[SteelWheel]

Anyone doing this? I'm considering getting a MacBook Pro, when the new versions come out in June. I successfully played online poker on PokerStars yesterday, on an iMac at my local Apple store..they just left me alone while I downloaded and installed the software..wild... Although I have seen some threads on the Parallels user forums that indicate that Windows online poker clients can be a little unstable with prolonged use (mostly, issues having to do with heavy multi-tabling and/or animation issues apparently), I had no such trouble.

Online poker and online bridge are basically my only two "must have" Windows apps, so was hoping someone here had some experiences to share.

Thanks.

[barmar]

I would expect BBO to work fine in Parallels. Parallels is essentially like Virtual PC, in that it runs a normal Windows OS in an embedded virtual machine, and I've been using BBO with absolutely no problems in VPC for years.

[keylime]

I'd be curious to see if it'll work on CrossOver or on VirtualPC 2007.

[uday]

You won't have any trble w/parallels. Crossover is a little weirder but it also seems to work fine ( and it is much cheaper).

[JanM]

I've been running BBO in Crossover Mac for several months, and although it took me a little while to get it set up (with help from Barry & Uday) and once in a while something funny happens, in general it's been as stable as when I used to run BBO in VPC on my old Mac. I like having it in a Mac-like window and love the fact that when I click on a URL or copy a chat message or save something, it's all on my Mac instead of on a Virtual PC that I don't know how to use . And I don't have to either reboot (Boot Camp) or designate a bunch of memory to the PC that I use only for BBO (Parallels).

[barmar]

keylime, on May 29 2007, 07:39 PM, said:

I'd be curious to see if it'll work on CrossOver or on VirtualPC 2007.

AFAIK there is no VirtualPC 2007 for the Mac, only for PC's.

[mgoetze]

I run BBO in a Win2k Parallels VM. I've never had any problems, and it's now even better with the new Coherence feature.

[SteelWheel]

@JanM: I had not realized that Crossover was such a viable option for stuff like BBO and/or Online Poker. I had assumed that it was really aimed more at enterprise users, as opposed to personal or entertainment type uses, such as these. Thanks.

@Uday and mgoetze: Thanks for the word on Parallels..allays some of my concerns. Yeah, that "Coherence" mode is something else, isn't it?

Once I get back from the World Series of Poker, I'll see if I want to take the plunge on this. There aren't really all that many must-have Windows apps for me. I would still probably end up getting Parallels and/or setting up a Boot Camp partition for "just in case" situations.

OTOH, the idea of getting a couple of my pet Windows apps to run via Crossover (and not giving up the overhead of splitting my RAM in half just to do so, as in Parallels, or rebooting altogether, as in Boot Camp) is very intriguing as well.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

For those who might care about such things: Occasional updates from the World Series of Poker available at my Twitter micro-blog: http://twitter.com/SteelWheel

I'll mostly be playing some of the higher limit cash games, not so many tournament events, but if anyone wants to read a story or two, by all means join the party.

Cya in late July or so....