# Parallels or Boot Camp?



## Asirah (Sep 15, 2006)

I want to install Windows XP Professional on my new G5. I've heard of Parallels and Boot Camp but I don't know which one I should use... 

What are the pros and cons of each?


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## VegasACF (May 27, 2005)

Asirah said:


> I want to install Windows XP Professional on my new G5. I've heard of Parallels and Boot Camp but I don't know which one I should use...
> 
> What are the pros and cons of each?


Parallels offers both OSes running at the same time, so no reboots. But little to no video hardware support. If you're wanting to play games or do anything that requires direct I/O between the OS and the video card you'll not want to go with this.

BootCamp basically allows the Mac OS to create a Windows partition and create a Mac-specific hardware drivers disc to be created, as well as do whatever is required to get around the BIOS bits. Once you run BootCamp it does nothing. When you boot into Windows you are doing it natively. That means direct hardware support, not Windows-through-Mac OS hardware support (which is somewhat similar to the way Virtual PC handles it, though there are differences, mind you).

If the thought of going through about one minute of reboot time (and the trouble of holding down the Option key upon restart) bothers you (and you're not going to be playing vid card-intensive games) go with Parallels. If you want to be able to run Windows as if you were running a non-Mac Intel machine go with BootCamp.


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## Pensacola Tiger (Apr 23, 2006)

Asirah said:


> I want to install Windows XP Professional on my new G5. I've heard of Parallels and Boot Camp but I don't know which one I should use...
> 
> What are the pros and cons of each?


On a G5, neither one is an option, as they both require an Intel based Mac.

If you want to run Windows XP on a G5, you will need to buy Microsoft's Virtual PC for Mac.


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## tedwinder (Sep 7, 2005)

Aren't there intel-based G5's?


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## Pensacola Tiger (Apr 23, 2006)

No.


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## VegasACF (May 27, 2005)

Oops! Good catch. I missed the G5 part. 

Nope. No Intel-based G5s. Only the MacBook, MacBook Pro and Mac Pro series have Intel processors and are capable of running Windows natively. The original poster's only option is to run Windows in Microsoft's Virtual PC environment. And, as someone with firsthand experience with VPC, I can tell you that's not much of an option.


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## Pensacola Tiger (Apr 23, 2006)

_Only the MacBook, MacBook Pro and Mac Pro series have Intel processors..._

Well, don't forget the iMac and Mac Mini.


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## VegasACF (May 27, 2005)

Oh yeah. :blush:

I'm really not on my game today! My team's losing. That's why. Yeah, sure. That's it.


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## Nameisnobody (Oct 3, 2006)

Are they worth buying in your opinion?
I was told that the Mac has other programs that do the same thing as PC based programs.
But no Visual Basics tho, which I need, oh well.


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## VegasACF (May 27, 2005)

Are _what_ worth buying? Intel-based Macs? I love mine. I'm currently running Windows XP on it (for a work-related reason), but more often than not boot up into Mac OS. Either is equally stable.


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## Nameisnobody (Oct 3, 2006)

To VegasACF.

I was talking about the parallel and boot camp programs, are they worth your money?
Also as I said before aren't there similar programs that the Mac has, that's as good as the PC version?


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## Pensacola Tiger (Apr 23, 2006)

Well, Boot Camp is a free download from Apple, while Parallels Desktop costs ~$80 if I recall correctly. There is a big difference in how they work, though. Boot Camp requires that you reboot the Mac to get to Windows while Parallels Desktop allows you to run Windows as a process under OS X, so there is no need to reboot.

Parallels Desktop also supports several different versions of Windows, while Boot Camp has official support for Windows XP Pro only.

Keep in mind that you will have to buy a legitimate version of Windows no matter which program you wind up with.


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## tedwinder (Sep 7, 2005)

VegasACF said:


> Oops! Good catch. I missed the G5 part.
> 
> Nope. No Intel-based G5s. Only the MacBook, MacBook Pro and Mac Pro series have Intel processors and are capable of running Windows natively. The original poster's only option is to run Windows in Microsoft's Virtual PC environment. And, as someone with firsthand experience with VPC, I can tell you that's not much of an option.


These are Intel, right?


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## Nameisnobody (Oct 3, 2006)

Ah so Bootcamp is downloaded from Apple eh?

But someone told me that if (but rarely) your Mac blows up (not literally) because of Bootcamp, you wont get any help from Apple, cause its a beta software, and Microsoft, they dont want MS workin on a Mac (maybe, someone told me). So is it true?
Does boot camp really do that or is it an extremely rare thing to happen?

I was just plannin to do all my necessary work on the Mac side and use the Windows side as a game centre because of the ability to partition a drive for your Windows which takes advantage of your video card unlike Parallels.


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## VegasACF (May 27, 2005)

Nameisnobody said:


> Ah so Bootcamp is downloaded from Apple eh?


Yes. And it will be part of the OS when Leopard comes out. Or Ocelot. Or Manx. Or whatever they're going to be calling it.



Nameisnobody said:


> But someone told me that if (but rarely) your Mac blows up (not literally) because of Bootcamp, you wont get any help from Apple, cause its a beta software, and Microsoft, they dont want MS workin on a Mac (maybe, someone told me). So is it true?
> Does boot camp really do that or is it an extremely rare thing to happen?


I don't know how a piece of software could cause such a thing. Worst case scenario is you have to reinstall everything from scratch. Good thing you always back up your data. You _do_ back up your data, right?

I've been using Bootcamp and Windows XP Pro for the many months I've had my MacBook Pro. No problems whatsoever here.



Nameisnobody said:


> I was just plannin to do all my necessary work on the Mac side and use the Windows side as a game centre because of the ability to partition a drive for your Windows which takes advantage of your video card unlike Parallels.


Indeed.


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## Nameisnobody (Oct 3, 2006)

Well, since its a fairly new Mac, I have'nt backed up any data yet?
But, how do you back up data on a Mac?

Also for the people just planning to use the XP side as just a gaming centre, is it necessary to still install anti-virus and spyware programs on it, despit the fact that your not planning to go online with your XP?

I'm trying to take everything into consideration you know.


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## Pensacola Tiger (Apr 23, 2006)

<< But, how do you back up data on a Mac? >>

I use SuperDuper.

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html


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## Nameisnobody (Oct 3, 2006)

Pensacola Tiger said:


> << But, how do you back up data on a Mac? >>
> 
> I use SuperDuper.
> 
> http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html


Looks interesting. How long does the trial version last? Is it necessary to buy the full version? Can I buy Super Duper at my local Bestbuys or electronics store?

Also, is there any other software to back up data on a Mac, or is Super Duper the best one out of all of them?


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## Pensacola Tiger (Apr 23, 2006)

Nameisnobody said:


> Looks interesting. How long does the trial version last? Is it necessary to buy the full version? Can I buy Super Duper at my local Bestbuys or electronics store?
> 
> Also, is there any other software to back up data on a Mac, or is Super Duper the best one out of all of them?


The link I gave you has the answers to your questions:

_You can download SuperDuper! v2.1.3 right now and back up and clone your drives for free  forever!_

You can also pay to unlock the advanced features:

_...scheduling, Smart Update (which saves a lot of time), Sandboxes, scripting and more!_

There are probably other backup solutions out there, but I've found SuperDuper to be more than adequate for me.


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## computer_nut (Feb 24, 2006)

If you have a G5 mac, you will not be able to use either Boot Camp or Parallels because those apps both require a Intel mac and your mac is a PowerPC mac...don't fret though, you can run Windows for free on your mac using this free pc emulator here: http://www.kju-app.org/ (and I've tried it and it works great, basically a MacOS X port of the Qemu emulator...)


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## Nameisnobody (Oct 3, 2006)

It is strongly recommended to Back up your computer before I download a program like Boot Camp right?

And also I was thinking how much will Boot Camp partition the space between Mac and Windows?


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## computer_nut (Feb 24, 2006)

Boot Camp is intel _only_ ><


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## VegasACF (May 27, 2005)

Which won't be a problem for him, since he says he has an Intel-based Mac.


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