MacUser - What to do?

[PequDios]

I am fairly new to poker and have been playing some online poker but haven't really used any poker software. So now I wanted to try some of that but since I own a Mac there is not a lot that I can use. I want to use PokerTracker and was thinking that maybe I should get Paralells... Are there any Mac users here that have experince with Mac software or using Windows software through paralells or Boot Camp?

[thejerkface]

I'm not a Mac user, but I've been planning on getting a Mac and have done a fair amount of research. You should have no problem running Windows apps on Parallels or Boot Camp.

The main benefit of Parallels is that you don't have to reboot in order to run your poker software. However, it costs $80, whereas Boot Camp is free. Besides cost, there is no decided advantage to Boot Camp. If you're a heavy 3-D gamer, some of your games may not be supported in Parallels, but Parallels 3.0 has made a lot of advances in 3-D gaming.

You can utilize both Paralles and Boot Camp on the same Mac. This tutorial explains how. I think this is your best bet. I would start off with Boot Camp because it's free. Then if you find having to reboot into windows to play poker tiresome, you can always fork over the $80 to get parallels.


If you're looking for more information, you'd be better off posting on a Mac forum or in the Parallels forum.

Also, I would hold off on getting PokerTracker, Holdem Manager will be coming out soon and it looks like it'll be awesome. Plus they'll be a free beta period so you can test it out and see if it's worth it.

[hasanthadon]

i have a macbook and i run parallels on it with pokertracker and PAHUD

it doesnt work well.

even with my upgraded 2gb of ram, and even with almost every application closed, the fan goes CRAZY loud when i run parallels and the macbook gets REALLY hot. but thats not the end of the world.

what DOES suck is the fact that the PAHUD stats are so awkwardly placed on the tables because of the weird resolutions that Parallels uses. even in full screen mode i cant get the PAHUD stats to display properly... unless i resize it JUST right... in which case i can only have two tables open, and im used to playing 10NL 4 tables...

i dont know if windows users have the problem im having, but its a pain in the butt and while i can use pokertracker to keep track of my stats, using PAHUD sucks... even though it would be so helpful if i could use it. does anyone konw of any alternative software that might work better?

[PequDios]

Thanks for the reply. Will
Just wondering about these software like PokerTracker and Holdem Managaer, now I'm no computer whiz but some of these things look complicated. Is it hard to understand or does it just take time?

[jtflush29]

You can also use PokerBuddy which is currently in Beta for FullTilt and Pary Poker.

www.poker-bud.com

[tsearcher]

Poker Tracker, PAHUD, SNGPT and basically any poker software out there will run on an Intel Mac running boot camp. I've been doing this since October of 2006 and never had a problem.

[ghaz]

Try out vmware, seriously... its idle usage is WAY lower than parallels (Parallels used 30% on my machine, vmware uses around 6%). Your heat issues are probably due to Parallels sucking the cpu. Give it a go, I use it to 12 table party and it's pretty decent. Lots of ram is recommended tho.

[thejerkface]

VMware is in beta and it's currently free. If you like it, you can preorder it for $40, instead of the $80 it'll cost when it is generally released.

[Genz]

I use boot camp on a Macbook Pro and it works well. Most sites' software is pretty poorly written and uses a huge amount of hardware resources; combine this with the database applications of PT and PAHUD and parallels is out.

[roblin]

hi rez:
http://surl.se/btde
my setup:
http://img166.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img1169xc7.jpg