MacBook Pro :: Bootcamp/parallels - Automatically Use Higher End GPU?
Jul 20, 2009
So apparently in OSX, you have to manually tell the MBP when you want to use the higher end GPU (for graphics-intensive activities). I think this is pretty dumb - the system should do this for you. But anyway, if you're running Windows under BootCamp or Parallels, does Windows automatically use the higher end GPU, or how does that work exactly?
After booting to windows xp pro(sp2) via bootcamp the resolution setting slide bar on Nvidia control panel lets me adjust to a higher rez, but does not change the resolution physically at all. I do get the windows "keep this setting" pop up..I choose yes to humor it, but nothing changed in the first place.Other than this glitch, windows works fine. I can set the resolution to 1900 x 1200 for gaming inside the game's application but this huge 640 x 480 is hard to deal with on my 2.93GHz 17" unibody macbook pro display.
I am merely hours away from making my first mac purchase! I have settled on the 15" 2.4 i5. This should be more than enough computing power for my needs in the next 3-4 years. However I was wondering if I will be able set up parallels 5 AND bootcamp and just choose when to use one or the other? If I am able to do this, would anyone recommend it?
My thinking is that, many of my windows programs are not very demanding(rosetta stone, ms office, etc...) and it would be more convenient to switch back and forth using parallels. Boot camp, from what I've read on a few previous threads, would be more suited for some casual gaming or more demanding tasks(engineering program/reservoir modeling program) on windows. So what do you recommend? Bootcamp, parallels, or both(if this works)? On a side note: is purchasing from Ebay with 8% cashback from bing the best deal going for the base 15"?
I was planning on installing Win7 on it and using Parallels for the times I have no Mac option (specific games or apps).
Should I install it as a boot camp partition and then link it in Parallels or just do a clean VM install in Parallels? I'm curious as to what the experiences are and what is my best course of action when my machine shows up.
Do I have to install a Windows 7/RC build on Bootcamp before I can use it with Parallels? Or if I already have it on bootcamp, I have to install it all over again with Parallels? And I was thinking of only having RC as my secondary OS until my Windows 7 disc comes. When that happens, do I just delete all my RC stuff from bootcamp to make room for Windows 7? I'd also lose all my documents and whatnot right since I can't upgrade to Windows 7 from an RC.
My Macbook is brand new! (Barely 4 months old) Just recently my laptop will flash a black screen. It starts from the bottom and quickly flashes up the screen higher and higher each flash! i have read on some other pages it is a bad inverter on the inner core of the Macbook. Other than that I do not know what to do!
Im thinking of buying a mac, i've always used a windows pc though. Im gonna see what happends tommorow at the mac event but I want a Mac Book Pro. i want to dualboot mac os and windows 7 using bootcamp, parrallels, and refit. I've been doing some research on it and I would like some expert opinions on recommended settings to partition the disk. should I do 50/50 split or what? I'll either get a 320 or 500gb hard drive. I also see that some people split it three ways and have a 3rd partition for shared files, such as music, documents, ect. is this recommended or is this not really needed to share files between the 2 OS's? I'll probably be using windows OS more often or atleast use parallels alot until i get the hang of mac os. I also want to be able to sync itunes on both the windows and mac os, so it doesnt madder which operating system im on if i want to listen, download or sync my ipod, is there a way to do this? And lastly, I use outlook to download my comcast email via pop3. Is there a way to sync outlook in windows and outlook for mac between the partitions? I can not find any answers to this question online. Any opinions, recommendations, or thoughts about these subjects or buying my first mac in general is welcome.
I own a MacBook Pro 13 [mid 2009]. I've upgraded it to 8gb ram. My problem is I'm not able to decide if I should install windows 7 using parallels 7 or bootcamp. Also will it slow down the machine.
I need install windows 7 on my mac (for some windows only programs). I would like to create a partition via bootcamp to run Windows 7 on my mac. I would also like to use that same partition on Parallels 5.
I am looking for a way to LINK the bootcamp partition to Parallels 5 so I can use Windows 7 on parallels when I am need of "light" programs and just boot to Windows 7 when I need more intensive programs. I have NOT installed windows 7 via Bootcamp or Parallels yet.
I have a 17 MacBook Pro and am a diehard Mac fan. However, there are a few Windows programs that I need to run at home, so I set up another login ID and added Parallels Desktop 4.0, along with Windows XP and the few Windows programs I need, to that new login account (ie, distinct from my primary Mac account that I do all of my Mac work out of). This setup works great.
Three Questions:
1)Is there any advantage to run Parallels in that separate account, or should I just consolidate Parallels into my primary account? I set up the separate account for Parallels thinking that it would keep my primary account safer and more stable, but perhaps I am completely wrong.
I now need to add a program for work that involves remote access to work computers via PC software.
2) Is there an advantage to set this up to run in Boot Camp (rather than Parallels)? I am assuming that it will run faster there. Also, will this keep the rest of my Mac safer than if I run it in Parallels?
3) If I set my work PC program to run in Boot Camp, will my personal Parallels programs in the separate Mac login account still run fine, or will they somehow conflict with each other?
Not sure how accurate title is, but I need some help here, By friday would be best. I have an 80GB HDD, so I'm a little bit crammed for space. My biggest problem with space is operating systems. I use parallels to run a few OSs, 20GB worth are on the HDD. My problem is that sometimes I need to boot up in only one OS, using Boot Camp, and sometimes I just want to use parallels. Because I don't have a lot of space I can't just install them each twice, that would be half my HDD! I'm looking for a way to use the same OS to boot up in parallels or Boot Camp. Now from what I understand parallels allows you to boot up your OS located in other partitions to run next to Mac.
Am I correct? Assuming I am correct, I have another problem. I am always needing different amounts of space, so setting a permeant space for each (partitioning) doesn't fly. (I know I can just make the Boot Camp partition large then use it for my Mac as well, but that just won't do either). When you boot the Boot Camp partition up in parallels how does HDD space work? So I need to be able to adjust the partitioned space without having to erase it. Is that possible? Is there any way to boot the computer into a different OS that is on the same partition as Leopard? One last question. Is there any way to boot the computer into a different OS by using an external drive?
I just installed bootcamp on my machine. I didn't think I would need to run both osx and xp at the same time but parallels is looking good to me right now. Since I already installed xp via boot camp, can I just download parallels from their site and be able to run both OS's at the same time, I could not find this information on their site.
If I am running xp on bootcamp, is it possible to install parallels and then just run xp I installed or do I have to install the xp all over again for parallels?
I have been debating on gettiing either bootcamp or parallels for my Macbook Pro so I can run certain programs I have left over from my old PC. I do not know much of the difference between the two. I believe parallels can run both Mac OS X and Windows at the same time but thats about it. Also, if there is something better than either of these please mention it.
Just got an iMac and need to run some of my old Windows stuff. I've gathered that Parallels is the best virtual solution, but I'm confused: Do you need Bootcamp in order to run Parallels, or can you just run Parallels?
I have heard that both Parallels and BootCamp are good programs to run Windows on a Mac. But, I have recently found out that there is also something called Fusion that also works. Which is better? Parallels,BootCamp, or Fusion? My guess is that Parallels works the best. At least that's my opinion just from browsing around and comparing the differences. As I don't even own a Mac (January 2008).
With all the new software partitions available for the mac for users to be able to utilize any Windows OS on their Mac, many ask what about all the viruses that comes from windows? Will the Mac still be protected even though Windows is running on it? does the Mac saying "114,000 viruses, not for a Mac," still stand? Give me your input.
With some advice from this forum I've now setup vista on a bootcamp partition and have pointed parallels at this installation which all works well. When I boot into vista I have the proper Radeon driver installed and can play games fine on max settings at the highest resolution, however if I try to run a windows game from Parallels in OSX it defaults to the Parallels video driver and 640x480 resolution. Is there any way of running games at full screen/full settings from osx or will I have to reboot into windows each time?
I worried about getting windows 7, I have been reading the forums, and I keep seeing that if I run windows through boot camp to use the full power (for games) I need one licence of windows. But then if I want to run parallels with windows I will need two licences of windows? Is this true.
I'm also confused if I can do that .... Use boot camp for windows games, but then use parallels for documents and low spec items. Please help, I'm getting my new iMac very soon and I'm very worried.
I read that for gaming, Bootcamp is the way to go, but for other general Windows use, Parallels or Fusion is the way to go.
But for me, I am planning to play games - hence Bootcamp - as well as use Parallels/Fusion for general use, namely to use Microsoft Office Onenote (an unbeatable note-taking software that needs a Mac version yesterday).
Is this even possible and how much memory will the additional parallels take (I'm planning a 40gb bootcamp partition btw on a 250gb hard drive)?
I have a Santa Rosa MBP with a broken Superdrive, and I need to get Windows 7 installed on Bootcamp. I had a copy of Parallels laying around so I install W7 on that, but now I need a way to image that over to my Bootcamp partition. Is this possible? No amount of Googling is turning anything up.
Alternatively, if anyone knows other ways for me to get W7 on my laptop, that would be just as appreciated. I have tried imaging my flash drive with W7, and unfortunately I get an error on rEFIt that external hard drives are not well-supported by Apple's firmware for legacy OS booting.
I installed Win7 via bootcamp. The ONLY reason I need windows is to run quickbooks - and possibly microsoft office in the future. I've gotten sick of rebooting every time I need to do a simple task in quickbooks.
So I'm looking at installing Parallels 6. QUESTION - should I just simply use my bootcamp partition?
Which is better to use? I understand you don't need to reboot to use Parallels or Vmware but is it fully functional? And do either of these kill the performance of the system?
And what's the difference between Parallels and Vmware?
I'm running Parallels 4.0, and have XP Pro, Vista Ultimate, and Windows 7 RC... is it possible to set these up in bootcamp as well, so I can run Parallels 4.0 and run them side-by-side with my Mac, and then close Parallels, go into BootCamp, and login to any one of those? so any changes I make on either BootCamp or Parallels shows up?