![]() While this setup may not quite have the feel of running Windows natively, it’s a great fit for my personal choice of working with both operating systems.Īlong the way, a few things have surprised me: I have rarely witnessed a period of extreme “slowness”. My daily routine involves having Windows active on my main 27” external monitor running Visual Studio 2013 Ultimate and Outlook, with Chrome in OS X active on the MacBook Pro’s screen. Three months in and I am extremely happy with my setup. I can copy anything in OS X using Cmd+C and paste into Windows with Ctrl+V. Even small functionality like Copy-Paste works seamlessly. Simple things such as sharing folders and files between OS X and Windows allow me to be much more productive throughout my day. Thankfully I didn’t spend too much time relearning my workflow because Parallels makes context switching very unobtrusive. Through trial and error I figured out which environments work better for the things I do every day. The first few weeks of using the MacBook Pro with Parallels did take some time getting used to when it came to performing common tasks, such as reading e-mail in Outlook, browsing the web with Chrome, and writing code in Visual Studio. Getting Down to Work and Lessons Learned (So Far) Here’s a gallery of how I’ve configured Parallels to run on my machine (click to view each full-size image). The notebook is running two operating systems, which can sometimes generate a lot of work for the CPU. Expect the fan to spin up every now and then.Coherence mode did not perform well in my experience and was better left turned off.Being able to place a file on your Desktop in OS X and seeing that same file on your Windows desktop is very useful and time saving. ![]() Enable file and folder sharing between OS X and Windows.I achieved the best performance feel when only allocating 8 GB to Parallels. I had originally allocated 12 GB to Parallels and noticed the swap usage on the Mac side going up. Split the RAM 50/50 between OS X and the Parallels virtual.This was more performant than two cores, but not as resource-intensive as four cores. I configured Parallels to use three cores. Avoid allocating all CPU cores to the Parallels virtual.When it comes to configuring Parallels, here is a list of what I’ve learned so far: While the upgrades may not seem worth the expense to some, having extra memory and storage space puts my mind at ease and removes any dependency on external hard drives. The largest amount of storage space ensured I would have room for both operating systems to grow. With the decision to run Windows using Parallels 10, I knew the 16 GB of memory would be needed to ensure the best possible performance for both operating systems. I chose a mid-2014 13” MacBook Pro, equipped with a 2.8 GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 16 GB RAM, and a 512 GB SSD. An online retailer was offering Parallels 10 for free with the purchase of a MacBook Pro. Since we are predominately a Microsoft development shop (with quite a bit of time spent with C#), I needed some way to run Windows but still maintain quick access to OS X. For me, the 15” MacBook Pro wasn’t the greatest mobile solution. However, I quickly realized I was never going to use the machine to its full potential, and was spending more time charging it than I really desired. It was the most powerful configuration that could be had at that time - fastest processor, dedicated video card for gaming, etc. I had previously owned a 15” 2010 MacBook Pro. When I was deciding upon a configuration for the MacBook Pro, I wanted to be sure I had the right balance of performance vs. Having invested in the Mac platform for several years at home, I chose a MacBook Pro to consolidate my two workspaces – home and work – into one machine that was fully portable. We ended up with a good spread around the office – many choosing Surface Pro 3s or MacBook Pros, along with various other models. We wanted to encourage mobility and the freedom to work from different spaces when desired. At the beginning of 2015, the developers here at Don’t Panic Labs were given the option to choose any notebook or tablet computer to call our own.
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