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Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac Allows You to Run Windows and Even Another Copy of Lion

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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,481
30,717



​

Running Windows 7 and OS X Lion​
Parallels has announced version 7 of their popular virtualization software that allows Mac users to run Windows on their machines alongside Mac OS X. The new version is said to include 90 new features and enhancements including:

- Lion integration and support, including Launchpad and Mission Control for Windows programs
- Shared iSight and FaceTime HD cameras in both Windows and Mac
- Up to 1GB of video memory, for ultra-high resolutions
- Improved graphics performance, up to 45% faster 3D
- 60% faster resuming Windows
- Windows on Demand - purchase and automatically install Windows on your Mac from Parallels Desktop 7 in the U.S.

Parallels 7 supports running OS X Lion as a "guest" operating system under virtualization, meaning you can run a completely separate copy of Lion within your main copy of Lion. In July, we reported that Apple had changed the license agreement in OS X Lion that allowed users to run up to 2 additional copies of Lion on a single machine without the need for extra licenses.


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Article Link: Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac Allows You to Run Windows and Even Another Copy of Lion
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/09/01/parallels-desktop-7-for-mac-allows-you-to-run-windows-and-even-another-copy-of-lion/
kockgunner

kockgunner

macrumors 68000
Sep 24, 2007
1,565
22
Vancouver, Canada
The annoying thing I've found with Parallels is that if you install it, it makes it hard to redo your Bootcamp partition because files cannot be moved or something. I haven't used Parallels for a while, but I remember I always had to fix errors by using iDefrag. Does it still do this?
 
S

Silentwave

macrumors 68000
May 26, 2006
1,615
50
So, if we were to run a copy of Windows 7 in Parallels on Lion in a Parallels VM in Lion...which was itself being run in a Parallels VM on Lion as well, would Leo DiCaprio show up?
 
D

duffy666

macrumors newbie
Mar 30, 2010
8
0
Yo dawg, I herd you like Os X Lion, so I put a Parallels in your Os X Lion so you can use Os X Lion while you are using Os X Lion.
 
Feek

Feek

macrumors 65816
Nov 9, 2009
1,332
1,956
JO01
I like Parallels and I've been a [registered] user for quite a few versions now but I don't really like their pricing upgrade structure.

It's also frustrating because I know that I could buy this upgrade and then in a few months time it'll be included in one of the bundles, probably for less than I have to pay for the upgrade :(

I know I'm not being forced to buy the upgrade as Parallels 6 works perfectly well and this time I may just wait for whatever bundle it is this time to come along.
 
roxxette

roxxette

macrumors 68000
Aug 9, 2011
1,507
0
I got it few hrs ago , can honestly say windows 7 runs even more smooth and boot up faster but cant say anything about the new features as i dont even use any of it on lion why bother with it.... the upgrade was about 40usd :eek:
 
CTU Kyoto

CTU Kyoto

macrumors member
Jun 12, 2006
92
10
London
Using Parallels 6 (trial version) to virtualise Windows 7 on a MacBook Air running 10.7 caused constant kernel panics for me. Can anyone report on whether this issue is fixed in 7?
 
M

mattchiro

macrumors newbie
Jun 16, 2009
21
0
Does this mean it'll be faster on C2D machines?

I recently (2 weeks ago) purchased a copy of Parallels 6 for my old mac mini (early 2009 - C2D 2.0GHZ 8GB RAM) - running Win7 Pro.

Will it be worth upgrading to Parallels7? Is it noticeably faster than Parallels 6 in Lion??
 
C

cryingrobot

macrumors regular
Mar 26, 2008
156
0
Will not buy

Parallel 3 was very buggy and unpredictable. Upgrading to 4 was even worse since the PAID upgrade to fix their earlier buggy version 3 was itself very buggy. Following the seemingly insane advice I found on forums, I just kept trying the upgrade install and it just worked on the 4th try. Still, sometimes it finds the HD and sometimes it does not.

Customer support was useless. Since the much improved Word 2011 for Mac, the only reason to use the virtual windows has been gaming and no serious gaming can be done on a virtual system. I am going to give Vbox (free) a try just to have the option to run W7 if I ever need to for some reason.

I rank Parallels somewhere between Bongo Buddy and Norton Antivirus in terms of utility. On the low end, you have that malicious software that costs you money, uses up your system resources, slows your computer to a crawl and nearly impossible to get rid of and the other end you have the irritating but free Bongo Buddy.
 
T

tinman0

macrumors regular
Jun 5, 2008
181
3
mattchiro said:
I recently (2 weeks ago) purchased a copy of Parallels 6 for my old mac mini (early 2009 - C2D 2.0GHZ 8GB RAM) - running Win7 Pro.

Will it be worth upgrading to Parallels7? Is it noticeably faster than Parallels 6 in Lion??
Click to expand...

You will learn to hate Parallels over time, like I did. I now use VMware and strangely enough, I don't get screwed over once a year.

If you want some sound advice - decamp to VMWare or VirtualBox today and never look back. Trust me, it'll be cheaper. You will end up spending more money on Parallels than you will on OSX and Windows.
 
F

foidulus

macrumors 6502a
Jan 15, 2007
904
1
SirHaakon said:
But which one works better?
Click to expand...

Depends on your definition of "better"

VMWare is updated less often which means that it doesnt always have some of the cutting edge features(for instance you still cannot virtualize Lion on it yet), but at least in my experience it is significantly more stable and performs better to boot. However since I do not virtualize Windows, I virtualize Leopard Server and Linux, and dont do any graphics stuff on either platform YMMV.
 
O

Ori

macrumors 6502
Jun 18, 2008
347
2
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-gb) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

Well I upgraded and the best and only thing about it that has made it worth it is that in coherence mode I can run full screen apps like mail and safari and my windows app still stays running on my second screen! No grey backdrop!!
Why doesn't everything run like that?
 
A

adrian.oconnor

macrumors 6502
Jan 16, 2008
326
3
Nottingham, England
tinman0 said:
You will learn to hate Parallels over time, like I did. I now use VMware and strangely enough, I don't get screwed over once a year.
Click to expand...

I started out with Parallels and moved to VMWare, and I don't think there's much to choose between them. I know people who use both and all are happy.

I don't think either company screw the customer. Parallels certainly release more often, which means more paid upgrades, but I guess that's because they're smaller and more focused than VMWare (where fusion is just a tiny little project in a sea of corporate virtualisation software). I bought the VMWare 1-year upgrade thing late last year, thinking they would be bound to release v4 in 2011, given how long v3 has been out. Now, I'm not so sure. We've only had 6 updates since v3 was released nearly two years ago! That said, I don't mind a bit of stability.
 
K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,024
7,867
I just upgraded. Full Screen works well enough. My net WEI score stayed the same. Memory went down, actually, but graphics scores went up slightly. Overall it seems like it might be a little faster. It did take care of the bug where Parallels 6 kept opening up Windows automatically.
 
L

L0s7man

macrumors 6502
Feb 26, 2009
276
0
cryingrobot said:
Parallel 3 was very buggy and unpredictable. Upgrading to 4 was even worse since the PAID upgrade to fix their earlier buggy version 3 was itself very buggy. Following the seemingly insane advice I found on forums, I just kept trying the upgrade install and it just worked on the 4th try. Still, sometimes it finds the HD and sometimes it does not.

Customer support was useless. Since the much improved Word 2011 for Mac, the only reason to use the virtual windows has been gaming and no serious gaming can be done on a virtual system. I am going to give Vbox (free) a try just to have the option to run W7 if I ever need to for some reason.

I rank Parallels somewhere between Bongo Buddy and Norton Antivirus in terms of utility. On the low end, you have that malicious software that costs you money, uses up your system resources, slows your computer to a crawl and nearly impossible to get rid of and the other end you have the irritating but free Bongo Buddy.
Click to expand...

I think it was ArsTechica who did extensive gaming review under Parallels6 and A LOT of games were totally playable.

There are few somewhat older or less performance heavy games that would work perfectly well under Parallels and that's a big benefit. I don't want to switch to Windows every time I want to play something; but if I know my system is powerful enough to run a VM and play the game, then why not?

Sometimes you can get away with making your own Cider/CXEX port or using Crossover Games or something, but running VM on top of a bootcamp partition seems like an easy solution.

I use VirtualBox for virtualizing linux; it works great; but they don't care for 3D graphics support. But Parallels folks do as that's one of their bigger selling points.
 
firestarter

firestarter

macrumors 603
Dec 31, 2002
5,506
227
Green and pleasant land
I used to use Parallels - now a happy VMWare user.

If you have any interest in development, Linux and stuff like that then VMWare is a much much better choice. There's a large community of people out there producing virtual machines in VMWare format.
 
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