What do I need to run Win on my new iMac

I've just bought a 27" quadcore iMac and starting to get into it now after 3 weeks.

Unfortunately I still have two programs I need to use Windows for.

I am confused what I need to do next.

I fancy Parallel 5 but it looks like I still have to load Windows - should I use XP or Win7.

Any advice greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance.

JohnMak

Well XP or Win7 is your personal choice and as for how to load it, you have BootCamp already on your 27"

If you told us what 2 windows programs you need, we could makke a better assumption on either BootCamp, VMFusion or Parallels ..

More info is always helpful

Cheers

EDIT: Have you researched to see if the 2 Win programs have a Mac compatible version or one that is similar ??

Hi TattoeedMac.
Wow, thanks for the quick response. I only just posted 5 minutes ago.

1. DataCad 10
2. Quicken.
3. MySportTraining and My Personal Diet desktop

No worries mate.
Well i dare say there is no Mac compatible so yes installing windows looks like the go.
I dont personally use Win on my Mac and you will get different opinions on both VM and parallels.
With those two once all loaded up you will have Windows on there just like having a user account set up, where you can Quick Switch between the 2.
With BootCamp you have to log out of Snow Leopard then log into BC.
The good thing about BC is all your CPU is there for you to use as you arnt running the Mac OS.
With the other 2 when you open Windows, your system CPU is working with both OS's ... And looking at which programs you will be running DataCad 10 looks like it will use a lot of CPU ...
Well thats a little insight, and hopefully someone else will come in and let you know about the 2 Virtual s ... Hope it helped in someway mate

Cheers

Also, lots of good info here:

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/wi...4239-running-windows-mac-switchers-guide.html

Can't speak for the quad core, but I have a 24" dual core duo iMac and I run VMWare for the one app I need from windows. When it is booted, I give it one core (you can do that or let it float as it demands). I don't notice any slowdown on either side when I do that but my one app is not a heavy graphic demand like DataCad is likely to be. The nice thing about virtualization is that I don't have to put on any antivirus stuff. What I did was do a clean install of XP, then installed my one app and took a snapshot of that clean machine. Now, if it gets corrupted for any reason (virus or self inflicted) I just whack the bad version and restore the snapshot. No reinstall, no hassle. I do move my critical data files to the iMac filestore (drag and drop from one desktop to the other) so that if I do lose the XP image I don't lose my critical data.

Works for me.

Re: the question of Windows XP versus Windows 7, I urge you to go with XP. XP is a known quantity, its strengths and weaknesses are well documented, and if I understand you correctly then you are installing XP to support applications you were using before he switched to Macintosh. I would consider it anachronistic to install the latest Microsoft OS to support legacy applications.

Also, XP has a smaller memory footprint. This is important if you choose to run XP from within Mac OS.

Many thanks guys for all the advice. I think I have a handle on it now.

It's a real bummer having to put Windows on the iMac. I was trying so hard to get away from it.

But I can't find any alternative Architectural Drafting software to replace DataCad.
I found ArchiCad but it is eye wateringly expensive.
I'm trialling Money Dance as a replacement for Quicken. It's not too bad but it's not Quicken.
I have just been searching and found that VidaOne have released MySport Training and Diet for iPhone but the desktop part still requires to run under Windows. What a bugger.

SpinningCompass said:

Re: the question of Windows XP versus Windows 7, I urge you to go with XP. XP is a known quantity, its strengths and weaknesses are well documented, and if I understand you correctly then you are installing XP to support applications you were using before he switched to Macintosh. I would consider it anachronistic to install the latest Microsoft OS to support legacy applications.

Also, XP has a smaller memory footprint. This is important if you choose to run XP from within Mac OS.

Click to expand...

TKs spinner

I had a similar question about which os is best to install on ios 6 and your answer saved me a a lot of grief. I might add that it is a MUST not to use a copy of windows. It just doesn't work and leads to all sorts of problems; freeezing up the computer, etc. I had to learn the hard way.

For what it is worth go with Windows 7 64bit. XP will not install on a new iMac.

huguy8 said:

I had a similar question about which os is best to install on ios 6 and your answer saved me a a lot of grief. I might add that it is a MUST not to use a copy of windows. It just doesn't work and leads to all sorts of problems; freeezing up the computer, etc. I had to learn the hard way.

Click to expand...

The above makes no sense.... you can not install anything on iOS6 since it's not an operating system made for Mac computers, but rather Apple mobile devices.

FYI, Quicken has a Mac version. I don't know how up to date it is. I've been using Quicken for Mac ver 2008 for a long while.