Bootcamp is Dead
- Warning: mktime(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'UTC' for 'UTC/0.0/no DST' instead in /mnt/www/ecstaticist/wp-includes/functions.php on line 41 Warning: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'UTC' for 'UTC/0.0/no DST' instead in /mnt/www/ecstaticist/wp-includes/functions.php on line 50 June 19th, 2006
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Who needs Apple’s Bootcamp? Tonight I installed Parallels Desktop on my MacBook Pro. I installed a fresh copy of Windows XP Home onto a new virtual machine. It took about an hour to set things up, including running all system updates and installing Office. The entire Windows XP VM is minimized right now as I type this blog entry in my every day OS X environment.
There are a number of things that amaze me about Parallels. I recall a few months back jokingly asking how long it would be before I could switch desktops between Windows and OS X like one switches user accounts in OS X. When I put my Parallels Windows XP virtual machine into full screen mode, it swings into view exactly like a fast switch between user accounts in OS X. Option-Return escapes full screen mode and you can minimize the VM when you don’t need it, or just shut it down and turn it off.
I recently bought an Athlon-based PC with 1GB of RAM and a 3500 series procesor. The Parallels Windows XP VM running right now on my MacBook Pro is faster by quite a margin. It boots in about 15 seconds. It launches MS Office applications in about one second. From the click in the IE icon to a fully loaded MSN home page is about three seconds. I’m assuming this is because of the dual core Intel processor running inside my MacBook Pro, and the efficiency of the virtualization software.
I need a Windows box because many of the sites I build are viewed by users who are Windows-based. I need to experience what they experience. Parallels gives me the ability to do that at will, at full speed and without a flaw. I have not yet found a problem with this software. It just works.
Looking at my activity monitor I see no strain at all. I have 2GB of RAM and with several mac apps running along with the XP VM I still have 800MB of inactive RAM. I mean where’s the catch? If all you need as a fully functional, super fast XP box inside your Mac, get Parallels. It is simply great.
Oh, and why would anybody want to run Bootcamp now? Rebooting just to look at Windows or run a Windows app? How ten seconds ago. That said, I don’t know how Parallels will hold up to processor intensive applications like 3d graphics and video or image editing. I have no need for that and likley won’t be finding the time to test it any time soon.
Virtualization has come a long, long way in a hurry. Next, I think I’ll install Solaris.
Warning: strtotime(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'UTC' for 'UTC/0.0/no DST' instead in /mnt/www/ecstaticist/wp-includes/link-template.php on line 107 Warning: date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'UTC' for 'UTC/0.0/no DST' instead in /mnt/www/ecstaticist/wp-includes/link-template.php on line 132No comments yet.