Mac Partition for Sewing Software

[Mercedes]

Hi,

I'm at the point of figuring out what to use to partition my Mac so that I can install my 4D Professional Embroidery Software. Along this this software, I may want to install some Longarm software in the future. I'm wondering if anyone on the list has used BootCamp, Parallels or VMFusion to partition their Mac and which one would worked the best. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Still waiting for my son in law to get well and come put my Millenium head back on the frame. I'm hoping maybe this weekend.

Anyone on the list sign up for the Sewing symposium in Olympia, Wa. in August. I'm going to two days worth of Irene Blume classes and another design class. Can hardly wait. If anyone from the list is going, would like to meet you there. Mercedes

[Sparkle]

Hi Mercedes,

I have a fairly new iMac desktop computer and quite a lot of software for embroidery, electric quilt, designs, etc. and decided to not partition my new Mac, but instead use my windows based laptop for that type of stuff.

For one thing besides partitioning off some of the Mac, I would have probably need to install Window 7, then an Anti Virus program.

If you have a laptop, or can find a used one reasonable, it might be a better way to go, especially if you are transporting it to your embroidery machine or your long arm.

There is a good iMac discussion group on Yahoo you might want to join---

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/iMacChat/

[Mercedes]

Yes, I knew I would have to install windows 7 and anti-virus and get my printer to work in both MAC and windows environments but I really didn't want two PC's. I'll check out this chat site. Thanks for the tip....Mercedes

[meg_marsh]

Hi Kay,

I am a Mac person. Have used Fusion, Parallels and Boot Camp. In the end I have liked Boot Camp the best. You will have to shut down your Mac side and reboot to Windows & vise-versa to go between the 2 formats, but since I don't use the Windows side other than to work on emb/quilting projects, it isn't a big deal to me.

[Matt Sparrow]

I struggled with all three and finally decided to try VirtualBox and am so happy I did! I recommend Virtual Box over all three.

[cjtinkle]

I have tested all three options fairly extensively. What works best VARIES depending on the versions of software available at the time.

Boot Camp pretty much always works perfectly. It's like running Windows on any other PC, and your fastest option. You really only need this if you play graphic intensive games.

Of the 2 virtual machines, I've always preferred VMWare's Fusion, right up until Parallels 5. It blows Fusion 3 right out of the water, and is now nearly as fast as running natively in Boot Camp.

I use Bernina's Designer Plus (V6) software, and while perfectly usable in Fusion, it was pretty sluggish, especially if I was working on something super stitch intensive.

But Parallels 5 is amazing, and even my graphic intensive software like it run great! I also run Electric Quilt 6 in it, and the Machine Business Manager software.

I run Windows 7 home premium edition, 64 bit, and my Mac runs in 64 bit mode (although you have to either remember to boot it up in 64 bit mode by holding down the 6 + 4 keys during boot up, or edit some settings, a bit more complicated).

Using Boot Camp just wasn't workable for me, as you have to reboot and work in the Windows side only. Usually if I'm working on an embroidery project or a quilt, I may need those programs open for several hours... in the meantime I like to be able to check something online or read my email or do whatever, all that software is on the Mac side. Yes... you can get online from the Windows side, but I choose not to.

[Sparkle]

In final conclusion-----wouldn't it be nice if we could buy Mac versions of some of this software (like EQ, and Palette and Pre Design, etc) and not have to partition or consider options that work best. (sigh)

I actually like having the software on my laptop as I work in my sewing room, outside and even at Starbucks! and my iMac is strictly stationary. I've been tempted to buy a Mac Pro laptop, but then for sure I would have to partition it off which for some reason I hesitate to do as I explained I don't want to toggle back and forth and personally, the more I use Mac, the more I dislike Windows. It's sort of a rock and hard place.

Love my iMac---While we are talking Macs---my year of service contract is expiring in June. Did you all buy extended warranties? I'm seriously considering this as I recently had a problem with my less than 9 month old iMac and it had to go into the shop.

If you purchased an extended warranty---did you buy it directly from Apple or someplace else. I see Amazon has extended warranties for sale for less than the Apple Store. Just wondering---thanks.

[Matt Sparrow]

We have completely switched over to Macs in our house we now have two IMacs and two MacBooks. We love them to death. And YES wouldn't it be great if all software had a Mac version.

As far as the extended warranty, Every one of our harddrives has crashed. All four have been replaced with 1.5T hard drives. Which are huge. We bought a 2T Time Capsule and all our computers back up to it every half hour and it's wireless. We also use it as a wireless modem and it has increased our connection from 2.4GHz to 5GHz. All our computers are now lightning fast.

If I could go back and do it all over I would buy the extended warranty and upgrade my RAM to 4gb on all the computers.

[fineseams]

I've been a mac owner since the very first little Macintosh computer. I keep a separate PC laptop for those things that have to run on a PC. The laptop is handy for transporting stuff around the house/studio.

I ALWAYS buy Applecare with every Mac we have owned. If you have a hardware problem, it is taken care of. Over the years I've lost a a hard drive, a mother board, and 2 optical readers. But the thing I LOVE about Applecare is that if you have a software question, no matter how silly, you call and speak to someone who will help you quickly every time.

Yesterday I spent all afternoon on the phone being transferred from person to person with a problem with my HP laptop. IN the end, they never solved my problem. It reminded me of how much I appreciate Apple's customer service. It also made me think that perhaps I would just partition my Mac and abandon the PC altogether.

[cjtinkle]

We are also a Mac household (as of two years ago) and absolutely love them! (iPhones too! And an AppleTV!)

For Christmas last year we bought my parents an iMac as well. With all of them, we purchase the AppleCare plan. I bought our plans via Amazon, they were cheaper than in the Mac store.

I probably wouldn't have bothered with a plan like Applecare had not the iMac been an "all in one" unit much like a laptop. I was afraid it would have heat issues, but no problems to date.

[Guest Linda S]

I partitioned my drive using Bootcamp, but I use Parallels to run the virtual machine. Seems to work pretty well. I too wish quilting software would run on a Mac. I just set up an old PC (ick) at home so I could just print out paperpieced patterns from Foundation Factory, etc. Just easier than making the journey to the "dark side" of the Mac.

Linda