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Juggling 3 laptops. Help!

  • 18-02-2009 3:55pm
    #1
    frobisher
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,413 ✭✭✭


    When I recently bought my Macbook pro (2.2g intel chip) I had planned it to be used only for music but I find myself dragging several laptops around and it's just plain annoying. So now I'm thinking of running windows on the mac being the best solution to having everything I need in one machine. What are the best options out there for doing this? Will the USB ports on the mac be compatible with hardware that was designed to be run by windows machines?

    Any thoughts or advice appreciated.


Comments

  • #2
    cornbb
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,790 ✭✭✭cornbb


    Whoa! I always thought you were a hardcore PC guy frob. I've been gone for too long it seems :p

    I run windows XP using Parallels on my MBP. Its very smooth and I have never had any problems with letting Windows talk to my USB ports or any other hardware, although admittedly I have never pushed it too hard as I haven't touched a Windows DAW in a long time. Soundforge is the only audio app that I run on Windows anymore. Edirol USB interface and firewire HDD both talk to Windows fine via Parallels, if thats worth anything to you. When Parallels is running, by default it will let Windows steal control of your USB/Firewire ports and optical drive, but you can change this behaviour easily. Its quite foolproof really.

    Your other options would be the likes of VMWare or Bootcamp, neither of which i have had any experience with.

    Last tip - invest in bucketloads of RAM! Its cheap as chips and will make running a VM a much more pleasant experience.


  • #3
    frobisher
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,413 ✭✭✭frobisher


    cornbb wrote: »
    Whoa! I always thought you were a hardcore PC guy frob. I've been gone for too long it seems :p

    I run windows XP using Parallels on my MBP. Its very smooth and I have never had any problems with letting Windows talk to my USB ports or any other hardware, although admittedly I have never pushed it too hard as I haven't touched a Windows DAW in a long time. Soundforge is the only audio app that I run on Windows anymore. Edirol USB interface and firewire HDD both talk to Windows fine via Parallels, if thats worth anything to you. When Parallels is running, by default it will let Windows steal control of your USB/Firewire ports and optical drive, but you can change this behaviour easily. Its quite foolproof really.

    Your other options would be the likes of VMWare or Bootcamp, neither of which i have had any experience with.

    Last tip - invest in bucketloads of RAM! Its cheap as chips and will make running a VM a much more pleasant experience.

    Howya! Fancy bumping into you round here :D What are you refering to when you say "parallels"? And how do i work out on a Mac how much ram I can put in? This is great, I'm a noob all over again!


  • #4
    Carroller16
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,606 ✭✭✭Carroller16


    frobisher wrote: »
    Juggling 3 laptops Help!.


    I would if I could but I don't think i'll make it on time...

    Whatever you do dont drop them


  • #5
    J-blk
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,906 ✭✭✭J-blk


    frobisher wrote: »
    What are you refering to when you say "parallels"?

    He is referring to "Parallels Desktop", a virtualization application which allows you to run virtual machines with various flavors of Windows or UNIX on them:

    http://www.parallels.com/eu/

    Essentially offering a similar product to what VMware offers on Windows with VMware Workstation... However, VMware has also entered the Mac OS market with their product, Fusion, which I prefer to Parallels (though they are neck-to-neck in most features):

    http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/

    With one of those and a copy of Windows (preferably not Vista!), you'll be able to do most stuff just fine, with the exception of some 3D-heavy work or games and all without ever having to reboot :).
    frobisher wrote: »
    And how do i work out on a Mac how much ram I can put in? This is great, I'm a noob all over again!

    Most current Mac laptops take 4GB though the unibody (current since late 2008) can apparently work just fine with 6GB as well - however, that's crazy expensive and not worth it at this point. Upgrading to 4GB should only cost you around ~ €70 or so...


  • #6
    cornbb
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,790 ✭✭✭cornbb


    ^^ What he said :)

    Parallels is a virtual machine, so it basically involves running Windows as an application on your Mac OS desktop. In general this works more smoothly than it sounds :)

    As for RAM I'm using 4GB and it copes just fine with most things I throw at it. There's a foolproof RAM-choosing-tool-thingy at http://www.crucial.com/eu/ and their prices are pretty good too.


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