I have a new macbook pro (core2duo) and I am currently using boot camp. I'd like to use parallels, but I run processor-intensive 3d programs in boot camp. I am concerned that running parallels in osx would have consequence on rendering times (since my mac would be running two os's at the same time, in a way "partitioning the processor") Is there a way to natively boot windows xp on a macbook thru parallels? (bypassing osx) This would be beneficial because almost all operations in maya/3dsmax etc. could be done pretty efficiently through parallels (in osx), but if you want to render, it seems to be inefficient.
You can boot Windows bypassing OS X - it's called boot camp. There is currently no faster way of running Windows on your Mac. Parallels requires OS X to run as it is a OS X application.
I don't know about the performance demands of Maya as I don't use it; however, the app that I have developed and deployed in the Windows environment (www.zengar.com for those intersted) is PHENOMENALLY resource intensive. I find that, at present, it is running very well in Paralles. I had been using Boot Camp and found that to be very good -- and stable -- but to also have some limitations for my use pattern. The short of all of that is that I find Parallels to be a very good environment to support my very resource intensive application (which does include 3D visualization tools).
basically, i need Parallels to be able to boot from my boot camp partitioned disk (and OS). Will that ever be possible?
I understand this to be a new feature of the 2.5 beta - and I'm quite curious to try it myself, but I would wait until the this feature goes final. I've heard there's been a few glitches with it.
