Parallels vs. Bootcamp?

[Grania]

I own an Intel-based MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard.  My partner recently gave me a shiny new copy of Windows 7, meaning I can now finally experience all the Sims 2 goodness previously denied me.  But after researching both Parallels and Bootcamp, I'm uncertain as to which is the better option for Sims 2 gaming.

On the one hand, Parallels offers the convenience of switching back and forth between TS2 and the business-type stuff I daily use my laptop for - it'll be something of a pain in the ass to reboot the machine every single time I want to switch between the two.  On the other hand, I imagine that Bootcamp might provide a superior gaming experience.  I'm slightly concerned that playing TS2 through Parallels might cause lag and that'll piss me off.

Any thoughts and/or suggestions?  Tales from Mac users playing TS2 under either one?

[shastakiss]

I can't help re Parallels but I tried VMware Fusion with Windows XP on my new intel mac (ATI Radeon HD 5670 video card). So the game loads and the nh view terrains were flashing red (very distracting). I entered a lot and it was just barely playable with more flashing who-knows-what. I don't even remember if it was laggy because I just hated it immediately, VMware graphics capabilities just couldn't keep up. From what I understand Parallels has better graphics than VMware but not that much better.

Then I tried Bootcamp running Windows 7 and ts2 is gorgeous. No lag. No regrets. My dad thought I'd hate having to re-boot so often but the new computer reboots sexy-fast. Your laptop may take longer though...

[Grania]

Snoopy, thanks so much.  That's EXACTLY the kind of feedback I was looking for, especially re: the reboot annoyance since that's my biggest concern about Bootcamp.  Flashing graphics is fail - looks like it's Bootcamp for me!   

[muridae]

Snoopy's right - the game will start up in Parallels or VMware Fusion, but the flashing grass and flashing walls will drive you insane. The reason for this is that they both use a virtualised version of your graphics card, so in VMware Fusion my ATI Radeon HD 5750 becomes "VMware SVGA 3D". The game has no idea what card that is, so can't make sensible decisions about how to handle it.

Possibly with enough fiddling with Video Cards.sgr it could be improved, but Bootcamp will always perform better anyway.

My Bootcamp partition has also been set up to run under VMware Fusion, which enables me to tweak things and organise my Downloads folder from the OS X side. Bodyshop runs, though the graphics are somewhat blockier than under Bootcamp, and SimPe seems to run fine.

[katalina]

I use Parallels but I don't play the game itself with it. I just use Windows 7 to run all the utility programs, and it works perfectly fine. But the virtual machines eat up HUGE chunks of RAM whenever they are opened, so if you haven't maxed yours out then you'll probably have problems, especially if your video card isn't meant for heavy graphics/gaming, as most Macs tend not to be.

The nice thing about Parallels is that you can install Windows on an external hard drive, meaning that you can keep using it even if you get a new computer without having to worry about reinstalling or buying a new license, which is annoying and expensive.