Should I install Windows 7 or Windows XP? Pros and Cons?

E

elasticmedia

Member
For parallels desktop installations, which Windows OS is ideal? I have always used XP on my parallels installs and I am wondering whether I should go for Windows 7. I have parallels 5 and am ready to reinstall parallels and windows. Any recommendations and anecdotes would be nice. Of course I have to choose which windows 7 to get and whether to choose 32 or 64 bit. I have a 2.8 ghz core 2 duo iMac with 4 gigs of ram.

Thanks!!

Jim
 
My thoughts: From all I understand XP is generally a bit faster than Windows 7; in particular it requires less memory (since it has less visual pizzazz). However, with a 2.8 GHz mac and enough memory, and given the fact that a Parallels VM is really quite fast, I'd go for Windows 7. It's way more fun to use than XP and actually rather Mac-like in many respects. Performance-wise there should be no difference between 32bit and 64bit Win7, and with 4 Gig of Ram overall, you wouldn't want to assign more than 2 Gigs to your VM anyway - Win7 32bit can handle that (it can't deal with more than about 3.5 GB of RAM, while Win7 64bit can deal with a lot more). The main disadvantage of Win7 64bit is that it won't run certain 32bit-only apps (rare but they do exist).
 
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