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macOS Is Parallels worth it?
- Thread starter Ndynslvr
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Try the free one first. See if you like how it works. If you don't like it or can't get it working, try something else.
That may sound obvious or trivial, but since they're all capable of virtualizing Linux, it's going to be other factors that ultimately influence your decision (such as price or ease of use). Since we don't know which factors you value most, nor what level of experience you have, you'll have to make the choice yourself, based on the factors you value.
Either that or you have to post a prioritized list of all the factors you value, assigning each a weight or cost, and describe your level of experience in installing non-trivial software like virtualizers and Linux systems.
That may sound obvious or trivial, but since they're all capable of virtualizing Linux, it's going to be other factors that ultimately influence your decision (such as price or ease of use). Since we don't know which factors you value most, nor what level of experience you have, you'll have to make the choice yourself, based on the factors you value.
Either that or you have to post a prioritized list of all the factors you value, assigning each a weight or cost, and describe your level of experience in installing non-trivial software like virtualizers and Linux systems.
I'm not a huge fan of Parallels as a company. I had Parallels 3.0 and the upgrade to 10.6 killed my software. Now they claimed 3.0 and OS X 10.6 were incompatible, but this didn't manifest itself in the "the software will crash occasionally" sort of way, or X feature doesn't work. Instead they wouldn't even let you run the software. When they decide your software needs to be upgraded, you get a lovely dialog saying "This version of the OS isn't compatible, yatta yatta." Their official fix was shelling out $X0 for Parallels 4.0.
And it looks like things haven't changed...
http://kb.parallels.com/111578
http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=261489
http://www.selikoff.net/2012/07/25/os-x-mountain-lion-kills-parallels-6/
As a result, I'd suggest using VirtualBox. Its been great for me and they don't hold your VMs hostage. I use it for quick spots of Windows dev where I don't want to reboot.
And it looks like things haven't changed...
http://kb.parallels.com/111578
http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=261489
http://www.selikoff.net/2012/07/25/os-x-mountain-lion-kills-parallels-6/
As a result, I'd suggest using VirtualBox. Its been great for me and they don't hold your VMs hostage. I use it for quick spots of Windows dev where I don't want to reboot.
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Use Virtualbox. It is open source and does pretty much everything that Parallels does. The performance when running Linux is fine.
Its often included in multibuy deals from various places. If it's in a macupdate deal then it normally features on this site. But there are other deals available, just have to look around. my guess they crop up about 2/3 times per year.