The Fastest and Best PC I've Owned

audioguy

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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I have been an avid Mac user since 1978 when I purchased my first Apple II. Fast forward almost 40 years and we have 2 MacBook Pros, 3 iPads, 1 Mac Desktop, multiple iPhones. But I have always had some PC laptops for measuring software (OmniMic) and a number of other audio and video apps, including Dirac 2 for the Datasat RS20i.

I recently added Parallels to my MacBook Pro and am running Windows on it. (Parallels allow multiple operating systems so I could be running multiple versions of Windows). What a screamer.

The Fastest and Best PC I've owned is a Mac. Gotta love it !!!
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
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My son and crew at work run the same config. They have a bunch of tools which only run under Windows and one that only runs under Mac. It is fine 99% of the time but occasionally they run into driver issues.

I almost did that but could not get a matte screen without special order so went the HP route.
 

audioguy

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Why did you need/want the matte screen?

I just got tired of having to lug multiple (and too heavy) PC laptops (needed one for backup)when I did a calibration setups a long way from home. While I still need to take two, the MacBook is MUCH lighter than either of the laptops --- and much faster. But i am aware of the limitations in this approach but so far have not run into them.
 

wgscott

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Sep 1, 2011
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Because it doesn't reflect windows and lamps in our living room onto my screen. Otherwise the dark areas of the screen become mirrors and quite annoying to look at.

As a long-time Apple fanboi, this is the single most annoying thing they have done to their iMacs (and other screens). It actually damages my vision I think. It certainly gives me serious eye-strain.

I bought some Samsung matte-screen monitors for the lab, along with mac minis, because of this problem. It is really strange that they regard this as an asset rather than a problem. Their solution is just to crank the brightness all the way up, which I guess can sort of help, but wastes energy and contributes to eye-strain.

As for Windows on a mac, we were surprised to find it appeared to run better (using a model airplane flight simulator as a metric) on our mac mini in boot-camp than on some PCs of nominally better specs that were designed for Windows.
 

NorthStar

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Feb 8, 2011
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I think it was $79.00
The only role the internet plays is downloading the software. If that is an issue, they (Parallels) can send you a disc.

That's all...eighty bucks!

* As for the speed; you are correct and I thought of that too...it all depends of what you using it for... But hi-speed is always desirable...no matter what...the internet is part of the totality.

This "Parallels" thing/addition I know nothing...can you please expand on that Chuck...like educate us...if you don't mind much...with pics, graphs, links, ...all that scientific approach...I am surely motivated in my learning interest. You got my attention now...only eighty bucks! :cool:
 

wgscott

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Sep 1, 2011
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I've been running Windows XP in an old version of Parallels at work for the purpose of running some software than provides the interface for laboratory equipment. It is completely stable. The only thing I haven't ben able to see it do is support some games (and the above-mentioned model airplane simulator). But anything like a web browser or Office or anything that has a relatively slow-moving 2D interface works fine. You can actually run it without the OS window in Parallels, so it pretty much as if you had the application running in OS X. Actually, now that I think about it, it is VMWare fusion, which is basically the same thing. It was a bit cheaper at the time. Both are great options.
 

asiufy

Industry Expert/VIP Donor
Jul 8, 2011
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+1 on the Apple / matte screen thing... That's one thing I seriously miss on my otherwise great Retina screen.

AFAIK there's simply no option to order matte screens anymore, with Apple.

But of course, I'd rather use the glossy screen on a Mac than use Windows :)
 

FrantzM

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Hi

You must however keep in mind that you must purchase a copy of Windows to run on Parallel; the total cost would be around $200 if you go for Win 7 Pro.. I don't know how well Parallels runs Windows 10, nor do I care: The Windows applications (sorry "Apps" ) I need, run on Win 7( especially Visio, why in the world there is no Mac Version of this very useful software is beyond me ..) so ...
 

audioguy

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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That's all...eighty bucks!

* As for the speed; you are correct and I thought of that too...it all depends of what you using it for... But hi-speed is always desirable...no matter what...the internet is part of the totality.

This "Parallels" thing/addition I know nothing...can you please expand on that Chuck...like educate us...if you don't mind much...with pics, graphs, links, ...all that scientific approach...I am surely motivated in my learning interest. You got my attention now...only eighty bucks! :cool:

I can provide no technical assistance or expansioin on how it works. While I was a computer programmer when I got out of college [for about 5 to 7 years], that was before air was invented [AND before the IBM 360 was announced]. You go to the Parallels website and pay for, download and install the software. They have excellent support. When I had a couple of issues, they had me downlaod a little program that gave them temporary access to my Mac, they got stuff fixed, and away I went.

But as Amir noted, you do have to pay for a copy of Windows if you don't already have one.

And speaking of Macs, I downloaded the most recent operating system and my Macs really seem to run much faster. Anyone else had that experience.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
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Seattle, WA
This "Parallels" thing/addition I know nothing...can you please expand on that Chuck...like educate us...if you don't mind much...with pics, graphs, links, ...all that scientific approach...I am surely motivated in my learning interest. You got my attention now...only eighty bucks! :cool:
This is a concept called "virtual machine." The idea is to create multiple "virtual" computers inside one computer.

Normally an operating system expect to run on real hardware. It expects to "own" the CPU, memory, your input/output devices, etc. When you boot MacOS, that is exactly what happens. It grabs all of the hardware and boots and lets you use the system.

Software like Parallels, is a special MacOS program that creates a virtual computer. There is hardware assist inside of the CPU to make this easier/work the details of which I won't get into. Once there, you run the install script for Windows and it sees an environment like a new PC. It thinks it is running on a blank new computer.

Handing the CPU and memory to Windows is easy. The hard part is input and output. Your screen for example now needs to be shared between two operating systems, neither one of which thinks the other operating system exists! What happens then is one OS is the master, in this case MacOS. The other OS is a guest. Any time Windows attempts to talk to a device like your graphics card, it actually talks to Parallels which then coordinates with MacOS graphics to display what it wants. Same with keyboard, mouse, etc.

I better stop here as I am not sure if I am helping you understand this or get more confused. :) Think of renting a room in your house to someone else but having that person share your kitchen. Your house and kitchen are the MacOS, the rented room is Windows.
 

wgscott

Member
Sep 1, 2011
131
0
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CA (USA)
That's all...eighty bucks!

* As for the speed; you are correct and I thought of that too...it all depends of what you using it for... But hi-speed is always desirable...no matter what...the internet is part of the totality.

This "Parallels" thing/addition I know nothing...can you please expand on that Chuck...like educate us...if you don't mind much...with pics, graphs, links, ...all that scientific approach...I am surely motivated in my learning interest. You got my attention now...only eighty bucks! :cool:

Parallels and VMware Fusion (the one I am using currently) are very similar in functionality and price. https://www.vmware.com/products/fusion This explains the basic idea for both.

You can install Win 10 for free. I did with one of the pre-releases (in order to update the firmware on my bicycle Di2 shifting system). The other thing you can do, at least with VMware, is clone a current Windows OS and run it with that.
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
24,305
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435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
This is a concept called "virtual machine." The idea is to create multiple "virtual" computers inside one computer.

Normally an operating system expect to run on real hardware. It expects to "own" the CPU, memory, your input/output devices, etc. When you boot MacOS, that is exactly what happens. It grabs all of the hardware and boots and lets you use the system.

Software like Parallels, is a special MacOS program that creates a virtual computer. There is hardware assist inside of the CPU to make this easier/work the details of which I won't get into. Once there, you run the install script for Windows and it sees an environment like a new PC. It thinks it is running on a blank new computer.

Handing the CPU and memory to Windows is easy. The hard part is input and output. Your screen for example now needs to be shared between two operating systems, neither one of which thinks the other operating system exists! What happens then is one OS is the master, in this case MacOS. The other OS is a guest. Any time Windows attempts to talk to a device like your graphics card, it actually talks to Parallels which then coordinates with MacOS graphics to display what it wants. Same with keyboard, mouse, etc.

I better stop here as I am not sure if I am helping you understand this or get more confused. :) Think of renting a room in your house to someone else but having that person share your kitchen. Your house and kitchen are the MacOS, the rented room is Windows.

Thanks everyone who took the time to post in this thread.

* I did not search "Parallels' using my Google browser, I let you gentle folks free to share your own views.

Amir, I see multiple computers interconnected in parallel with multiple screens with each one specialized in its own task.
Like in some movies for example; 'Swordfish' (2001), 'Minority Report' (2002), 'Deja Vu' (2006), 'Live Free or Die Hard' (2007), 'Unstoppable' (2010), 'Blackhat' (2015), 'ex_machina' (2015), and several others where multiple screens are used to perform multiple tasks, and without interfering between each other; clean, efficient and fast.

I'm not sure how far off I am of my understanding, without ever having experienced it. "Virtual machine/computer" sounds like science-fiction in real holographic/3D world to my brain. If Edward Snowden is using "Parallels" in his computer's mastering craft, that would make sense.

I appreciate you taking the time to explain in your own expert words; I am now ready to explore this subject further, by using my Goggle Chrome home browser.
Sounds like fascinating stuff, and affordable too. 'Parallels', I have never heard of it before till Chuck started this thread, right here @ WBF. That is cool.
 

GaryProtein

VIP/Donor
Jul 25, 2012
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Like Amir said, the matte screen is the way to go and is definitely worth the few extra dollars.
 

sbo6

VIP/Donor
May 18, 2014
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Round Rock, TX
I'd be surprised if running a Virtual server in this case, Parallels causes some degradation in performance. You are running a "hypervisor" that manages the virtual machines and that has overhead. From a performance point of view (if that's your thing) I wouldn't recommend it. If you wanted both Windows and MacOS on 1 machine, I'd dual boot, avoids any performance penalty but does have the downside of only 1 OS at a time.
 

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