Which is better, Parallels or Fusion?

jwoodfin2012 said:

I will be getting my first Macbook Pro this year and use a lot of VMs?Barring cost, which one is better?What features are in one but not the other?What do you use?

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I use Parallels and am happy with it. My us eis primarily to run MS Office Apps and DVDCatalyst and have had no performance issues. I do not do any gaming beyond so I really don't put heavy demands on it. That said, I've used Fusion and have been happy with it as well. Personally, I'd go with whichever was cheaper.

There is also a bundle going on right now with Parallels and some other apps that may be of interest.

I had been a VMWare fan for years but the I like the new Parallels better and use that now.

I've switched from Fusion to Parallels a while ago and I'm happy. I switched because of better support of Retina screens and Mountain Lion full screen mode. Fusion probably has caught up by now,

I use it for VMs with various Windows versions and Internet Explorer versions for web testing and it works great.

I found Parallels better for gaming, and slightly better performance wise overall (though not by much). Though the popups annoyed me a bit.

I prefer VMware Fusion for it's better Linux compatibility (also tends to support newly released distros quicker, as well as other OS's) and stability.

I haven't used either software extensively, but I prefer Vmware fusion.

jwoodfin2012 said:

I will be getting my first Macbook Pro this year and use a lot of VMs?Barring cost, which one is better?What features are in one but not the other?What do you use?

Click to expand...

If you are more of a technical user, you would probably appreciate VMware Fusion Professional better. It will provide compatibly with VMware Workstation, Player, and ESXi Server VMs.

If you are a desktop user and prefer the integration with OS X and are using VMs to exclusively use Windows desktop applications on occasions, then Parallels may be worth looking in to.

I used Parallels when it was first released for Intel OS X in 2006 and it was the only offering at the time. Being a frequent ESXi and VMware Workstation user, I have used Fusion exclusively for the past few years. I have also noted that Fusion seems more stable on occasion that Parallels in the past, but I have not compared the two recent versions with each other.

Parallels has been criticized for their upgrade pricing in the past as well as "phone home" code in their software to present you with "special offers" on occasion. Fusion does not seem to have this "special offer" feature.

Both offer trial versions of their software. I would encourage you to download both and see which one you like.

jwoodfin2012 said:

I will be getting my first Macbook Pro this year and use a lot of VMs?Barring cost, which one is better?What features are in one but not the other?What do you use?

Click to expand...

I used Parallels after trialing Fusion and bought it simply because it was cheaper. Regarding performance they seem to be about par. Every few months there seem to be a sale on one or the other. Just be on the lookout between now and the time you pull the trigger on the MBP.

I prefer Fusion for not popping up ads for a product that I've paid for on startup. Don't overlook all the prior threads on this topic. It's very common.

jwoodfin2012 said:

Barring cost, which one is better?

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Always define "better" no matter what the topic. What are your must have features, priorities, etc? If one was universally better then we'd all use it and no one would use the other.

VMWare is more cross platform if this is important to you. IE. You can copy your fusion image to a PC and use it with VMWare Player. Thus if you need to share your images with others, go VMWare. If you know you'll never do that, flip a coin, they are very similar in speed and functionality with the latest version. I happen to own both.

You can try Virtualbox to see if it meets your needs. It isn't as good as the others, but it does work, and it is free. I've found it to be more then adequate for what I want to do.

Also, check out CrossOver12 - which natively runs most Windows apps, and all Windows games, without requiring ANY WindowsOS.

Download a fully-functioning trial at - http://www.codeweavers.com/

I recently tested both and both have trouble with the "Alt + Tab" combination when ever you enter the "unity" mode (That's how the call it on Fusion).

Parallels had actually issues with my programs whenever I wanted to minimize or maximize it.

What I don't like about Parallels as well is that you find all the Windows App when you do the Spotlight Search. Some people like it, but I don't.

Jaypi said:

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What I don't like about Parallels as well is that you find all the Windows App when you do the Spotlight Search. Some people like it, but I don't.

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You can turn that off.

Just curios is there any fix / trick that the "ALT+TAB" combination to switch between the windows works better whenever you are in unity view?