Using PC software
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Using PC software
23-10-2009 1:46 PM
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My daughter would love to buy a Mac for her office but the accounting software she uses (Sage) isn't available for Macs.
Her options seem to be BootCamp, Parallel PC, or buy a boring old PC.
Can anyone comment on the pros and cons of BootCamp vs. Parallel PC? She's been told Parallel PC is "slow"?
Cheers
Alex.
Re: Using PC software
23-10-2009 5:35 PM
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Re: Using PC software
23-10-2009 6:41 PM
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The other option is to use virtual machine software such as Parallels or VMware Fusion. They both integrate with Mac OSX allowing you to go from Mac to Windows at a click of the mouse without rebooting. I have tried both but much prefer VMware Fusion. A new version of VMware Fusion (version 3) is being launched on 27 October which fully supports Windows 7.
http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/overview.html
I currently use VMware Fusion 2 to run Windows XP on Mac OSX Snow Leopard and use it mainly to run Microsoft Money. VMware Fusion opens quickly on my Mac Pro and Windows XP operates just as quickly as on a PC. If you want to have Windows and Mac OSX programs open at the same time then you will need lots of RAM (I have 7GB) or the opened programs may run slowly. Also it is not suitable for any graphically intensive program or game.
You can also run the same copy of Windows from both Boot Camp and VMware Fusion (or Parallels). This gives you the option to run Windows from Boot Camp when you want Windows to run natively (for speedy operation) or open up VMware Fusion when you want ease of use.
Both VMware Fusion and Parallels offer use of the software on a trial period from their web site. If your daughter wanted a Mac then she will always be able to use Boot Camp for full speed. She could then try out the virtual machine software for a trial period to see which she liked (VMware Fusion or Parallels) and whether it slowed it down too much. If it did then she has not lost anything because she still has Boot Camp.
Re: Using PC software
23-10-2009 9:05 PM
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Also virtualbox from sun is free and I run windows xp for a vpn client I use for work.
That works very well.
If it helped click the thumb
If it fixed it click 'This fixed my problem'
Re: Using PC software
23-10-2009 9:08 PM
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Re: Using PC software
25-10-2009 1:29 PM
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Alex.
Re: Using PC software
31-10-2009 10:02 AM
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I have a 64-bit version of Windows XP as well as a 32-bit. I imagine the 64-bit is the one to use?
Re: Using PC software
31-10-2009 12:34 PM
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One question though, if you're just going to be using Windows, why use a Mac? Wouldn't a better option to be to find software on a Mac that does what you want it to do? As OSX is based on BSD you should be able to find OSS software that does what sage does and compile it to run on OSX, other wise I really don't see the point in getting a Mac to run Windows unless you are going to spend the majority of time in OSX, but then again if its for an Office you'll boot into one OS to do all your work for the day, then you got the problem that Windows can't see the OSX hard drive so anything you save there has to be saved to an external drive if you want to work on it on both OS's.
Re: Using PC software
31-10-2009 2:17 PM
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Re: Using PC software
01-11-2009 10:31 PM
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I think I'll take that as a thumbs-down to XP 64,not that I understand much of the argument.
Why use a Mac? Twenty years using them without having to learn anything about how they work I guess.
From what I've learned here and on other forums Fusion 3 will allow daughter to use Sage (which was recommended by her accountant) as and when needed straight from the OSX Dock. Everything else will be Mac software.
Thanks again for all replies.
Re: Using PC software
02-11-2009 2:07 PM
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However, having said that if you're installing x64 on a Mac there isn't really the need for many different drivers, Mac's use a limited array of hardware so it could be that there is decent driver support for running x64 on a Mac, but even then I'd still go with 32 bit XP as XP is designed to be 32 bit.
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