I recently purchased a MacBook Pro and have installed Bootcamp in order to run both Mac OS X and Windows 7. However, after having installed Bootcamp, I discovered Parallels Desktop for Mac OS X. I have a few questions about Parallels and wondered if someone could assist me: 1. What are the advantages to use Parallels Desktop versus Bootcamp, other than the fact that Parallels allows Windows access without rebooting? Are there any disadvantages to using Parallels Desktop versus Bootcamp? I may be using software such as Matlab. 2. If I decided to install Parallels Desktop and do away with Bootcamp, what would be the most efficient way of transferring my Windows files, settings, etc. from my current Bootcamp configuration to Parallels Desktop. Must I "start over" by reformatting my hard drive using a fresh install of Mac OS X and then install Parallels Desktop, or is there a better way of doing this? If I've got to reformat the hard drive, I guess now would be the time to do it as I just purchased this MacBook. 3. If I purchased a new Macbook Air (say, the 128 GB version) and wanted to also run both Mac OS X and Windows 7 on this computer, is Parallels a better option than Bootcamp (assuming Bootcamp can be loaded onto the new MacBook Air computers)? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
If I were you, I'd get Parallels 5 until the work out the bugs of 6. But I know of people that keep Bootcamp and Parallels on their Macs with no issues. I have no clue how, but I can access all my files on both sides while Parallels and Mac is working. hope that helps.
