Parallels & Windows 7 x64

Hi folks, I have bought a copy of Parallals 6 as I need to run sage and sold my windows based machines. Now I am a relative mac novice hence the purchase of parallels, but I have a questions.

I just upgraded the RAM in my MBP spec as per my avatar to 8gb so thats fine there.

What I want to know is if I use my copy of Windows 7 Home, will it make a difference that its a 64 bit version? I also have the 32 bit version, therefore I am asking before I go ahead and do this !!!

Thanks, this forum has been a wealth of info for me during my transition to mac, and I thank you for that.

I have W7 Home 32 bit installed for my accounting and it works just fine.

Windows 7 x 64 uses more resources than the 32 bit version but overall is solid and will "see" and use all your memory. The 32 bit version of Windows 7 will only use around 3.6 GB of system memory regardless of how much you have.

Thanks guys ... I will just use the x64 version then, no point having all the ram and not seeing / using it.

Thanks again for your help

Being a noob, and since I will be installing on Wednesday, does parallels create a partition and if so what would you recommend for Windows 7 and Sage accounts to keep for itself ??? I currently have 149Gb left on this 500gb drive !!!

Parallels is not the Boot Camp Assistant. It does not create a partition but rather it creates a "virtual" hard drive of the proper size for the operating system you're installing. That virtual hard drive and its options are contained in a very large file that is used by Parallels. It's all done within OS X which is why the need to reboot as in Boot Camp is not required.

Parallels will expand the virtual hard drive as needed. If Sage takes up a large amount of space, Parallels will adjust accordingly.

SO in effect then .... windows 7 becomes an App ??? kind of ?

Yes, sort of. I guess you could call it a "virtual app".