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Windows vs. Mac plus Parallels
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Posted by bigspud
Nov 20, 2016 at 10:23 AM
Certainly wish the divide of mapping out keyboard actions was dealt with better through parallels. Oh, for a pageup and pagedown/ insert key in mac hardware! Sure, I know there are utilitties to rub this down, but seamless working between the two without a serious amount of fiddling??
Can it be made easy? I want to know!
Posted by Paul Korm
Nov 20, 2016 at 01:49 PM
Well, it’s pretty easy to configure keyboard shortcuts to assign key combos on the Mac to Windows keys—I’ve configured ⌥I to trigger “Insert” in Windows. It’s a one-time setting in the options for a virtual machine. Once-and-done. No fiddling at all LOL—Google will tell you how.
bigspud wrote:
Certainly wish the divide of mapping out keyboard actions was dealt with
>better through parallels. Oh, for a pageup and pagedown/ insert key in
>mac hardware! Sure, I know there are utilitties to rub this down, but
>seamless working between the two without a serious amount of fiddling??
>Can it be made easy? I want to know!
Posted by Hugh
Nov 21, 2016 at 02:44 PM
Yes, three or four years ago, there was a period when I ran Windows on my Mac Mini (which is now rather underpowered by the standards of today, but then was fairly sprightly). My main purpose was to use Nuance’s Dragon Naturally Speaking, a Windows speech-to-text programme which was then more capable than its Mac equivalent. I used it principally with MS Word for Windows, but also with various other Windows programmes (including, if I remember correctly, a trial version of Connected Text.)
It all worked successfully, but I learnt, or re-learnt, three things. One was that with heavyweight programmes of this sort, plus OSX plus Parallels plus Windows, you really can’t have too much RAM. Having established that 8Gb was insufficient for Naturally Speaking and Word to function efficiently, I ended up with 16Gb. (Fortunately, my model of the Mini, unlike more recent ones, allows the user to increase its load of RAM - up to a maximum of 16Gb.) Secondly, launching Parallels plus Windows was quite what my grandmother used to call “a palaver”- in other words a prolonged and tedious fuss - especially when Windows wanted to update. It is an under-statement to say that Parallels plus Windows did not rest lightly on my machine. And lastly - I was confirmed in my close-to-dislike of Windows.
It was with relief that I returned 100 per cent to OSX (even though Dragon for Mac remained and remains significantly less capable than Dragon Naturally Speaking).