So which one?

Ok, I have tried both solutions, but still not sure which one I should live with?

What do you guys all think?

Boot Camp - or Parallels????

The decision is yours, based on how you use it.

Which did you like using better? Which better suits your needs? Did you run into any problems using either?

We can't make the decision for you. They're both excellent ways of running Windows on your Intel Mac.

well - I liked the fact that you can just use both with Parallels......but felt that boot camp was more....well substantial I guess......

Did not have too many problems with either, although I got the feeling that Parallels was quite memory hungry....although I have since moved from 512Mb to 2Gb of ram, so maybe I should try it again?

I haven't had any problems with parallels - once I figured things out and got used to it I decided not to go with bootcamp. If you want it to feel more "substantial" (more like running windows solo) then switch to full-screen mode.

If you want to game, then bootcamp is what you want.

Sounds to me like you prefer BootCamp, so there's your answer.

Parallels does exactly what I need it to do, so that's my preferred solution.

I use both. Boot Camp is for gaming; any other Windows-based work I have to do is done through Parallels. Coherence mode is incredible.

Parallels needs dedicated RAM while it's running ... going from half a gig to 2G of RAM will make your RAM problems go away. I run it with 2G RAM on my MBP and never see any troubles.

I am not a gamer, so I have gone for Parallels and VM Fusion.

Having 2Gb of RAM in my MacBook helps - you can allocate more memory to them.

However, finfing 60Gb hard drive a bit restricitng - I have 1Tb on my Windows machine.

So a 160Gb drive may be on order - there are down to about £75 + VAT (sales tax).

neither. what would i need it for besides taking up space on my hard drive?

Just another voice in the crowd saying "whatever works for YOU"
I'm still weighing Parallels and Fusion to see which one I prefer. I'm not a gamer (as far as needing Windows to play my favorite games anyway...all that I play are available on the Mac platform), use the occasional Windows app and Windows Tech Support for family & friends.
BootCamp is serious overkill for those purposes.

Thanks for all your replies folks. An interesting mix.....having given some due thought to it all, I am going to give Parallels another bash now I have increased the ram to 2Gb and see how I get on.

I think that this might be the best option, as I am not gaming either, and only want some specific windows applications.

Thanks again for you words of wisdom.

Celtictricky

what windows apps, if you don't mind me asking?
are you sure there aren't mac equivelants?

I don't see why you wouldn't just with using both! Now that you can load Windows via Bootcamp and then also access Windows via Parallels, it's just as easy to do both if you're buying Parallels. That's my plan of action as soon as my school sells the student license copy of Vista in May.