Thanks, I was just wondering about this, I also would be interested in other's experiences with Parallels 7. I have a Mac Pro and I have never found running Revit on Parallels to be fast enough for me or work without issues ...I only run Revit in the native windows partition.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...864428302.html

All, I am looking for a few volunteers who are using Parallels, either 6 or 7, who would be willing to download and run a variation on the GPU portion of the RFO Benchmark, as well as looking for the graphic anomaly that I am seeing. I would like to verify if either problem is PD7 specifically, or perhaps PD7 only on Lion, or PD7 on Lion on certain graphics cards. The more info that I can pass on to parallels the better.
So, anyone interested, please PM me and I will hook you up with the download.

Thanks,
Gordon

Revit Architecture/MEP 2011+Parallels 7

I am relatively new to MAC and new to Revit. Just upgraded to Parallels 7 because I couldn't get MEP to open. Architecture does not open either, in Parallels 7. The VM is NOT on the Bootcamp Drive. Should it be? The MAC is a Macbook Pro I7, intel, new, Windows 7 OS.

Suziq,
Not sure why your Revit isn't launching, as I don't have any of the 2011 products installed to verify there are no issues. Perhaps someone else still has 2011 running?
You don't need to use BootCamp at all. For larger projects and such the improved graphic performance and access to more than 8 GB of RAM can be helpful, and some people set up their Parallels VM to point at the BootCamp install so they can work in either environment and be using the "same" Windows and Revit install. The machine you have should be more than enough horse power wise to run things fine. I think I would try a repair install of Revit first. One thing, was it working before you upgraded to PD7? And what version of Parallels are you upgrading from? Or is this a fresh VM started in PD7?

Also, with regards to your other post, you set the number of CPUs by opening Configure (the little gear in the lower right hand corner of the VM screen before you launch it. Then, under General you can set the CPU number. I just set it to as many as are available, as I find Parallels does a great job of balancing things, and when I am working in Revit I don't have a CPU intensive task going in the on the Mac side. I have tested this situation, and only really notice a slowdown with renderings and such anyway. User interaction has been great in both OSs.

Best,
Gordon

Hey Gordon,
Good timing on this thread. I was just emailed by some of the guys at HQ in Omaha who got there hands on a Mac somehow. First I know of it happening in our company. I have this mental image of some good ole Nebraska boys poking at a funny looking white computer with furrowed brows and frowns on their faces. Remember that scene from Zoolander? 'The files are IN the computer!!!'
Anyhoo, they want to do some testing with Parallels Desktop 7 and are interested in your settings. I see that you addressed this what about RAM and any other VM settings? And I suppose what are the specs of your Mac to start with? Maybe we can do some benchmarking as well and add to the stats.
Cheers!
Jason

I was using Parallels 6 before I wiped my 15" Mid 2010 MBP for Lion install. I decided I'd be better of just staying in bootcamp for my Revit work if that tells you my satisfaction with Parallels :/ Maybe more RAM (currently at 4gb) would make things a bit more pleasant but until then I'm just firing up bootcamp.

Lion + Parallels 7 + WinXP64 + Revit + reallyoldMacBookPro (2nd gen Intel, five years old now!) and no problems here. It's even a little faster than before on P6 & Snow Leopard. But still so much slower than my desktop that I don't really do any Revit work with my laptop, other than in the field, these days.

I'm getting a new MacBookPro that is an i7 machine this week, so I'll be able to report back once I get that setup.

Jeffrey, I don't want to take this thread far off-topic, but just wanted to mention that rumors are flying rampant that the MBP could see a refresh (CPU bump) as early as this month... so if a new MBP isn't urgent, you might see whether the rumors gain credibility.

Thanks for the heads up, but it's already here and I didn't have to pay for it so it's all good. ;-)