Windows on Mac Q&A - Updated December 3, 2006

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Before buying the sofware.I`m using window xp service pack 2.My question is that can i install WMware Fusion in windows xp so that it will convert into Mac os x system and can i run all mac application in windows xp with the help of WMware Fusion.Is there any other software which can convert windows xp windows 7 or window vista into mac and i can run all windows (PC) application on mac.Please tell me all this things if yes so i will buy it and please tell the price also.Thank you. Parallels Desktop for Mac allows you to seamlessly run both Windows and Mac OS X applications side-by-side with speed, control and confidence. Click below for frequently asked questions, documentation and other helpful tools to get the answers you need. Install Windows on your Mac using Parallels Desktop The articles created most recently 'Publishing' related settings are not being replicated across multiple sites. Parallels Desktop for Mac allows you to seamlessly run both Windows and Mac OS X applications side-by-side with speed, control and confidence. Click below for frequently asked questions, documentation and other helpful tools to get the answers you need. I read through your splendid tutorial on installing Windows XP with Apple’s Boot Camp product (see boot camp help) but that’s not for me. I don’t want to have to reboot each time I want to try something out with a Windows app on my Mac. I’ve read about something called the Parallels Desktop. I am running Windows XP on Parallels, and I am having trouble getting my iSight to work on XP. Does anyone have any ideas before I call Tech Support? Macbook Mac OS X (10.4.9) Parallels: Linux-Ubuntu and Windows XP.

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How fast is a Mac running Windows XP using Parallels compared to Boot Camp?

Please note that this answer specifically refers to the first version of Parallels Desktop for Mac, and the company has released improved versions since this answer was written. Nevertheless, in general terms, one can expect the performance of 'virtualized' software, such as Parallels Desktop for Mac or VMWare Fusion, to be less than that of a native operating system running via Boot Camp. However, virtualized software can be considerably more convenient for tasks that do not require maximum performance.

Also see: How does the performance of Parallels Desktop for Mac 5 compare to VMWare Fusion 3? How does the performance compare for productivity applications? How does it compare for games?

Parallels says that the Desktop for Mac software provides 'near-native performance', rather than the full speed of a 'dual-boot' configuration.

A ZDNet article published the day that Desktop for Mac was released in its final version quoted a systems administrator at Canada's University of Waterloo who said that 'the performance in Parallels was within 1 to 2 percent of [Boot Camp].'

Oct 15, 2018  Home Forums > Parallels Desktop for Mac > Installation and Configuration > Unable to increase memory (RAM) to VM Discussion in ' Installation and Configuration ' started by NickL6. Shut down your virtual machine. Open virtual machine's configuration window > Hardware > CPU & Memory; Set the required amount of RAM by entering a number manually or moving the slider: NOTE: We highly recommend to keep the slider within the recommended range. Assigning more RAM than recommended may cause severe performance degradation of both Mac and virtual machine. Feb 17, 2012  Click in the “wrench” icon at the bottom of the VM window or get to the VM Machine List from the main Parallels Windows Menu, right-click on the machine from the list and choose configure. The main memory allocation is on the General tab. Memoy of mac for parallels. With Parallels Desktop, you can switch between Mac and Windows without ever needing to reboot your computer. If you have already installed Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, or Windows 7 on your Mac using Boot Camp, you can set Parallels Desktop to run Windows from the Boot Camp Partition or import Windows and your data from Boot Camp into Parallels Desktop as a new virtual machine. Even though Parallels Desktop can swap some amount of the virtual machine's memory to the disk thus making the total amount of memory available for the virtual machine even bigger than the total size of the physical RAM installed on the Mac, the amount of the virtual machine's memory that cannot be swapped to the disk will always be not less than about 30% of the total memory assigned to the.

Real-world tests released more recently from C Net and MacWorld show that Parallels Desktop for Mac is not quite that fast, but nevertheless remarkable compared to the performance of emulation software.

C Net tested the performance of Windows XP running via Parallels and Boot Camp on a MacBook Pro 'Core Duo' 2.16 17-Inch with 2 GB of RAM. The reviewer setup a 10 GB partition for Windows XP with Boot Camp and a 20 GB virtual disk with Parallels.

In an unspecified series of Photoshop CS 2 'image processing tests', C Net reported that Parallels performed the tasks in 604 seconds, compared to 501 seconds for the same tests running in MacOS X via 'Rosetta' and 278 seconds running natively in Windows XP with Boot Camp. For Microsoft Office 2003, which is only available for Windows (Office 2004 is available for MacOS X, although it is not 'native' for Intel-based systems), the reviewer remarked that 'Boot Camp ran the test almost 2.4 times faster than Parallels'.

Oddly, given that Parallels does not support DirectX for gaming, after crashing the system first, the reviewer tried running Quake 4 at 1024x768 within Parallels and reported that 'Quake 4 actually produced noticeably faster frame rates on our test than with Boot Camp.'

C Net concluded that for 'the mundane tasks that probably make up most of your computing time (such as word processing, e-mail, and browsing the Internet), you're not likely to notice Parallels' performance degradation.'

In a well-written review that should be read in its entirety, MacWorld provides some background information, basic setup and installation instructions, and in-depth benchmarks for Windows XP using Parallels and Boot Camp running on an iMac 'Core Duo' 2.0 20-Inch and MacBook Pro 'Core Duo' 2.16 15-Inch, each with 1 GB of RAM installed.

The reviewer acknowledges 'if you don’t require 3-D accelerated graphics or full hardware support, then Parallels delivers solid results' and regarding its speed states that:

Parallels For Mac Xp

Using Parallels on the Macs, the overall WorldBench test score is about two-thirds of what it is for the same machine booted natively into Windows via Boot Camp. Some portions of our testing, such as multitasking, show a big divide in performance. Other portions show only slight differences. In our Office 2002 test, for example, Parallels was only about 10 percent slower than in native mode. Overall, our results indicate that, using Parallels, you'll get about two-thirds of the speed you’ll get using Boot Camp.

Ultimately, it's probably not the solution for gamers, who want to wring every last bit of performance out of a system, need DirectX support, and have no need to run multiple programs at the same time or 'copy and paste' between them. For day-to-day use, however, the Parallels virtualization solution provides an impressively fast way to run other operating systems 'within' MacOS X.

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