Boot Camp presents an understandable advantage when used on an entry-level Mac with a slower processor and not a lot of RAM, because the device will only have to run a single operating system and not two at once. Since you are not using virtualization, your Mac will perform under Windows 10 just like a similar desktop or laptop. It will give you the best performance, and a PC-like experience, with all the benefits and drawbacks that come with it. I'll start with Boot Camp, because it is what every OS X user has easy access to.īoot Camp is best at one thing, and that is allowing you to run Windows 10 at full speed on a Mac. Now that you know Boot Camp and Parallels' features, let's talk about benefits. When this mode is enabled, you get the best of both worlds: the ability to experience OS X in all its glory while getting to keep all your favorite Windows programs close. The latter, called Coherence mode, is what makes Parallels special.

Chose it from the list of available software, and it will shortly appear on the screen like an OS X app. It can let you run Windows 10 in a typical virtual machine, but it can also allow you to run only the Windows program that you want. So, for all intents and purposes, you can look at this article as a comparison between Boot Camp, in its OS X 10.11 El Capitan form, and Parallels 11.īut why Parallels? I have mentioned that it is extremely versatile, and that is because Parallels has a dual personality.

But, before we dive into it, a quick note: the virtualization software has added support for Windows 10 in its 11th iteration, which is the latest available at the time of writing this article. You may notice some kinks here and there, depending on how polished the drivers are and whether Windows 10 supports all the features that the Mac offers, but, for the most part, it will all work as expected. As long as you have a large-enough USB drive and a Windows 10 ISO file, Boot Camp will help you get the job done with as little effort as possible.Īnd since traditional PCs and more-recent Macs are very similar hardware-wise, Windows 10 will run on a Mac pretty much like it would on a, say, Dell or HP laptop or custom-made desktop.

It also helps you partition the drive, and, after everything's done, it will even restart your Mac so that you are taken right to the initial Windows 10 setup process. The tool, which officially supports Windows 10, will create a bootable USB installation media of the operating system, adding the necessary drivers for your Mac in the process. To start, let's talk about what sets Boot Camp and Parallels apart.Īpple has created Boot Camp with the goal of making it easy for Mac users to natively install Windows on their device, alongside OS X.

Bootcamp or parallels for mac