OFF TOPIC virtualize windows on mac

Richard Gaskin ambassador at fourthworld.com
Tue Jan 3 12:59:40 EST 2012


jvalle wrote:
> starting with an old Macbook would like to know your expert opinion about what
> is the best virtualization solution to run Windows on Mac, from a developer
> point of view.

With any VM the key is RAM.  The more the merrier.  Anything less than 
2GB will make VMs really difficult to work with.

I'm surprised no one here has mentioned VirtualBox:
<https://www.virtualbox.org/>

I'd used Parallels for years, even met the devs at a MacTech conference 
and have been very impressed.  But then Mark Wieder suggested I try 
VirtualBox, and in my experience it loads VMs from a saved state so much 
faster than Parallels that I've switched all my VMs to it.

Extra bonus points:  it's free an open source, so you can try it out at 
no cost, and if it doesn't do what you need you'll lose nothing.

But I'd be surprised if you weren't impressed with it.  VirtualBox may 
not have all of the features of Parallels, but with the shared 
Clipboard, shared folders, and so many other useful options I've found 
it very satisfying.  And the performance has been pretty much unmatched 
on the three machines I use it on (Mac Mini, MacBook Pro, and Dell laptop).

Since this is an older Mac, if RAM is scarce you might consider picking 
up a used PC from Craig's List or Ebay.  I've bought quite a few 
computers through each, and have saved a great deal of money.

And if you've been curious about learning more on the hardware side of 
things, building your own PC can save you even more.

Consider this DIY rig from NewEgg:
<http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.752616>

A Sandy Bridge CPU in an expandable case for just $188.  Add a hard 
drive and you're good to go with a fairly nice little system.

Heck, that's pretty much the cost of Parallels, and you get an whole 
computer instead. :)

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World
  LiveCode training and consulting: http://www.fourthworld.com
  Webzine for LiveCode developers: http://www.LiveCodeJournal.com
  LiveCode Journal blog: http://LiveCodejournal.com/blog.irv




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