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Because of some unexpected health issues I am selling my 48 x 48 large CNC router. Thinking of getting another much smaller one... has anyone ran either Mach4 or Acorn on the Win7 Pro Parallels side of a MacBook Pro. I think its to old to run Windows 10 so that is kind of ruled out.
I would not try running under parallels, but should work fine under bootcamp. I would not use a MacBook Pro as a machine controller, pick up a cheap intel nuc or minix type computer (sealed, no moving parts) to dedicate to the CNC, and use the Mac as a design computer.
I agree with Richard on all counts. You could also choose a small CNC that will support MacOS...Shapeoko does, for example. And you can still use Vectric software under Parallels for more advanced design while sending code to the machine from MacOS.
While many software programs will work running parallels or bootcamp under the Mac OS, I would not even think about using that scenario to run a cnc controller that was not designed for the Mac OS. It just isn't worth it from both operational and especially safety concerns.