Which version of Vista is best suited for Parallel?

[znet]

Moved from "How to"

Which version of Vista is best suited for Parallel on iMac 4.1 intel core duo 2 Ghz? I heard that one or more of the versions dont work as well with Parallel. Or is it best to stay with xp? Any assist , please . thanks znet

 

[faio]

Parallels only supports Vista Business, Enterprise and Ultimate. As far as I know this is because MS decided that only these three versions of Vista should be able to run on a VM. It's some time ago that I heard that and I can't remember the source, so don't ask me why the hell they did that.

 

[mmischke]

Parallels only supports Vista Business, Enterprise and Ultimate. As far as I know this is because MS decided that only these three versions of Vista should be able to run on a VM. It's some time ago that I heard that and I can't remember the source, so don't ask me why the hell they did that.

I suspect that MS made this decision to avoid support calls from users who aren't aware of the limits of virtualization. In other words, the guy who buys Parallels because it 'Runs Windows on a Mac' (I'm paraphrasing) and then wonders why his games don't work and why Vista's Aero UI features aren't available.

Just a guess on my part...

FWIW - all versions of Vista will run under Parallels. The restriction exists in the wording of the license and not in the software.

 

[mmischke]

Which version of Vista is best suited for Parallel on iMac 4.1 intel core duo 2 Ghz? I heard that one or more of the versions dont work as well with Parallel. Or is it best to stay with xp? Any assist , please . thanks znet

Personally, I'd stay w/XP. Many of Vista's fancy UI features require accelerated 2-D and/or 3-D graphics to either function well or at all. This isn't yet supported by Parallels. Unless you have a compelling reason to upgrade (the extra security features, perhaps?), you might be better off keeping what you've got.