Parallels on Bootcamp

H

HadassaJ

Bit poster
Hi! probably this question has already been posted but i searched the forum for hours and couldn't find what i needed.
What are the advantages (if any) of running Parallels on bootcamp? I've heard this way parallels has access to all the system resources, like access to full ram, cpu, etc. Is this true?
I have a MBP Retina 15 with a 2.4Ghz intel core i7 processor, 8gb of memory and a Intel HD Graphics 4000 and the nvidia geforce graphic card, i want to run programs such as Solidworks, solidedge and compile some code on my Mac, I've heard that these programs run very low on parallels because it has not full access to the system resources (like i mentioned before) is running parallels on Bootcamp partition going to solve this issues? Or should i resign to the fate of using bootcamp only? Thanks (:
 
Hi Hadassa, I think you're confusing two things. There's Parallels and there's Bootcamp. You can't run "Parallels on Bootcamp".

Parallels is an application like any other on your mac. This application can read a special file type - a virtual machine. So basically, you have file, say Win7.pvm. Inside this file, is an installation of Windows. When Parallels reads this file, it can run Windows within itself. If you shut down Parallels, you shut down Windows. Since Parallels is an application, that runs on your mac, it has access to your mac's resources. However, in order to run Windows inside itself, it needs to reserve some of those resources to Windows. Those resources are then not available to other applications on you mac, so you can't take it all. That means Windows will have access to fewer resources, than if it runs directly on the hardware. Also, since Windows can't run directly in OSX, all of its tasks has to be translated from "Windows language" to "OSX language". This in itself requires some resources. So in short yes, that is true.

Bootcamp is a toolset provided by Apple, to allow you to install Windows directly on your mac. Basically, it splits your hard disk space in two (not necessarily the same size). I.e. it partitions your HD. It then installs Windows directly to one of those partitions (where Parallels installed to a file instead). In order to run Windows, you have to restart your mac, and then choose to start up in Windows. When you do that, OSX isn't running, and so you can't switch back and forth quickly. On the plus side, Windows now has access to all the system resources, and runs directly on the computer hardware, so no translation from "Windows language" to "OSX language".

What you may have heard about is that you can combine the two, such that in stead of reading Windows from a file, Parallels can read it from your Bootcamp partition. That way you get both the above options with only one Windows installation. But the advantages and restrictions still apply, so that when you run Parallels, it still has to compete for resources with OSX, and if you need all the resources in Windows, you have to reboot. The (big) advantage is that you can use Parallels when you just need to fix a few things, and do non-intensive stuff, and then rebooting when you really need the power.
 
Hi Aalasso, thank you so much for your answer :) I know what parallels is and what Bootcamp is, as a matter of fact I've used many times before bootcamp, its performance its excellent, however you have the great inconvenient of having to boot every time to change between OS (as you know of course). I was referring to what is described in here http://www.parallels.com/landingpage/dskd78, as you can see it's an advertisement by Parallels itself, in which (as you may read) they declare that you can improve the performance obtained in Parallels by running it on Bootcamp, as they so eloquently say "THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS". Thank you anyway.. and if anyone else (or you if you have ever tried it) could answer my question i would thank them very much :)
 
Hi Hadassa, I appologize, then, for the way overly banal explanations. I am in fact running such a setup - bootcamp partition that Parallels can also run. Running through Parallels is nowhere near as fast as booting windows directly. Whether running a bootcamp partition through parallels is faster than running parallels with a .pvm-file, I can't say.
 
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