I can help you with it because I use virtualbox myself

could you maybe go through the basics because all i want to maybe do in the future is be able to download something using windows because it wont work for mac and then after im done using that application for windows i want to close it and go straight back to OS X

cwa107 · Nov 13, 2011

Before you bother with a virtualization product, you should assess your need for Windows. If it's to play games - and 3D games in particular, then forget about virtualization. Yes, Parallels and VMWare have some support for 3D acceleration, but it's extremely limited.

Aside from games, any of these products will run Windows fairly well (Parallels and VMWare are more refined, but VirtualBox will do in a pinch). But if you primarily want to play games - I'd suggest doing a Boot Camp install of Windows, and if that's not convenient, consider purchasing Mac games instead.

macuser1232 · Nov 13, 2011

cwa107 said:
Before you bother with a virtualization product, you should assess your need for Windows. If it's to play games - and 3D games in particular, then forget about virtualization. Yes, Parallels and VMWare have some support for 3D acceleration, but it's extremely limited.

Aside from games, any of these products will run Windows fairly well (Parallels and VMWare are more refined, but VirtualBox will do in a pinch). But if you primarily want to play games - I'd suggest doing a Boot Camp install of Windows, and if that's not convenient, consider purchasing Mac games instead.

for the second time im not wanting to use it for games! Just a program for coding that only works for windows and also downloads that will only download correctly on windows and dont work for OS X.

chscag · Nov 13, 2011

In that case, download and install the free VirtualBox from Oracle.

macuser1232 · Nov 13, 2011

chscag said:
In that case, download and install the free VirtualBox from Oracle.

what will it do when its done downloading? im not going to download it until i fully understand what this is and what it will do.

Bootcamp, Parallels, or VM Fusion?

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