Everything I have read about Parallels on the Mac has been very positive probably making it the most versatile machine around. That's what they say not what I say since I only read what they say.

JJK

I don't have Parallels (I assumed it slowed down the machine slightly) but I use bootcamp and Vegas works GREAT with it. I have been using my (newest) MacBook Pro to render since it is sooo much faster than my dual core AMD desktop. The last music vid I did with VV, the AMD machine took 3 hours and 30 minutes to render and the MacBook did it in 1:55. I never saw the big deal about rebooting into Windows. I guess file transfers would be the only issue that might make Parallels cool. Of course bootcamp is free too. Derek

I'd second using Boot Camp, but I haven't used Parallels. Vegas runs very nicely on my MacBook Pro and I don't mind rebooting as necessary (although I spend 99% of my time in Vista anyway).

Rick

sounds cool, bummer that we are just on the verge of having bootcamp in Jaguar and the bootcamp demo expiring. My new mac comes next week and Im wondering if its worth installing bootcamp or just waiting for Jag.

we use parallels here. didn't install vegas on it (it's not my machine), but we did install XSI for 3D work. had some issues with the openGL. it was a bit slower too, like Nat said because of the bottlenecks. I'm still waitin' for my Mac Pro with bootcamp to get set up here. with what we've gone thru with parallels, i'd go with bootcamp all the way.

altho it is pretty cool to see a dual monitor setup with mac on one and windows on the other... but that wears out quick when render times take a few days...

ed.

With Parallels it is important to have sufficient RAM.

If it has to start paging to disk, performance goes way down.

think 12 gigs will be enough? haa haa

I use Boot Camp & Parallels on my Macbook Pro and would recommend rebooting into Boot Camp for any serious editing. It does run OK in Parallels but not nearly as fast. You also run into problems sometimes with getting Windows to see your external USB / firewire drives and it becomes a hassle. If it is a quickie edit then I might use Parallels but for anything longer than that I just reboot into Boot Camp.

Is id correct to assume one must purchase a new copy of winxp?


if so I wonder if it would be better to just buy vista

Yes, you need to purchase a copy of Windows. I would not recommend Vista. My experience has been sucky and I just can't see any advantage at all to using Vista. I installed XP and it is running great. BTW, you should install Boot Camp first, then Parallels after that b/c it will access your Boot Camp installation. You will need to activate Windows twice.

Is this the one to buy?

Windows XP Professional w/SP2 (Full Product)


http://shopping.msn.com/prices/shp/?itemId=22729331,stext=Windows%20XP,ptnrId=42,ptnrData=24003

No advantage to Windows Professional unless you're in a network environment.

Well friends, suppose Im an idiot but I bought vista...haaa haaa! I just couldn't figure paying for xp when I have 5 computers with xp already on it!! guess i will stumble along on the bleeding edge for a while, always have the back up machines just in case.