>In article <jollyroger-8BCA04.13181427072008@news.individual.net>, >Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> wrote: > >> You'll enjoy the upgrade immensly, I think. : ) > >I did buy a Macbook Pro and I'm sure once I get it set up I will be >extremely pleased. Especially with more processor speed and increased >RAM. I've upgraded to 4gig RAM. > >> If you wish to use Boot Camp, you should know that it will require that >> you restart your Mac to boot into Windows, and restart again to boot >> back into Mac OS X. With Boot Camp, Windows applications cannot run >> along side Mac OS X applications. >> >> There are alternative solutions to Boot Camp <snip> > >I did read up that I need to use Boot Camp in order to set up. I also >read about Paraells and VMFusion. I purchased a copy of VMWare Fusion. > >How much HD space should be used to partition for Windows? > >> Virtualization solutions have one major caveat: While they run most >> Windows applications at full speed just as if you were booted into >> Windows (and sometimes even faster!), neither offers much support in the >> way of hardware-accelerated 3D video. This means that Windows >> applications that use hardware acceleration will not perform as well as >> they would if you booted directly into Windows with Boot Camp. The good >> news is the two classes of Windows applications that require 3D video >> acceleration are Windows games and CAD/3D modeling applications. If you >> don't plan on running such applications, I highly recommend you consider >> using a virtualization solution to run Windows for the obvious benefits >> - mainly not having to reboot or partition hard drives. > >I have no plans on playing gams or using CAD/3D software. I've never >been much of a gamer, even on the Mac. So it sounds like VMWare Fusion >will work well. > >Thanks though for the additional information. If I should decide to run >any game programs in the future, I'll remember to boot directly into >Windows from Boot Camp. > >> Feature-wise, the two are very similar. In general, I've found that >> vmWare Fusion is more no-frills and is compatible with more USB devices, >> while Parallels offers more eye candy, such as the spinning cube >> animation similar to what you see when you use fast user switching in >> Mac OS X. > >I read up on both and came to conclusion that VMWare Fusion sounded >like the way to go. Thanks for your input on the two. > >> You'll find most will tell you Windows XP - hands down - because it >> performs better and does not utilize as much of the hardware to do the >> same work. But you should also consider the system requirements of >> whatever Windows applications you plan to run. If one or more require >> Vista, you may be stuck with running Vista. > >Yes, so far all PC people I know say XP. But now I wonder if Pro or >Home. Have no idea what the difference is besides price. > >Amazing how many versions of Windows OS compared to how Mac OS releases >are handled. Pretty crazy! > >> It may be that some of these supposed Windows-only CDs are not actually >> Windows-only. If you give us a list, we can tell you more. > >They are indeed only Windows only. I tried opening on Mac and the only >files on them are EXE files. They are Pharmacy Technician Study CDs, >and also some study and informational CDs from specific hospitals and >retail pharmacies. > >Thanks again for your input, it's much appreciated!
Strictly speaking, you don't need BootCamp to use VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop, but I see several advantages to use it. First, your data is on a real disk partition instead of a simulated disk partition, and this is a good measure to protect your data, the most valuable asset in your computer. Real disk partitions are the standard way where any operating system store valuable data.
Secondly, real disk partitions are faster than simulated disk partitions, and they need less care to optimize them. I don't have years of experience using VMWare Fusion for Mac, but I have a lot of years of experience using VMWare for other platforms, and in order to have a good disk access in their simulated disk partitions you should periodically do a compacting and defragmenting process on them. And these processes aren't without any risk.
Finally, real disk partitions don't disturb Apple's Time Machine (Apple's backup on OSX), and simulated disk partitions (which are simple OSX files) do, unless you explicitly exclude them in Time Machine's settings.
Thanks Juan I. Cahis Santiago de Chile (South America) Note: Please forgive me for my bad English, I am trying to improve it!
