Parallels - need a virtual PC

[sredish]

Going to use a virtual PC solution on some of my macs but I have a couple questions I can't find answers to on the company's site.

1) Will this work on most Macs (i.e. newer Intel Macbook, G4 Powerbook, etc.)? I know they're still working on the latest Macbook Pro but don't have one of those.

2) Is Parallels simply a BIOS allowing you to purchase and install the OS you want?

3) Is there a simpler solution than Parallels?

Parallel does seem like a pretty simple solution, simpler than Virtual PC which is what I'm currently using on my Powerbook.

Thanks for any help.

Scott

[eric2006]

Parallels will only run on intel macs, and only "emulate" intel systems. VirtualPC emulates an intel system on a PowerPC system. Parallels will not work on your PowerBook. Parallels will run windows on top of OS X. Boot Camp, Apple's solution, allows you to install windows as if your mac was a PC.

[sredish]

Originally Posted by eric2006

Parallels will only run on intel macs, and only "emulate" intel systems. VirtualPC emulates an intel system on a PowerPC system. Parallels will not work on your PowerBook. Parallels will run windows on top of OS X. Boot Camp, Apple's solution, allows you to install windows as if your mac was a PC.

Thanks. I'll keep Virtual PC on my Powerbook and install the XP onto Parallel for the Macbook. Already have the trial key for Parallel, just need to 1) purchase the full key and 2) get Windows to install on it.

I am correct in that it's a BIOS setup and I would purchase an XP license and install it onto the Parallel BIOS, right?

[wraith77]

Yes you are correct. You need an XP installation CD, and you'd run Parallels, and then install Windows XP within Parallels.

[sredish]

hey, it's only more money and i'm sure everyone loves giving it to microsoft........

[fryke]

Not correct as it's *NOT* some kind of BIOS. It runs like VirtualPC - only it doesn't have to emulate the processor. Rather, it uses the processor's virtualisation features, so processes are run natively at full speed. However most other devices are simulated. So you won't get full graphics, nor will you get a fullspeed HD (you'll use a disk image, just like VPC on your PPC Macs).

A "BIOS" solution... Apple's BootCamp would do something like that. You'd install Windows XP SP2 as a secondary OS on the MacBook. (read about BootCamp, partitioning, driver CD etc. on Apple's site...) The main advantage of BootCamp is that you'll *really* boot into Windows XP SP2, and the OS would have access to the hardware, i.e. graphics would be native as well.
The main advantage of Parallels, of course, is that you can run both OSs side by side (or rather Windows within Mac OS X), so you don't have to close all your Mac applications and reboot.