Something certainly wrong with Vista and Parallels

[Constable_Odo1]

I had run a System Health Report with Vista Ultimate on my fine running MacBook Pro C2D 2.33. I've been still trying to troubleshoot why mp3 files and videos stutter rather badly in Vista when played in WMP or WinAmp. I've tried a couple of tuneups, but playback never really improves. The processors are just not being pushed to the max to cause stutters, so it has to be something else. I've installed all the BootCamp 1.2 drivers in Vista.

Anyway...the System Health Report says that every factor (CPU, graphics, memory, disk) is POOR. Come on. The MacBook Pro's specs are not that weak. There must be some drivers or system hooks that's missing in order to get the best out of Vista in Parallels.

I have tried running Performance Information and Tools (A control panel utility), but it never completes. Always give some error that it can't run. It's rather frustrating. WinXP Pro runs like a dream on my MacBook Pro in Parallels. Vista runs like a sick dog. I understand Parallels is a work in progress, so I'm not gonna stew over it. I'm sure that something is wrong and it's not with my Vista installation. I'd like to be able to port it to a Windows machine to prove it. I don't wan't to give up my WinXP BootCamp to test it either.

I don't rely on Vista so if I wipe it from my drive, I won't grieve over it's loss. But for those that do need it, good luck. Either Vista is not ready to run decently in Parallels or Parallels is not yet ready to decently run Vista.

 

[darkone]

the stuttering audio issue is a known problem that has previously been reported on in these forums. Parallels have said a fix will be in an upcoming release.

 

[wingdo]

Anyway...the System Health Report says that every factor (CPU, graphics, memory, disk) is POOR. Come on. The MacBook Pro's specs are not that weak. There must be some drivers or system hooks that's missing in order to get the best out of Vista in Parallels.

Well if it is any consolation, my work laptop is a dual boot Dell with 1.5GB RAM, 7200 rpm hard drive, 512MB vid card and 1.83GHz C2D and I get a raiting of "good".

You have to remember, you're running two OSes on one machine. Vista is competing with OS X for the same resources.

 

[miker51]

You mentioned that you had installed the Bootcamp 1.2 drivers into Vista. I'm sure that you realize these won't help you in Parallels. Did you install the Parallels tools?

How much memory did you assign to Vista in Parallels? On my Mac Pro, I have given it 1 gig, and it runs fine.

 

[Constable_Odo1]

You mentioned that you had installed the Bootcamp 1.2 drivers into Vista. I'm sure that you realize these won't help you in Parallels. Did you install the Parallels tools?

How much memory did you assign to Vista in Parallels? On my Mac Pro, I have given it 1 gig, and it runs fine.

Yes, I had installed Parallel Tools first. I had installed BootCamp drivers in order to get the built-in iSight to work and it did after I installed the BootCamp drivers. You're right, the BootCamp drivers didn't do anything other than make the iSight work. I was just testing stuff. I can still go back to a restore point to remove them. I also assigned 1 GB of memory and Vista runs well in general except for the stuttering audio. I did some tweaks and now Vista uses lesser percentage of my processors while idling.

I hadn't heard that the audio stuttering was going to be definitely fixed in a future version of Parallels. At least something is going to be done.

Well if it is any consolation, my work laptop is a dual boot Dell with 1.5GB RAM, 7200 rpm hard drive, 512MB vid card and 1.83GHz C2D and I get a raiting of "good".

Actually, it's no consolation at all. Unless I go out and purchase a second laptop. which defeats the purpose of having Parallels. WinXP Pro runs very well on my MBP so I hoped Vista would run nearly as well.