Mac Pro Users Feedback on Parallels?

ScottW

ScottW

Founder
Staff member
I have come to a point that I need regular access to a Windows machine for various functions. Don't need it full-time, although if I had a dedicated machine running Windows, I'd probably run some other apps I like which only run on Windows, like weather monitoring software, etc.

I have run Parallels on a Dual Core Mac Mini 2gb RAM and quite honestly, it works pretty good. I've installed Vista on Bootcamp, and it works just fine. However, I don't want to have to be rebooting all the time to do a 2 minute test of how something renders in IE.

When running XP in Parallels (set at 512 RAM) my system runs pretty good, as long as I don't have anything but IE open. Ideally, I'd prefer just using a VM for Windows and was looking/waiting for a Mac Pro and figured the extra power and added RAM might make it the perfect setup.

But, I am looking for feedback on those with a Mac Pro, with 2-4GB of RAM, and what your experience is with it. Can you leave it running in the background without feeling the "effect" of it in your Mac OS X application and environment, or would you prefer just to have a dedicated Windows box if it came down to it?
 
You might want to take a look at VMWare Fusion which is out in Beta at the moment and free to download. Unlike Parallels you can resrict it to use only 1 core on a Core Duo based Mac to limit its impact on system speed when it is running.
 
I have a MBP with 2Gb of RAM. I run WinXP via Parallels on a separate desktop (VirtueDesktops). I keep the Windows machine up pretty much all the time although I used it sparingly and for only a few tasks (financial stuff, software testing). Works great. No noticeable impact on my day-to-day workflow.
 
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