Parallels 5 v. Fusion 3.1

[dungeon92]

I'm going to be purchasing a new MacBook Pro within the next week, now I will be using this for Electrical and Computer Engineering so I will probably require windows at some point in my first year so short of using bootcamp I need a way to run Windows. I used VM Ware Fusion on the high school MacBook I used in Networking class and find it to be adequate for simple VM's so far, but how well can it do with something more complex? I also know someone who swears by Parallels so that may be an option as well, however Fusion is my current choice.
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"You must control your future by taking command of your present, and fixing and learning from your past."

"When history is forgotten people don't realize when it repeats."

Going to Missouri S&T!!

[ReliantLion]

I know with parallels you can do a normal Boot Camp install, then use that partition in Parallels while using OS X. Not sure with VMware. I think both have free trials. Just see what works best for you.

I like the idea of doing boot camp and parallels (again, not sure if VMware does this, it may) because virtualization will not be as good as boot camp, so if you want to play some heavy 3D games, you can reboot to Windows.

[dungeon92]

I think I will end up requiring Boot Camp ultimately for programs requiring system level control of hardware. I'm not hoping for playing much in terms of games and as most of the games I play are either multi-platform open-source or Stream games, if just a few games get ported to Mac under Steam almost all of the games I play will be Mac native.
_________________
"You must control your future by taking command of your present, and fixing and learning from your past."

"When history is forgotten people don't realize when it repeats."

Going to Missouri S&T!!

[theGimpiest]

I just upgraded to Fuzion 3.1 and it does seem considerably faster. It appears that Parallels 5 is now much slower in Vista - I don't know about any other OSs though as I haven't tested them. I do know that XP was blazing fast in Parallels 5.

I like how the competition makes both programs improve, but I hate trying to figure out which one is better. Fuzion 3 was an absolute bust for me, which made me try Parallels 5. I'm not happy with Parallels' Vista performance, so I may now start using Fuzion again.

[jameshardenjr]

[dungeon92]

Well I'll be getting a copy of Windows 7 Pro 64-bit (it's via MSDN which I technically qualify for, but cannot access yet at my college, however I know people with access to it via their work) this weekend to try on my Fusion 3.1 trial. If it works out fine I think I'll go ahead and buy the Fusion 3.1 on educational discount ($40, same amount I received in late graduation cards, hmmmm). I may do a small 50GB or so BootCamp for a sort of "Just-In-Case" as I don't want to have to install it the day I need it for a class.

Now I have a new question though that ties into my post, can you edit a BootCamp partition after making it?
_________________
"You must control your future by taking command of your present, and fixing and learning from your past."

"When history is forgotten people don't realize when it repeats."

Going to Missouri S&T!!