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LePigeonBleu

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 11, 2008
484
5
San Diego
Heya!

I'm looking for a new virtual machine client, and have used Parallels since I started using a Mac. Now, I tried VMWare, and seem to like that too. What I'm wondering is if anyone has come across a comparison of the newest of each.

I can get Parallels for $45 and VMWare for $50.

What do I do? Does anyone have suggestions?

Thanks,

m
 

kgs

macrumors regular
Jul 29, 2012
102
1
Heya!

I'm looking for a new virtual machine client, and have used Parallels since I started using a Mac. Now, I tried VMWare, and seem to like that too. What I'm wondering is if anyone has come across a comparison of the newest of each.

I can get Parallels for $45 and VMWare for $50.

What do I do? Does anyone have suggestions?

Thanks,

m

Parallels has screwed me enough times that I no longer care to give them money. Add to that they also have advertising that cannot be turned off in their application.

If I were to spend money on any of them, it would be VMWare.
 

LePigeonBleu

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 11, 2008
484
5
San Diego
Parallels has screwed me enough times that I no longer care to give them money. Add to that they also have advertising that cannot be turned off in their application.

If I were to spend money on any of them, it would be VMWare.


Thanks for your input... but, can you tell me how Parallels has "screwed" you?

m
 

CylonGlitch

macrumors 68030
Jul 7, 2009
2,956
268
Nashville
Thanks for your input... but, can you tell me how Parallels has "screwed" you?

For me, I was an avid Parallels user from the day it was released. Around version 3 I ran into a problem where it wouldn't run anything. It would just start and then crash back to the desktop. I tried everything even a clean wipe of my machine and it still did the same thing. They told me that there was a new version coming out and I should upgrade to that because it will fix the problem. It came out, I upgraded, it didn't fix the problem. At that point, they told me they had no idea and refused me any further support.

I switched to VMWare and have been happy with it.

Today I considered Parallels 8 because of the good deal via NewEgg. But their website leads me to believe that they won't give a free upgrade to 7 because it is an OEM edition. So I tried emailing them, calling them and online chatting with them about this. In all cases I was refused customer support because I didn't actively have a license with them. So in other words, they didn't want to help a potential customer answer a question. So screw them, no desire to buy it now.
 

dyn

macrumors 68030
Aug 8, 2009
2,708
388
.nl
Arstechnica has announced they will probably be doing a Parallels 8 vs Fusion 5 review. Similar to what they did last time. I'm personally hoping they will not do that because it was a really really bad review (and judging by the comments on that review I'm definitely not the only one). The only thing they did was test the main items in the release notes instead of things like how well some Windows games run, how well you can run Linux, etc. It wasn't a proper in-depth test, it was too simplistic and too shallow.
 
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throAU

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2012
8,775
6,937
Perth, Western Australia
Fusion 5 here. It is much improved over 4, fans no longer spin up constantly, battery life is much better.

Haven't run into any issues to speak of yet.


I have dealt with VMware support on multiple occasions (mostly for vSphere though - I've been a VMware user since workstation v1.0, and paying user for personal use since workstation 5 on PC) and found it to be excellent.
 

flipnap

macrumors 6502
May 1, 2012
339
0
been using parallels with no problem. i have no clue about this "advertising" on it. ive never seen such a thing. and personally. i find it hard to believe a company would tell a paying customer, "sorry we dont know what your problem is" then suddenly refuse support. that sounds very suspect.
 

Flood123

macrumors 6502a
Mar 28, 2009
624
62
Living Stateside
been using parallels with no problem. i have no clue about this "advertising" on it. ive never seen such a thing. and personally. i find it hard to believe a company would tell a paying customer, "sorry we dont know what your problem is" then suddenly refuse support. that sounds very suspect.

Yeah, I agree with you. I have had zero issues. I actually just upgraded to 8 today and ran into an issue. Called up customer support,. they were pleasant and extremely helpful.
 

ratfink

macrumors member
Feb 11, 2012
49
0
I think they're both fine products. I started out on Parallels when it first came out because the features were far and above the VMWare products I had been using on other platforms. At some point they released a new version with no upgrade pricing for current customers. I switched to VMWare because they did offer upgrade pricing, the features had become pretty equivalent by then, and because it allows me to run virtual machines across multiple platforms.

You'll be happy with either, IMO.
 

firedept

macrumors 603
Jul 8, 2011
6,277
1,130
Somewhere!
Parallels has not been a problem for me. Has been a dependable program over the years. Have never run VM Ware so would not know how it works.
 

throAU

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2012
8,775
6,937
Perth, Western Australia
I guess the important thing is this: what do you intend to run in your VMs?


Parallels has (historically) had better 3d acceleration. VMware has historically been more stable and has not had a history of data corruption (parallels has had a scare there once or more in the past).


If you run, or interact with others who run Workstation or vSphere, its a no brainer. Go for Fusion.

If you want to run multiple virtual networks on your machine, go for VMware Fusion Pro - you can set up multiple, isolated virtual networks and have them interfact with real networks via VLANs outside of your machine as well (this has been possible in Workstation on PC forever, and is new in Fusion 5 Pro).

In short - if you are, or want to learn to be a network guy (by simulating networks on your machine) - get Fusion Pro.

There are open source VM tools for VMware, so if you run open source operating systems in VMs (that may not be directly supported), Vmware is likely a better bet, also.
 

Signal-11

macrumors 65816
Mar 23, 2008
1,474
2
2nd Star to the Right
Thanks for your input... but, can you tell me how Parallels has "screwed" you?

I just wrote this in another forum.

I ran Parallels 6 for a while, after having switched from Fusion. Through Parallel's in-program advertising, I received a promotion to upgrade to Parallels 7 for $40. The promotion ended on June 25th. First time, I ignored it because I didn't need to upgrade. Second time, I thought, eh, why not and upgraded. This was two weeks before the end of the promotion.

Cost to upgrade to Parallels 8 for Parallels 6/7 users? $50.

Cost to upgrade to Parallels 8 for people who upgraded to it or bought after June 25? $0

Cost for me because to go from 6 -> 8 because they offered me a "special promotion" for (then) current loyal customers? $90.

It would be different had I needed it for a new machine and bought it in a bad bit of timing. Instead, they used their in-program advertising mechanism to actively squeeze me right before an upgrade cycle. To me, this isn't about the money (I buy a lot of software annually) so much as Parallels' business practices and attitude towards them.

I'll read the comparison reviews if they come soon and if Fusion and Parallels are even remotely in the same league, I am going with Fusion 5 over Parallels 8.
 

BornAgainMac

macrumors 604
Feb 4, 2004
7,275
5,212
Florida Resident
I usually upgrade to Parallels in the first month of it coming out. Never been "screwed" by Parallels. I have had every version of Parallels and tried VMWare 3 and 4. The Network Editor for VMWare got my attention only because I would like to create custom virtual networks for testing. I only picked Parallels a long time ago because that company seems to focus on Macs where VMWare is covers more of an Enterprise solution and Macs is not their focus. I would recommend Parallels 8 over VMWare 5 if you are a home user.
 

robgendreau

macrumors 68040
Jul 13, 2008
3,465
329
I've used both for years.

I have recently favored Parallels because I was able to find answers to support questions more easily on their web site. I have tended to use it a lot with XP and old serial devices and whatnot, and for some reason they just had more advice on that than VMWare. But otherwise they're both great ripping programs.

Just wish I could run SL on one of them...still have no idea why Apple doesn’t allow that considering how relatively lax they are with OS licensing.
 

turtle777

macrumors 6502a
Apr 30, 2004
686
29
I'm darn tired of Parallels taking $50 every year when they upgrade their client. WTF ?

Apple's OS X Upgrades cost $29/$19, why the heck would I pay $50 for a Parallels "maintenance" release ?

Bottom line: I'm happy with my Parallels 7, but I will not pay $50 to upgrade.

-t
 

Santabean2000

macrumors 68000
Nov 20, 2007
1,881
2,002
Both are mature products at this point. I believe P is the more popular, although you'll find plenty I fans for of VM also.

They both pop up in software specials/bundles from time to time. I would (and have), buy either.
 

flipnap

macrumors 6502
May 1, 2012
339
0
I do as do others. There are certainly threads on the matter.
Okay. I guess i need more than a few months on parallels to discover the pop ups or whatever they are. I never searched threads for "parallels advertising"'so i wouldnt know.. Like i said, i dont know anything about in app advertising. Ive never seen it. Sorry if i offended you
 

grumpycompuprof

macrumors newbie
Aug 25, 2011
22
2
I am running VM and have no issues. Great product and the VM brand is what you find big companies and data centers running on. So that was a selling point for me. If I go from 4 to 5, I'm not sure as I only need the Windows machine for SQL Server classes and some Excel development.
 

tdar

macrumors 68020
Jun 23, 2003
2,096
2,513
Johns Creek Ga.
I'm running P version 8 and I love it. I've tried both products over the years and was never happy with either one. But I have found nothing to complain about with this new version of P. I'm writing this in IE 10 under Windows 8 in coherence mode right now.
 

techpr

macrumors 6502a
Sep 9, 2008
658
763
San Juan, PR
iPad App

No one has mention the convinience of the iPad App on Parallels 6/7/8
this is the feature I like most on Parallels. I would like to see VMWare to do the same.
 

MacBH928

macrumors G3
May 17, 2008
8,275
3,696
I am wondering which has better performance for running off bootcamp partition to play games(I hate restarting). Mostly I play older games (pre-2005).


Also is it faster or slower to run off bootacamp partition that to do that usual IN parallels/VM install?


My Machine is macbook 2.0GHz , 6GB ram, GeForce 9400m.
 

FlailingAround

macrumors newbie
Aug 16, 2012
12
0
Up A Creek
Photoshop

I run Fusion for Win 7 only because of Photoshop.

Think Parallels' upgrade policies are bad? Try going from Photoshop on PC to Mac: $600, no exceptions.

Screw Adobe. $50 bucks for Fusion plus $99 for Win 7 was a lot cheaper.

I'm very happy with Fusion, but barely use, or even know about, it's many features.
 

CylonGlitch

macrumors 68030
Jul 7, 2009
2,956
268
Nashville
Try going from Photoshop on PC to Mac: $600, no exceptions.

Screw Adobe. $50 bucks for Fusion plus $99 for Win 7 was a lot cheaper.

In my industry we have licenses for some of our applications that run from $5000 to $50,000 PER YEAR. Worst part they are tied to one machine. Thus VMWare fusion, tie it to a virtual machine, and presto, copy to any machine we want. Saves a ton of problems. We stay legit on the usage (one one person per license) but at least we can move it it around as we see fit.
 
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