Hello again,
I am contemplating getting one of the new MacBooks to replace my existing black MacBook with the 2.16GHz processor and 2GB of RAM. The newer MacBooks just announced offer 2.4GHz and 4GB of RAM. So I have questions about a) improved performance and b) how I get from here to there.
On the performance issue: Regular readers of these forums might recall the questions I raised last spring re: upgrading from Tiger to Leopard and how I handle Parallels/WinXP in that migration. The upgrade/migration itself went very smoothly, but I have to say that running Windows in Parallels has proven highly problematic ever since.
To wit: unless I boot Windows in Parallels immediately after a reboot of the Mac, Windows performance positively sucks. It takes forever to boot, and responds very slowly when I'm trying to actually do anything in Windows. If I boot Windows right after a MacOS reboot, it's better, but still not great.
So my first question is: will doubling the RAM in a MacBook from 2GB to 4GB (with a processor bump to boot) make much of a difference where WinXP performance is concerned? Seems to me that between MacOS, Parallels and Windows, I'm using most of the RAM overhead before I even get an actual application running. And if I have Mac apps running already when I start Parallels/WinXP... that would seem to explain the lousy performance.
As for the migration. Ordinarily, I would expect to use the MacOS "Migration Utility" to set up a new MacBook with the programs and data that is presently running on the old MacBook. The question becomes whether or not that will also import any problems that might be lurking in the existing apps. Anybody have any thoughts on that issue?
As it specifically relates to Parallels: What measures should I take to assure that I get a smooth transition from the old computer to the new one? If I do use Migration Utility, that would import my Windows partition to the new machine, along with my existing Parallels and WinXP installations, right?
When I upgraded to Leopard from Tiger, I used that opportunity to DL and install the latest version of Parallels, which at the time was build 5608 (June 9, 2008). What build are we on now (and if I update to a newer build, might that improve the poor performance I'm currently experiencing?)?
Finally, a question about Windows itself. If I do migrate to a new computer, am I going to have to buy a new copy of Windows XP? Or is there someway I can transfer the activation from my old computer to the new one?
I realize that's a lot of questions, not all of them particularly connected, so I put them in bold red so that the actual questions will stand out from the rest of the verbiage.
Thanks,
--PS
I am contemplating getting one of the new MacBooks to replace my existing black MacBook with the 2.16GHz processor and 2GB of RAM. The newer MacBooks just announced offer 2.4GHz and 4GB of RAM. So I have questions about a) improved performance and b) how I get from here to there.
On the performance issue: Regular readers of these forums might recall the questions I raised last spring re: upgrading from Tiger to Leopard and how I handle Parallels/WinXP in that migration. The upgrade/migration itself went very smoothly, but I have to say that running Windows in Parallels has proven highly problematic ever since.
To wit: unless I boot Windows in Parallels immediately after a reboot of the Mac, Windows performance positively sucks. It takes forever to boot, and responds very slowly when I'm trying to actually do anything in Windows. If I boot Windows right after a MacOS reboot, it's better, but still not great.
So my first question is: will doubling the RAM in a MacBook from 2GB to 4GB (with a processor bump to boot) make much of a difference where WinXP performance is concerned? Seems to me that between MacOS, Parallels and Windows, I'm using most of the RAM overhead before I even get an actual application running. And if I have Mac apps running already when I start Parallels/WinXP... that would seem to explain the lousy performance.
As for the migration. Ordinarily, I would expect to use the MacOS "Migration Utility" to set up a new MacBook with the programs and data that is presently running on the old MacBook. The question becomes whether or not that will also import any problems that might be lurking in the existing apps. Anybody have any thoughts on that issue?
As it specifically relates to Parallels: What measures should I take to assure that I get a smooth transition from the old computer to the new one? If I do use Migration Utility, that would import my Windows partition to the new machine, along with my existing Parallels and WinXP installations, right?
When I upgraded to Leopard from Tiger, I used that opportunity to DL and install the latest version of Parallels, which at the time was build 5608 (June 9, 2008). What build are we on now (and if I update to a newer build, might that improve the poor performance I'm currently experiencing?)?
Finally, a question about Windows itself. If I do migrate to a new computer, am I going to have to buy a new copy of Windows XP? Or is there someway I can transfer the activation from my old computer to the new one?
I realize that's a lot of questions, not all of them particularly connected, so I put them in bold red so that the actual questions will stand out from the rest of the verbiage.
Thanks,
--PS