Mid-2009 MacBookPro+Parallels+Solidworks 2013

[CheckThePlug]

OK, I have a pretty kooky scenario, but bear with me.

Computer:

Mid-2009 Macbook Pro
Mac OS X 10.6.8 (DO NOT WANT LION, at least not until more programs are updated properly)
2.8Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB DDR3 RAM
512 MB GeForce 9600M GT

Current setup:

Parallels 5
Windows XP 32-bit
Solidworks 2009

Since Solidworks 2013 will no longer support XP, I will need Windows 7.

Proposed setup:

Parallels 7
Windows 7 64-bit
Solidworks 2013





Does anyone have a similar setup with anything to report? I read a thread on the Parallels website from about a year ago talking about people with crawling performance with Win 7 64+Para 7+SW, so I'm a little nervous about messing up my setup when Solidworks is running pretty well right now. Do you think I should install 32-bit Windows 7 instead? I won't be building anything super crazy in terms of parts in an assembly, etc. Also, I can't really upgrade my computer since newer macs can't downgrade to Mac OS X 10.6 and I need Mac OS for other applications (or rather, every application except for Solidworks).

 

[CheckThePlug]

Oh, I should add, I have a 75GB Bootcamp partition that I use to run Parallels, if that makes any difference.

 

[AnnaWood]

I would BootCamp the MAC to run SolidWorks on the Windows partition. Works fine on my MacBook Air, 2nd gen....

Cheers,

Anna Wood
SW2011 SP5, Windows 7 x64

http://www.renderbay.com

http://www.solidmuse.com

http://www.phxswug.com

 

[CheckThePlug]

I'm trying to avoid Bootcamp, as, like I said, every other program I use is Mac based. I see you're one Windows 7 64-bit with SW 2011, how is that working out? Did you have XP on the same computer prior to Windows 7? Any noticeable speed difference?

 

[AnnaWood]

Windows7 is great. Much preferred over XP.

Anna Wood
SW2011 SP5, Windows 7 x64

http://www.renderbay.com

http://www.solidmuse.com

http://www.phxswug.com

 

[gwubs]

Heh heh, makes me tempted to chime in with a remark like: 'I think I'll get me a Mac to run Windows" , but that might incite a flame war, so I won't say it (This is just my way of looking at the humourous side of life, no offence guys)