I'm slowly adjusting to the Mac Pro and figuring out how to make it do all the things I need it to do.

The next step is to add Photoshop (the windows version, which was the subject of another post that seems to have disappeared...) anyway, just wondering if more people liked/used VMware Fusion or Parallels Desktop?

It seems that VMWare Fusion is both cheaper and can utilize more RAM which seemed to make sense for running Photoshop. I installed a trial version of VMware Fusion and I think it's working OK. I really have nothing to compare it to. I did that without BootCamp since I want to be able to just switch in and out of that window for Photoshop, not using Windows for everything.

Also, you have to designate how much of the hard drive the virtual operating system can use. How much to I need? I assume that if I'm working in Windows in Photoshop that I'm saving that work to the regular hard drive but does that actually count toward filling up the virtual drive?

Any other suggestions on how this is all supposed to work that I may not know? Assume I know pretty much nothing about this.

Thanks!

I'd like to know about this too. I only use my klunky old PC to print on my Epson since I have more options with the PC driver, although I rarely print anything, but text based pages. Hope someone can chime in.

Never used Parallels, but we have VM Fusion installed on our iMac (running XP) and it rocks. I would highly recommend it. Very easy to use, and very fast!

BTW, I am only running this because of a sticker machine printer I have that only has drivers for Windows and will not run on OSX Otherwise OSX all the way!!

Oh and to answer your questions regarding virtual drive space, if you are going to run Photopshop in Windows then it will only use whatever space you allocate for the virtual OS. You may want to consider getting an external hard drive to use as a scratch disk in Windows for photoshop. Or, why don't you just call Adobe and get your license switched form Windows to Mac?

I'm using VMWare now as well for Quickbooks online as well as consulting, and so far it works really great! I set my max hard drive space to 20GB but I'm only using about 5gb right now.

Ditto what Dave said about getting a cross platform switch for Photoshop. If you have CS3 for PC, you'll just pay for shipping. If you have an older version, then you just pay an upgrade fee. It's brilliant!

As was the subject of another thread that seems to have disappeared, Adobe cancels your Windows key codes when you switch to Mac, they won't let you run both platforms at the same time and I still have a Dell laptop. So, until that gets upgraded in a couple of years I'll have to keep the windows version of Photoshop.

I've started using CS3 though VMware and while I'm still figuring it out, the one error message that I get that I don't think is my fault is when I open Bridge it says "This application requires an IntelPentium 4, Intel Celeron, Intel Core Duo or Intel Core 2 compatible processor. The application may perform poorly. Are you sure you want to continue?

I have an 8 core processor and I have 6GBs of RAM so I'm allowing VMware Fusion to use 3. I can't imagine that all that would not be enough for Bridge. Any idea why I'm getting that message? It seems to be working OK except that photoshop and bridge have both encountered errors and had to shut down a couple times - not uncommon with windows but seems to be a little more frequent than usual (like several times today).

Is it normal with VMware for any files I want to use through Windows from the Mac harddrive or connected external drive have to be shared on the network first?

I think I also haven't set something up right with the keyboard since the windows shortcuts and the F keys don't work. I haven't had a chance to figure that out yet. So much to learn, so little time!

Make that a BIG problem with Photoshop closing on me for no good reason. I've been working on a guest book and it's closed at least twice per page on the last three pages. Do you suppose it's because of working though VMware or because I'm doing that and pulling pictures off an external drive? I certainly can't have that when I'm designing an album and the pages are much more involved!

I would suggest VMware for your 8 core Mac Pro. This is only because fusion can use up to 2 cores where parallels can only use one. If you're already giving half your ram to windows, might as well give up 25% of your processing power.

I have the same 8 core mac pro with fusion and it seems to work OK.

Not great, just OK...There are issues as it seems that you are seeing, but it's a huge step up from dealing with dual booting or dealing with 2 computers.

The issues I talk about are mostly just annoyances, but windows wasn't designed to be run inside of a Mac, so any attempts to make it work will have side effects and require workarounds. Number lock and caps lock turning on and off at their own will for example. Not a big deal, but annoying.

I remember seeing your old thread about photoshop...The real question is how badly do you really need to have photoshop on your old windows laptop? After using the new Mac Pro, I couldn't imagine doing editing on a laptop, at least photoshop editing. Lightroom cataloging, maybe, but nothing really intensive.

If you start to find yourself not needing the laptop anymore, jump ship and switch photoshop over. Your working on $3000 worth of equiptment, and dealing VMware to save $600 on photoshop seems like a bit of a waste. Especially considering you need to spend 200 on windows then another 60 on VMware to even have the oppertunity to do this.

So i'd say switch your photoshop over to the Mac platform and try to deal without it on the laptop...use lightroom only to try to get by...if you can't, the 600 price tag is nothing, considering the system your using, and the fustration you'll avoid

The problem is that I travel a lot and the laptop goes with me (and some of that's out of the county where I need to finish projects for people while I'm there). But you're right, now that I'm getting used to a bigger screen with accurate color, editing on the laptop will only be done if absolutely necessary. I do correct and convert in Lightroom, but I use lots of actions in Photoshop for finishing the images and designing albums.

Have you seen the error message when opening Bridge in VMware?

I'm sorry but I haven't been using VMware for editing. Just random tasks that require windows.

The error message seems meaningless and I think it just means that adobe doesn't have the Xeon processors in it's known list of processors, so it complains...but that doesn't explain the crashing.

The sad part of all this is that the theifs that just steal this software don't have these problems.

I'd say its worth another call to adobe to see if you can work something out. If nothing else try to negotiate a second license for a much cheaper price. That will never be ideal though, because you'll end up having pay for two upgrades going forward.

I hate to say it, but the other thing to try is boot camp. In theory, this should work, but then you're using a Mac Pro to run windows which kind of defeats the purpose.

And to be honest...I have the same Mac Pro as you do, and I had high hopes that there would be this amazing fusion of software by installing windows through boot camp and letting VMware run along side OS X using the boot camp partition.

The whole thing is a big dud. Activation issues for windows...VMware has a bug that causes running against a boot camp partition to break if you have multiple internal drives. It's been an all together miserable experience, and boot camp has been removed and I'm running VMware for absolute essencials only. I'm in the process of getting those last little pieces moved over. I use microsoft money, and once quicken comes out with something decent for the mac, i'll be done with boot camp too. I hear fall of 08. I don't use it enough for it to be super urgent.

So again, try again talking to adobe...try again to get a second license for the mac. Re-iterate to them that you're not breaking your original license agreement and that you will be using one on a laptop and one on a desktop. Its thier problem that licenses cannot be cross platform, not yours, so demand a complementary second license. If nothing else, try to get it at a discount. Tell them that you already have a full version, so at the very least only charge me the upgrade.

If by some chance you can negotiate something, ask them what that will mean for future upgrades. You need to be able to upgrade both platforms and only pay once.

If none of that works, get a MacBook Pro Just kidding about that, kinda.

"So if I go out and buy a MacBook Pro, I can convert my license to the mac and run on a laptop and a desktop, but I cannot run on a laptop and a desktop now. Does that make any sense? What's the difference? Explain this to me. You know what, Pixelmator is looking better and better every day."

I called Adobe twice and was pretty pushy about what I wanted and they keep repeating the company policy, so I don't think there's a chance of getting a different story.

I'm running VMware Fusion without bootcamp. I'm still using the trial version which I hope I can buy and keep it running without having to start over (assuming that I decide to go that way).

I haven't had a big job to edit with the Mac Pro and Lightroom, so just using Photoshop it's hard to really appreciate the Mac.

I do love my Eizo monitor - prints look exactly like the monitor which is a refreshing change. Even with calibration the laptop still is way off.