Windows OS in Macs

rhazeman · #1 July 18th, 2007, 09:33 AM

Is it possible to install & run software native to Windows i.e. AutoCad in Macs with Windows OS?

Qion · #2 July 18th, 2007, 09:39 AM

Yes, with Parallels 3.

ElDiabloConCaca · #3 July 18th, 2007, 10:10 AM

...or via BootCamp on the Intel-based Macintosh computers.

Of course, you would still need to install a valid, licensed version of Windows XP (or Vista, or 2000, or...) just like you would need to on a regular Windows PC if you wanted to run Windows programs.

Parallels (or VMWare Fusion) allows you to install the Windows operating system into a virtual hard drive, then run that Windows installation alongside the Mac OS, so you're effectively running two operating systems at once on you Intel-based Macintosh. The upside is that there is no need to reboot between OSs.

BootCamp allows you to install Windows as well, but you would need to reboot between OSs in order to use them -- they don't run at the same time like with virtualization software (Parallels, VMWare).

rhazeman · #4 July 18th, 2007, 11:01 AM

Whats the Ups n Downs for both BootCamp and Parallels? i.e. Is it safer to boot before using the 'other' OS or having both OS's running 'parallel' with each other wont affect the 'host'

sirstaunch · #5 July 18th, 2007, 11:10 AM

Parallels works inside OSX so NO need to restart the computer to go between OSX then Windows. BootCamp you have to restart to get to either OSX or Windogs each time

**Giaguara** · #6 July 18th, 2007, 01:16 PM

Also with Fusion you have the virtual OS.. Windows will take little space as it will only expand as much as needed (and you set the maximum space it can take). The virtual os loads very fast, and as said you have no need to reboot the system to use Windows applications. Furthermore all drivers that work for Mac will work on the guest OS, and if you have anything that will need Windows drivers to work, you can use those devices under the guest OS.

If you make a Boot Camp partition for Windows, it's a fixed size and you can't use Mac applications on the same time. If you decide it's 20 GB it's 20 GB no matter what. But in VM it's the maximum space you decide - and it can take 2 GB only if all your files and vm system fit in that. Both in Fusion and in Parallels you can use Boot Camp existing partition and system too.

MisterMe · #7 July 19th, 2007, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giaguara

Also with Fusion you have the virtual OS.. Windows will take little space as it will only expand as much as needed (and you set the maximum space it can take). ....

Don't forget that with Boot Camp, your computer is a Windows computer with an Apple logo. It is subject to all of Windows's security issues. OTOH, if one of the virtual solutions becomes corrupted, then you more protection and easier recovery.

artov · #8 July 19th, 2007, 02:49 PM

I have not used virtual machines on Mac (I still have Powerbook G4), but
what have I used, they (mainly VMWare) are on some cases (like net)
almost as fast as real thing, but on some cases they are quite slow.

There is some funny stuff with VMWare running Windows on Windows: on some cases the clock runs slower, upto days. This makes programming quite hard, since the IDE does not know what files are changed. Also it mixes some databases quite funny.