best way to run XP?

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What would be the best method to run Windows on a 2.2ghz MacBook with 4 gigs of ram? Parallels , Bootcam, or other....
 
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I have parallels and I really like it. :) No experience with the others. But I didn't want bootcamp because you need to reboot to choose either mac OS or win.

AFAIK VMware does the same as parallels.
 
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I have Fusion and I really like it. :D

Okay, well it really depends what you need to do with it. With 4G of RAM, you'll have no trouble running Windows with Fusion or Parallels. The only problem would be if you want to play 3D games. Personally I prefer emulation since I can switch back and forth between Windows and OS X easily without having to restart. But if you want games, you'll need Bootcamp.
 
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Best way to run Windows is to not ;P
 
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I have 2GB RAM and it doesn't make my macbook slow, but it does get much noisier.
 
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essentially, if you are doing processor heavy things (photoshop, games, etc...) go with bootcamp, but with 4GB of ram, parallels should be fine.
 
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What would be the best method to run Windows on a 2.2ghz MacBook with 4 gigs of ram? Parallels , Bootcam, or other....

Do you really need Windows? Since this is a MacBook we are talking about, I will guess that the applications that are still driving you back to Windows are not games. So, perhaps an alternate approach is to ask what it is that you are trying to do that you presently need Windows for. Perhaps we can help you find out a Mac native way of doing the same thing.

Like Kash said, the BEST way to run Windows is not to! :D
 

Neo


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What would be the best method to run Windows on a 2.2ghz MacBook with 4 gigs of ram? Parallels , Bootcam, or other....

You must want to run Windows for a good reason. When I switched, I used Windows a lot, because I didn't know which software was available for Mac and I didn't know how to use a lot of what software I knew was available for Mac. NOW I love OS X and prefer to use Mac, but still need to use Windows from time to time. The handiest (best) way IMO is Fusion. No reboot is necessary, it's fast and stable, and more feature-rich. I love the ability to sleep (suspend) my Windows machine and close Fusion. When I open Fusion next, BAM, there's Windows. Virtually no boot time (10 seconds, maybe?) With you having so much RAM, Fusion is probably the way to go. Even with image processing, I'll bet it'd be fast enough.

One caveat to the above: when you install Windows virtually, you've got to realize that EVERYTHING Windows-related is in actuality one huge file on your HD. So you won't be able to backup to a FAT32 external drive, for example. Also if your drive gets corrupted, it's bye-bye Windows (and Windows apps and Windows files).

There are two ways around this: first, save all files to the Mac HD, rather than the Windows My Documents folder (or what have you). Fusion bridges data between Windows and OS X, so you can seamlessly access "both" hard drive structures. This also holds for Clipboard functions. You can copy from a Windows app and paste into a Mac app. So that's one way around it; if you save all files to Mac HD, if your drive goes bad, you still have important files.
The second way around is to use BootCamp to partition your drive and install Windows, but then use Fusion to run your BootCamp partition from within OS X. This has the benefit of separate Windows files. If something corrupts, it is compartmentalized from everything else. With this method you can also choose to boot natively from your BootCamp partition if the need arises (e.g., you want to use both processors and all of your RAM on Windows tasks). The only thing you lose here is the ability to suspend your virtual machine from inside OS X, since with a bootable partition, it would be easy to corrupt if it was suspended and then booted. That's not THAT big of a deal; you just have longer startup times for Windows (still less than a minute on my MacBook).

I shied away from Parallels because of reports of slowness, instability and just overall feature-anemia. Yes, it's been around longer than Fusion and is more well-known, but those attributes don't make software better. I mean, look at Microsoft Word!

Does that answer your question?
 
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Thanks for this thread.
My son has to have some special software for his dyslexia.I discovered that this only runs on a PC. So I was thinking of going the Bootcamp route. When I purchase a Macbook for him.
This thread has answered a few questions for me

Just one more. Can you install fusion on a Mac already with XP installed (Sorry if I'm a bit dim here)
 

Neo


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I assuming you installed the XP using BootCamp? If so, yes.
When you start Fusion, you will see the Boot Camp partition and have the option of having Fusion virtually run Windows from there.
Everything else you need to know can be found in Fusion's Help. Search for "Boot Camp" there.
 
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Thanks . The Macbook isn't in house as yet . Thanks once again for the advice
I have to spread my rep around .. So virt rep to you lads.. :D
 

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