Comments on: Parallels on MacBook Pro

by: Eddy

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 11:57:03 +0000

Short answer: Parallels works in a similar way to VMWare, but with much better performance.

Long answer: No, you do not need to repartition. Parallels creates a virtual disk (ie. a file emulating the disk on Mac OS X partition) and uses Mac OS X memory for virtual memory. In short, both the hard disk and the memory within Parallels are from Mac OS X.

You launch Parallels as you would launch a Mac OS X application. No need to leave it on all the time.

by: C R Maclauchlan

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 03:27:35 +0000

my questions are:
is partitioning or another type of resource allocation required or does Parallels share the same HD and memory space with OS X?

Does Parallels always run when the Mac is on or can it be shut down (to save battery life) when not actually required?

by: Eddy

Sat, 29 Jul 2006 08:50:27 +0000

For games, I’ve got a desktop computer that I like to call my console — it is used exclusively for gaming!

Parallels runs great even with 512MB. But, I’ve ordered 2GB of RAM for the MBP just to make the experience even better.

My only complaint is that running Parallels quickly dries up the battery juice because — I suspect — Windows remains a resource-hogging beast regardless where it is sitting.[Sigh]

by: Olivier

Sat, 29 Jul 2006 02:38:15 +0000

Yes. Parallels handles cpu sharing very well.
Of course memory requirements are gonna be steeper, but the real “problem” with parallels is hardware support. Its a problem only if you play games =)