Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

VMware Fusion 3 vs. Parallels Desktop 5

What do you use to run different OSs

  • Boot Camp

    Votes: 44 38.9%

  • Fusion

    Votes: 67 59.3%

  • Parallels

    Votes: 37 32.7%

  • Other

    Votes: 2 1.8%

  • Non

    Votes: 5 4.4%
  • Total voters
    113
M

mosesaro

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 18, 2009
60
0
New York
Hey guys, I wanted to to know and make a post comparing VMware Fusion 3 and Parallels Desktop 5 with the new updates. Which one is better in running multiple OSs at the same time. Do they support hypervisor. Cause i want to create a virtual environment to learn Server 2008 and Mac Os Server. Which one would be better to use VMware Fusion 3 or Parallels Desktop 5.

Thank you

As I said before I want this thread to be used to compare the two programs so if anybody else has question post them more question the better, of coarse if we get answers.
 
I'm interested in this as well, I'm in a deadlock choosing between VMWare and Parallels!
 
I tested both fusion and parellels, and by far fusion is the best - more streamlined, quicker, easier to use, etc.
 
well for now i use all three, Bootcamp, Fusion, Parallels. I have to tell you the fastest one is Bootcamp. Just the part for rebooting gets annoying. Fusion and Parallels from my experience are both the same. Though Parallels has more options for hardware configurations.

Both Fusion and Parallels try to make the software better in iCandy terms. They concentrate on graphics when they should concentrate on performance.
 
I prefer VMware fusion over parallels. While Parallels gives you a performance edge, its at the expense of stability.
 
I find when I run my boot camp partition within Parallels, it is faster under windows but once i switch spaces to use something in OSX, OSX crawls and studder and lags.

With VMware Fusion, Boot Camp (Windows) is a bit slower compared to Parallels but I can switch between OSX and Windows without any slow downs.

I'm running it on a 1st Generation Core Duo MBP with 2GB total memory. 920MB is dedicated to the Boot Camp VM.
 
I like the new Fusion 3.1. I haven't tried Parallels in over a year once I switched to Fusion. The Parallels fubar upgrade from 3 to 4 lost me as a customer. Fusion has not had any problems with their upgrades, and the new 3.1 is noticeably faster than 3.0.
 
Parallels has fantastic gaming support. If you game and don't want to use Bootcamp, use parallels. Just bear in mind that customer support is rubbish! I hear Fusion has better customer support so pick that if not requiring the game support.
 
Parallels is faster than Fusion, although Fusion 3.1 MAY be faster now (I haven't done my benchmarks).

BUT:

Parallels is not as stable as Fusion. Not even close. I have even seen some unexpected behavior while using Parallels. I happen to need emulator programs for PLC machinery, and for 8051 and AVR programming. Peripherals like USB to Serial don't work so well at parallels. I have also experienced some kernel panics while using Parallels!

Fusion, all the way. May be slower (not so slower after the 3.1 update), may not have support for games, but is definitely more stable, and more Mac-integrated. For games, use Boot Camp.
 
I already have some VMWare files from running windows vms - I presume they wouldn't run on Parallels, and I'd have to recreate the VMs if I decided to buy that?

Edit - Also, I read on one of the threads on here that VMware Fusion isn't updated as often, a reason which people link to the greater reliability. With this in mind, is it worth buying the '12 month' subscription so that you get free upgrades to major releases?
 
I have had nothing but problems with Parallels Desktop 5 I'm going to look at Fusion because I can't have my Macbook Pro crashing every time I try to run Windows 7 I have 8GB of Ram with 4 going to Windows 7 I have quit everything and my experience has been that when I quit out of the program is that the software causes the Mac to go full boars on the fans and then freeze
NOT Happy:(
 
Odd, as I use Parallels version 5 and don't have any issues, in fact I use it to wrap XP SP3 so I can run LOTRO and other PC games
 
Shivetya said:
Odd, as I use Parallels version 5 and don't have any issues, in fact I use it to wrap XP SP3 so I can run LOTRO and other PC games
Click to expand...

Same. I run Solidworks under Parallels and it's not the quickest thing (especially when I allocate 1gb of RAM to windows 7), but I've never had any major problems *knock on wood*.

And Parallels 6 is coming out very soon, so it may be worth it to try that out...
 
I have bootcamp setup with a 1TB drive & Win 7 64bit for gaming

I have parallels 6 now installed with Win 7, Ubuntu 10.0.4, Linux Mint & Chrome OS for testing stuff

I have Fusion 3.1 installed but have not bothered installing any VM machines.
 
I use Bootcamp to play games.
I use Parallels 5 to boot into my bootcamp partition for anything else.
 
So...you can set up a bootcamp partition on the hard disk and boot 'natively' into windows.

But...you can also boot into OSX and access that bootcamp partition via VM? Did I read that correctly?
 
Tonsko said:
So...you can set up a bootcamp partition on the hard disk and boot 'natively' into windows.

But...you can also boot into OSX and access that bootcamp partition via VM? Did I read that correctly?
Click to expand...
Yes you read correctly.

You set up your Bootcamp partition first. Then install Parallels or VMware Fusion. When they ask for the location of the image, you point them to your Bootcamp partition.
 
Tonsko said:
Nice one, thanks :)
Click to expand...
Yes it is a nice feature.

These days Parallels and VMware Fusion are fast enough that I no longer use BootCamp much. I really like having a set of VMs for various tasks/purposes. It's really convenient. Being able to use the BootCamp partition is also a nice option.
 
I set up a VM more or less immediately, but now the trial has run out (purchased), and I need different VMs for work, Fusion is performing very capably. Seems a lot better than VMs under windows. Very pleased with it, I must say.

Not boot camped it yet, maybe a job for next week.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back