Best Windows emulator?

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Now that I've gotten a Mac, I'd like to get an emulator so that I can run Windows XP as well, as I've heard so much about. There are a ton out there, so I thought I'd just come on here and get a few recommendations. Your thoughts?
 
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Hey Sims,

Welcome to the Forums.

I personally use Parallels on my MacBook and it works real good. The install was painless, just click 1 button and in under 1 hour windows xp was up and running.

It works well if u wanna multi task without the reboot of the Mac to switch between Mac OS X and Windows XP, unlike Boot Camp which makes u reboot to do the switch. But then again, with parallels there is no support for Direct X which limits u wen it comes to gaming, so that depends on ur prefrences and purpose of using windows on Mac.

Cheers
 
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The two big players are Parallels, as mentioned, and VMWare workstation. I have lots of experience with VMWare on Linux, but I run Parallels on my personal Macbook to do Windows like things. They are very similar in what, and how they do to give you a 'Windows in a window' thing.

VMWare claims that they will be adding 3D support but I am not sure where they are regarding that, or how well the performance of any 3D apps would be in any case. Games are at the bleeding edge as it is.

Parallels Desktop, however, works very nicely for any of my Windows needs.
 
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There are a ton out there, so I thought I'd just come on here and get a few recommendations. Your thoughts?


A Ton? Like what?

I've heard of a few, but a ton?

If you're on an Intel Mac, why emulate when the real thing is better?
 

cwa107


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Now that I've gotten a Mac, I'd like to get an emulator so that I can run Windows XP as well, as I've heard so much about. There are a ton out there, so I thought I'd just come on here and get a few recommendations. Your thoughts?

Your options are Parallels, if you want to run Windows in a virtual machine or Boot Camp, if you don't. Parallels runs around $80 + the cost of Windows (you'll need a retail or non-vendor-specific copy of Windows XP - and no, you can't use one that you've already installed on another machine). Boot Camp is a public Beta that is free.

If you're running a PPC (non-Intel) Mac, your only option is Virtual PC.
 
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there are only 3 choices for intel macs (which I assume you got since you stated you got it recently) and they are:
1. Parallels
2. VMWare Fusion
3. Bootcamp

I have used all 3 of them, the most satisfying is probably Bootcamp, since I basically only play games on my XP =P
 
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What kind of applications do you intend to be running under windows?

For basic stuff and not 3d hardcore apps (like games), I would go with Paralles Desktop, as you can use it while running OS X, without the need to reboot your computer and do a dedicated boot for the selected OS.
 
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there are only 3 choices for intel macs (which I assume you got since you stated you got it recently) and they are:
1. Parallels
2. VMWare Fusion
3. Bootcamp

I have used all 3 of them, the most satisfying is probably Bootcamp, since I basically only play games on my XP =P

Thank you, those are the only 3 I could think of.
 

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