Bootcamp vs Virtualization

After my imminent switch to a new iMac, I will still have a few programs that I will want to run on Windows:

Quicken (because the Canadian Mac version fares poorly compared to the PC versions.

QuickTax (because there is no Canadian version for the Mac)

Adobe Photoshop CS3 (because I have it and don't want to pay for a Mac version!)

Flight Simulator (same as above)

My question is this: Do I really need Parallels / Fusion or can I run Windows under Bootcamp. I realize that I will to reboot at each switch. How big a deal is that? Can I install Windows under Bootcamp, live with it for a while, and then if I find it unwieldly, get Fusion / Parallels and reinstall Windows? Or should I just forget about Bootcamp, and get F / P?

Any help would be appreciated.

Kevin

I recommend Boot Camp simply because Flight Simulator is not going to run well using VM software. Parallels fares out a bit better at running games than Fusion but IMO is more difficult to setup, however, for best results there is nothing better than running Windows games natively.

Regards.

Kevin_B said:

My question is this: Do I really need Parallels / Fusion or can I run Windows under Bootcamp. I realize that I will to reboot at each switch. How big a deal is that? Can I install Windows under Bootcamp, live with it for a while, and then if I find it unwieldly, get Fusion / Parallels and reinstall Windows? Or should I just forget about Bootcamp, and get F / P?

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You can have both Boot Camp and Parallels/Fusion. I do. If you need the full performance of your computer under Windows then you need to run it natively using Boot Camp but if you have a few lighter programs then it will run fine with Parallels/Fusion. The newer versions of Parallels and Fusion say they can run games without much performance loss but in reality you probably won't like the results.

For example from what you have listed Quicken and QuickTax can be run from Parallels/Fusion while Photoshop and any recent Windows games should be run natively in Windows. If the programs you use in Windows are being used for awhile such a video games then you won't go back and forth between Mac and Windows frequently so it's not annoying to boot into Windows but for software that you want to open quickly for a few minutes it can get annoying to have to restart your computer just to use that one program for a few minutes.

I suggest you start off with Boot Camp since it's free and if you feel you need Parallels/Fusion then you can always get it later. Of course the best solution is to get the Mac version of the software if it's up to your liking.

I'm with EndlessMac on this one. Since Boot Camp is free and will run many games better. Start there first. If you find that you are having to reboot into Windows often, or re-booting is annoying you, then install either Parallels or Fusion.

I installed Boot Camp several months ago and had a few issues with the Windows XP serial number when I tried to install Parallels and Fusion. Recently I have had to run Windows more often and decided rebooting was becoming annoying. I am trying the new versions of both Parallels and Fusion and this time they have both accepted the serial number with no problem.

For the limited tasks I use Windows for both programs will be fine. Both programs are now reading my Boot Camp partition fine so I don't need several Windows partitions.

I would normally agree with both of you (Endless and Slydude) except that the OP says he wants to run Flight Simulator. And I can tell you for a fact that it won't run well in either Parallels or Fusion.

Regards.

chscag said:

I would normally agree with both of you (Endless and Slydude) except that the OP says he wants to run Flight Simulator. And I can tell you for a fact that it won't run well in either Parallels or Fusion.

Regards.

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I did say that games and other demanding software should be run natively in Windows through Boot Camp so we are in agreement.

EndlessMac said:

I did say that games and other demanding software should be run natively in Windows through Boot Camp so we are in agreement.

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So you did. I just wanted to make sure the OP understood that about graphic games. One other thing we all forgot to mention... and that is for simple VM usage (uncomplicated Windows apps) VirtualBox from Sun Microsystems is a good choice. Not as easy to setup as Parallels or Fusion and not as full featured, but it may suffice for his needs. And it's free.

Regards.

Good point about VirtualBox. I have not used it myself but it is another option.