Parallels? Compatable Applications?

I am getting a new MacBook Pro and I need to run a few programs for school that are Windows only. I am wondering if I should use Parallels or BootCamp?

There seems to be people having problems with both but what are peoples opinions? Is Parallels a good solution? Can I expect all of my Windows software to run in Parallels?

Is there a list of compatible apps?

Thanks

 

3d and hardware accelerated graphics doesnt work and if your software requires USB hardware it may be touch and go... otherwise, there isnt a "compatible apps" list. If it works in windows, it'll run fine. (with the exceptions noted)

If you dont NEED to use bootcamp, then IMHO dont. A plain virtual machine in a virtual hard disk seems less likely to have problems..

As for the numbers of problems... remember, youre reading a support forum and naturally you are only ever going to see the majority of posts being about problems.

 

Generally speaking, our software is a hardware emulator.
Most of the software doesn't directly rely on hardware, wich means that if operating system runs, almost every application under its control will run.
So almost every application will run - we don't emulate APIs like some other virtualization solutions, wich means that we theoretically provide you 100% applications compatibility.

 

I would agree, just about anything that is non-3D will work, with some exceptions for USB devices. The best way to find out if it works for you is to get a trial and give it a test-drive.

 

Insalling applications

Is it possible to copy the an application from the parallels application folder into a new parallels application folder and have it work? Or what is the purpose of the parallels application folder?

 

One would expect it to be as easy as that. Nevertheless there are application incompatibilities between different builds of this virtualization software. Is there a bug around that causes this application to be more than just a hardware layer?
Boot camp is for free, but can´t be used at the same time as Mac OS. It is, however as close to a pc as one can get.

 

No as the installer also installs numerous drivers for networking and other items.

The purpose of the Parallels application folder? Is this a trick question? It's a place to hold the parallels app, documentation, and utilities relating to parallels.

 

The main thing you lose in parallels is accelerated graphics. It's no good for most games. And it is a little slower always. You also need more RAM to run Parallels than Boot Camp because you have OS X running at the same time and it needs RAM too. With 2G of physical RAM I get best performance giving Parallels 512M, but people who run Visual Studio seem to do better giving Parallels 768M or even 1G.

There is some software that works in Parallels but not in Boot Camp. In particular, Acronis and some other disk backup programs will not run in Boot Camp because of the way that Apple partitions the hard drive. But Acronis works fine to back up that same boot camp partition when I am running Parallels because it sees a normal hard drive (really a virtual hard drive but it can't tell).