I have a new MacBook (this time my own, not on loan) but still have to run Windows to use my favorite editing program, Sony Sound Forge. For me, this means putting Windows in a virtual terminal run by Parallels.

The latest edition of Parallels makes it almost seamless. I can drag files from the Apple window to the Windows window. I can run Sound Forge in “Coherence” mode so it looks just like a program on the Mac desktop. It’s also dead easy to install Vista. Just put the disk in the drive, put the license number into Parallels, and press “go”.

I thought I might as well get hold of Windows Vista and bought a copy on eBay for around £85. The edition I bought was supposed to be sold with hardware, and this turned out to be a piece of useless cable included inside the envelope. As I discovered the hard way, you have to make sure you get the 32 bit edition to run on parallels. I had to resell the 64 bit and buy a 32 bit. In the course of this hiccup, I learned the pros and cons of 32 bit V 64 bit vista. I appears that 64 Bit has more security features, but not all hardware drivers work with it.

My impressions of Vista? It looks nicer than XP, and the desktop sidebar is a good place to put widgets but unfortunately, I can’t quite be bothered to dig deeply because I’m still learning tricks on the Mac. I don’t want to throw myself to deeply into the Mac V Vista debate, but I will say that I consider my Mac to be a bit of an indulgence. It’s a beautiful top quality machine, but it comes are a really steep price. I love it, but it is elitist. I’m afraid Mac isn’t going to take over world just yet for this reason alone.