Which is better - Boot Camp or Parallels?

I'm planning on getting a macbook pro and I wanted to run windows programs (some games for instance). Which is better to use, boot camp or parallels? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

 

Boot Camp allows windows to run natively on your mac without hinderance, so that is the best option for power intensive tasks(gaming, intensive programs, etc.). In between os changes you do have to restart the computer though.

Parallels runs windows in a virtual machine within os x. This means you can run both at the same time, but windows won't have access to gfx or enough ram/cpu power making intensive programs pretty useless(or at least bogged down). It does make transferring files and running basic windows programs alot easier and closer to multi platform.

 

Boot Camp is advantageous because you're running Windows natively, whereas Parellels provides a virtualization of Windows (a little more CPU-intensive).

The benefit of Parellels is that to use Windows, you don't need to reboot the machine (to boot into Windows), but instead can stay in Mac OS X. The downside to that is that virtualization is somewhat taxing on the system (though this shouldn't be an issue, unless you're mostly needing Windows for games).

A downside to Parallels Desktop for Mac was that you couldn't do any gaming in it (what you mentioned), but it now supports DirectX 8.1 so older games should certainly play. Newer ones that need DirectX 9, I assume, probably won't work...in addition, you're suffering by virtualizing a Windows machine instead of just booting into a partition that runs Windows on physical hardware.

I would say that if the majority of the Windows programs you wanted to run were games, using Boot Camp would be the better option just because running Windows natively will allow for the best performance. While Parallels would be convenient for seamless Mac OS X/Windows use, games would be a bit better on a native Windows install.

 

If you can afford the performance hit, run Parallels. The ease of use greatly outweighs the slight performance hit. However, some programs need all of the power they can get. In that case use Boot Camp.

 

Check this out:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rN9jNNeEd98

 

and via parallels, you an use your bootcamp partition, so I suggest you do:

install bootcamp
install parallels and use the bootcamp partition. That way, you can use parallels if you just need to use it for small stuff or programs. Use bootcamp if you would like to use more intensive taskes.

 

exactly what I am thinking of doing! When I asked a sales rep at the Apple store, he said something about it not working quite as well when using windows via parallels from the boot camp partition, as opposed to a 'true' virtual installation. The place was mobbed and I couldnt get a better answer out of him...anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

I think that bootcamp is better. Actually the new OS Leopard include bootcamp in it so there is no need to buy the software if you can wait till October, which is the due date for Leopard.

 

uhh you don't have to buy bootcamp currently either. it is free.

 

I tried Parallels and VMware Fusion and I prefer Fusion. I prefer either of those over Bootcamp for one simple reason. I can run both Mac OS and Windows at the same time. I have the best of both worlds. Unless you absolutely need to run Windows stand-alone (games or say max CPU for rendering) I would suggest using one of the emulators. You can d/l either for free and check them out. Both are the same price of $39 for a limited time if you decide to buy one. It's a bargain if you ask me.

When you use an emulator you don't see much of a performance hit. Everything runs practically as fast emulated on my MBP as it does on my Thinkpad. With Parallels Coherence or Fusion's Unity running Windows apps act and behave like Mac apps. It's very cool.

My suggestion would be to try them out and see which one you like best.

 

when you use parallels do you need to install drivers like you do with bootcamp?

 

Once out of beta, you will unless you upgrade to Leopard. Tiger users will have to pay $29.

Where are you seeing this? I just went to Parallels site and it is still $79.99.

 

My bad, I guess the price went up. I just checked VMware and they still have the $39 sale. I guess Fusion is looking even sweeter now.