I forgot my Parallels trial ran out the other day so I figured I'd give Virtualbox another shot. I've used VB for years with Linux guest OSes, but never for something 'critical' like using Windows for work purposes.

I just set up a fresh Windows 7 install in VB and I've got to say Parallels spanks it in terms of performance and seamlessness. I always like VB for Linux inside of Windows... maybe it just doesn't play well with OSX 10.7 or with Windows 7 as a Guest?

Anyone have any experince with both VB and a 'commercial' option?

follow up - XP runs like greased lightning and doesn't require as much RAM so it doesn't bog down the host OS nearly as much either. must be something with the graphics in 7.

You need to enable all the GPU optimization if you're using Windows 7.
It's turned off by default.

I did...

but now XP is giving me trouble. Liteware throws an error when you go to connect to a CCU then locks up the whole OS.

Oh boy, here we go.

why not just use parallels?
are you just having fun trying to get VB working?

you can just ask for another trial of parallels (to a different email address?)
while you figure things out.

Yeah VB is not going well. Liteware will install but crashes out when you try to connect to a processor. CCP from URC won't even finish installing.

Good call on the 2nd trial, it worked like a charm. Just trying to avoid spending extra $$ this week, had a bunch of 'unforseen' (badly planned) school/college expenses at the last minute.... :)

I Messed around with VB for a couple days. could not get it stable.... Now I've got a Boot camp partition installed and it installed fine, but due to Boot camp not being compatible with anything other than WIndows 7, I cant activate my Windows 7 because its an "Upgrade" Cant install my vista in order to upgrade.... Kinda lame...

Once i get my licensing straightened out, I plan on installing Parallels and using my bootcamp partition as the install. But right now, I guess ihave to buy a new OEM copy of W7 as well...

So many expenses...

VB was always flawless with Linux guest OSes. I don't know if it's the Windows guests that are flaky or if it's just how it runs on OSX is flaky.

Sucks that once again I can't use open source software when it comes down to crunch time. :/

I used Parallels for a while with my Mac Mini (8gig ram). I didn't really care for the virtual mode too much. To me it is faster just to re-boot and use Boot Camp to choose OS or Windows 7.

I'm done with boot camp.
parallels and windows 7 is very fast for me.

works flawlessly and i can suspend the VM anytime i need and jump back in very quickly.

Yeah, it's VERY fast on these new machines. Can't wait to get another 4GB to see how well it works... :)

Plus I think it's easier to deal with VMs than it is to deal with a new partition. I just got out of a weird situation by simply reverting to a new "Snapshot" of the VM and it took, no kidding, about 2 seconds.