Parallels Desktop 4.0 Available

[Vincent Ferrari]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/' target='_blank'>http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Already the world&rsquo;s No. 1 selling Mac system utility, Parallels Desktop for Mac now has more than 1.5 million users worldwide and counting. Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac provides the complete suite of essentials to run Windows on the Mac the easy, fast and powerful way."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1226411212.usr18053.jpg" border="1" /></p><p>The one thing that has always annoyed me about Parallels is how greedy it is when you run it and the lack of performance you get when accessing the file system.&nbsp; According to Ars, they've made big strides in the performance area (50% is a nice number) but as with all benchmarks, I'll have to see that one to believe it.&nbsp; I'm probably going to spring for this upgrade, though.&nbsp; As little as I actually use Parallels, it's very handy to have around.&nbsp; Any of you folks out there have it yet?&nbsp; If so what do you think?</p>

[txa1265]

I haven't used it since the first release ... and found the performance hit too great - I have just stuck with Bootcamp.

[Joe Johaneman]

For performance, I'd go with Virtualbox (which has the added benefit of being free). It's a little feature lite, though. Hard to share folders with the mac, etc, so I just use external "cloud" storage for that stuff.

For features, I like VmWare Fusion 2. It's not as resource intensive as Parallels, at least in my testing.

[Macguy59]

For performance, I'd go with Virtualbox (which has the added benefit of being free). It's a little feature lite, though. Hard to share folders with the mac, etc, so I just use external "cloud" storage for that stuff.

When Virtualbox gets raw disc access going I'll give it a whirl. For the time being I'll stick with Bootcamp

[doogald]

I'm going to wait to upgrade for a week or so - I'll let others test it for me. ;)

I hardly ever use Windows these days - I generally just start Parallels to grab something from eWallet, and when they have a Mac version I may drop XP - but my experience with Parallels from the beginning has been fantastic. I upgraded from an 800 MHz Dell notebook with 1 GB or RAM and I found that Parallels running XP with even with 512k flies in comparison to what I was used to.

I actually also have XP on the family iMac for my son's few Windows games but he hasn't played them in at least a year now, so I'm not so sure about that one. But I may actually switch that machine from Bootcamp to Parallels 4 just to get the disk space back . . .

[Macguy59]

But I may actually switch that machine from Bootcamp to Parallels 4 just to get the disk space back . . .

Are you really gaining that much disk space? Been awhile since I've used Parallels but doesn't it require a certain amount of disk space to create the VM in?

[Vincent Ferrari]

I haven't used it since the first release ... and found the performance hit too great - I have just stuck with Bootcamp.

It has gotten better over the years, but it's still a bit of a bear. Luckily for me, I don't really need Windows, but it would be nice to have a viable usable Windows option.

[doogald]

Are you really gaining that much disk space? Been awhile since I've used Parallels but doesn't it require a certain amount of disk space to create the VM in?

With Boot Camp you need to set aside a certain amount of disk space; with Parallels you can create an expanding hard disk that only uses the space that your windows partition uses, plus there is a compressor tool that optimizes and then reshrinks the disk after you have used it for a while.

But, of course, the other great benefit is that you do not need to restart in Boot Camp to access Windows. For what I need, which is a fairly minimal Windows partition, Parallels has been fantastic.

[alex_kac]

Everything I've read about Parallels 4 is that its got lots of nice features and very poor stability. For some its great. For many others its not. I use Fusion 2.0 and frankly it works, its stable and that's it for me.

[Michael Knutson]

I've tested both products extensively, and later versions of VMWare have snuck ahead a bit on the performance scale ... at least for me. However, I may give Parallels another try since I have multiple Macs, and, unlike some of the other posters, still use Windows "stuff" extensively (for work). Faster is always better IMHO! Interesting to see that there is a third option (in addition to Crossover Mac). Anyone gotten Crossover to work well with Windows apps? I've tried with Lotus Notes (unstable, slow) until I got a Mac version of LN running.

Editors: Kudos for getting Apple Thoughts up and running!

[Vincent Ferrari]

Interesting to see that there is a third option (in addition to Crossover Mac). Anyone gotten Crossover to work well with Windows apps? I've tried with Lotus Notes (unstable, slow) until I got a Mac version of LN running.

I've yet to get Crossover working at anything near an acceptable level with any application I've thrown at it. It's borderline unusable.

Editors: Kudos for getting Apple Thoughts up and running!

Thanks! :)

[Joe Johaneman]

I've used crossover a few times with unsatisfactory results. It has the exact same issues that WINE has under Linux. I have gotten a few windows game to run with it, like Simcity 2000, and Baldur's Gate II, but I've had no luck with apps.

[TopDog]

I had to help a colleague the other day with Parallels and networking...

It may just be that I'm so used to VMware Fusion, Workstation and Server, but I found Parallels confusing.

I'm using VMware Fusion every day and love it! I don't use the Unity function however, it's just to CPU consuming and not really that much more effective than just running the whole image in a window.

[Darius Wey]

Everything I've read about Parallels 4 is that its got lots of nice features and very poor stability. For some its great. For many others its not. I use Fusion 2.0 and frankly it works, its stable and that's it for me.

I had bad experiences with Parallels 2 and 3. I've yet to try Parallels 4, but initial reports regarding stability aren't motivating me to do so.

I switched to Fusion 2.0 a couple of months ago and haven't looked back.

[Darius Wey]

Anyone gotten Crossover to work well with Windows apps? I've tried with Lotus Notes (unstable, slow) until I got a Mac version of LN running.

Check out the compatibility guide: http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/

Speaking from experience, most gold (and silver, in some cases) apps work great. The rest, less so. There's another option that I haven't seen mentioned yet, and that is VirtualBox (http://www.virtualbox.org/). You could always give that a shot. :)

[Joe Johaneman]

Check out the compatibility guide: http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/

Speaking from experience, most gold (and silver, in some cases) apps work great. The rest, less so. There's another option that I haven't seen mentioned yet, and that is VirtualBox (http://www.virtualbox.org/). You could always give that a shot. :)


I've always loved VirtualBox. I use it and VMWare Fusion. VMWare Fusion I use with windows, because I need it to be easy to transfer files back and forth. I use Virtualbox for my linux VM, and it's absolutely rock solid and fast. The new version for the mac even supports sharing files (the beta didn't), and it works just fine. Might move my Windows install over there too. :-)

[k.satirli]

I hardly ever use Windows these days - I generally just start Parallels to grab something from eWallet, and when they have a Mac version I may drop XP

slightly off-topic here but: I have been longing for that for a long time too. You should drop them a note, requesting a Mac port. They do have iPhone versions available, but no Mac ports so far...