Windows on Mac

We've been following recent Windows-on-Macintosh discussions pretty carefully, and Parallels looks slightly better than Boot Camp because you can run both OS simultaneously.

Here's what we know:

1) Since Apple went to the Intel chip, they are now running on the same hardware as PCs. Thus, running Windows on a Mac is no different than running Windows on a PC. The only real difference is that the keyboards are slightly different (the Mac doesn't have a "Windows key").

2) Apple's Boot Camp lets you decide which OS you want to boot into. All you need to do is hold down the Option key upon startup and choose which OS you want: Win or Mac. It's a complete "either/or" situation: you are either in Mac or in Windows. I've tried it and it works.

Please note: Boot Camp is a preview-release technology (i.e., beta). Support is limited to Apple's web-based discussion forum only.

3) Parallels is an alternate approach. It leverages a virtualization feature of the Intel chip and allows you to run two or more OSes at the same time. (It works with Linux, too.) In this case, you stay in Mac OS, then a new window opens up, and inside that window Windows is running--you see the Windows Start menu and desktop, etc. So if you want to run MS Outlook, you open Parallels, open Windows, then choose Outlook from the Start menu.

The benefit of this approach is that you can run the two OSes at the same time. The drawback is that it's drawing on the same hardware, so you need to split the abilities of your hardware between the two OSes. For example, if you only have 256KB of memory and divide it in half, the Mac OS gets 128 and the Windows gets 128 -- you can imagine what it's like running Windows on 128KB!! On the other hand, if you have a really fast processor and a lot of memory, it should be fine.

Parallels requires the Intel virtualization feature, and thus will not work on the single core Intel chips, like that found in the low-end MacMini, and it's a commercial product.

Here are links from a recent issue of MacWorld regarding Parallels & other VM options:

  http://www.macworld.com/topics/software/system_software/windows/
  http://www.macworld.com/2007/04/features/windows_intro/

  BootCamp
  http://www.macworld.com/2007/04/features/windows_bootcamp/

  Crossover Mac
  http://www.macworld.com/2007/04/features/windows_crossover/

  Parallels Desktop (04/2007)
  http://www.macworld.com/2007/04/features/windows_parallels/

  VMWare Fusion beta (04/2007)
  http://www.macworld.com/2007/04/features/windows_vmware/

(Thanks to Philip B. Postovoit, Computer Support Coordinator, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics for the updated links)