Boot Camp/Parallels on a Mac

mcgiggle

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I have a MacBook Air that I take away with me on my travels but it has it's problems because most of the world it seems uses Windows so I can't run BMW ReProm or GS911, I stumbled on Boot Camp/Parallels when Googling the problems I'm having.
Has anybody used them and know if it's easy to install/works/etc/etc
Would I need to take my Mac to someone technical to install?
From what I understand I would end up with half the laptop as a Mac and half as a Window machine!?

Any help would be greatly received.

Cheers
Pete
 
I use Parallels all the time on my MacBook Pro. It is fab and even splits out the Windoze windows into separate Mac windows - called Coherance Mode. You can have Mac and Windoze running at the same time. Easy to install and use - you can install it yourself.

BUT one word of warning - when I load Parallels which in turn boots Windoze 7, the memory and CPU consumption is for Win7 huge. It grabs a large amount of resources and my 12 GB RAM 8 core Mac noticeably slows. I did have 4GB RAM in it and it virtually ground to a halt when Windoze was booted so had to upgrade the memory.

The Mac is based on UNIX which is an entirely different ball game - Win7 isn't and therefore is very inefficient.

So I would read the requirements spec on Parallels and try it before committing to buy it for a Mac Book Air. My concern would be if there is enough oooomph in the Air to run it.
 
Bootcamp allows you to boot into windows natively, and you choose how much disk to give it 20-30gb should be more than enough.

Parallels + w7 is o.k. - limit the ram for windows to 1gb and it runs fine on a 4gb system.

Parallels reserves the windows ram from the mac, so other stuff is now limited. I can still run Xcode etc with it resident, but tend to kill off safari, as it's leaky in 10.7.
 
Thanks for the replies guys but you have lost me already:confused:
I have looked on the Macbook and the info is Memory 2GB or Hard Drive 112.7GB, Used 87GB, Available 25.7GB which probably means something to you but not me! (I don't have this problem when I'm sorting my X Challenge ;)

Cheers
Pete
 
You don't really have enough disk space for bootcamp.

Parallels will work in 2GB, but you would also need to add an external disk and put the windows installation on there. Set it's memory down to 1GB (it'll probably hint at this anyway), and don't try and do much else while you have windows running.

You shouldn't need any significant help, if you have ever installed windows, it's just the same thing in a VM instead of the bare computer.

How much memory does the ReProm and GS911 need? 1GB might make them a bit sluggish too?
 
What about an xp lite install. Strip all the useless crap out of the os before installing. yes, there is a bit left, but it's much smaller :D
I've got it on a vmware fusion install (similar to parallels) and it works fine.

Google xp lite.
 
I have the same problem as the OP, I can't run the repair DVD or all the functions of the GS911 on my MacBook Pro.

I am running OSX 10.11.1 El Capitan on a late 2013 machine, with a 2.6 Ghz Intel core i5 and have 171GB of free storage.

I will only be using these functions occasionally so I want some thing that is quite easy to use.

What are the benefits of Bootcamp over parallels and vice versa, or is there another solution?

Thanks,

Damien
 
Damien said:
What are the benefits of Bootcamp over parallels and vice versa, or is there another solution?

Thanks,

Damien
Click to expand...

with Bootcamp, you need to shut down your mac and reboot into windows + the reverse to get back into OS-X.

with Parallels, the two OSs run simultaneously with Windows running in it's own window.

the benefit of Bootcamp is that you don't need to buy Parallels or Fusion.
 
Why not get a cheap Windows laptop and use that exclusively for running this BMW software ?

Or change your bike of course.
 
Seems to me that Parallels is an unnecessary complication.

Just install Bootcamp and you can choose to start Mac OS X or Windows when you start up.
 
Hustler said:
Why not get a cheap Windows laptop and use that exclusively for running this BMW software ?
Click to expand...
An unnecessary expense. A MacBook will run Windows at least as well (better in some respects) than a Dell/HP/Toshiba/clone.
 
i'm wondering why anyone needs the BMW ReProm or GS911 on their travels?

leave them at home - problem solved :)
 
Thanks for the replies.

I have no intention of bringing any of this stuff with me on my travels, I just want to be able to use them at home.

I was given a cheap windows machine, but the hard drive keeps crashing so back to using the MacBook.

If I get parallels, do I have to buy Windows also, or is it all part of the one package?

I have been using Apple for 13 years, so no idea about windows at all.
 
Thanks for the replies, I will probably go down the route of using Windows on the Macbook. I remember having a PC before and it was rubbish. Not an experience I want to repeat if possible.

Its handy I don't need parallels to run windows, but I can get parallels at a reasonable price, its just getting Windows which is the problem.

The quest continues.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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