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Buy Parallels 6 or wait for 7 with Lion features?

Sensamic

Sensamic

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 26, 2010
3,145
779
Hey everyone.

I was thinking of buying Parallels Desktop 6 now, but since version 5 was released on november 2009 and version 6 on september 2010 I think maybe version 7 will be released between september and december of this year, and it will probably add Lion features or something.

Should I wait? Im not a heavy user of Parallels, so I can wait, but if version 7 is not be released this year then I want to buy it now.

Thanks.
 
I have V6 and it runs under Lion. If you aren't a heavy user I would look for free alternatives. I don't like how much CPU V6 uses. It eats my battery.
 
eternalife said:
I don't like how much CPU V6 uses. It eats my battery.
Click to expand...

Have you had better luck with other virtualization software?!

You're running two operating systems at the same time. That, by definition, uses a lot of CPU cycles. I challenge you to run OS X and Windows at the same time while using the same number of CPU cycles as running one of them alone.
 
iThinkergoiMac said:
Have you had better luck with other virtualization software?!

You're running two operating systems at the same time. That, by definition, uses a lot of CPU cycles. I challenge you to run OS X and Windows at the same time while using the same number of CPU cycles as running one of them alone.
Click to expand...

It is a valid complaint. Parallels (and VMWare) should improve this as it is still a major problem.

Even Flash improved CPU utilization so anything is possible. :D
 
Sensamic said:
I was thinking of buying Parallels Desktop 6 now, but since version 5 was released on november 2009 and version 6 on september 2010 I think maybe version 7 will be released between september and december of this year, and it will probably add Lion features or something.

Should I wait? Im not a heavy user of Parallels, so I can wait, but if version 7 is not be released this year then I want to buy it now.
Click to expand...
I would wait for Parallels Version 8.
 
8767092 said:
It is a valid complaint. Parallels (and VMWare) should improve this as it is still a major problem.
Click to expand...

How is it a valid complaint? I agree that there's is always room for improvement. However, something like this can only be improved so much, and it is nearly impossible (I say nearly, but I can't actually think of a way to do it short of suspending the virtualized OS whenever you're not using it, but if you're not using it at the time why is it still running?) to improve it to the point of not having a dramatic effect on battery life.

It takes less battery to just boot into Windows via BootCamp. If you absolutely have to virtualize, you're just going to have to take the hit. Changing virtualization software won't change that.
 
Wow, i just recently purchased Parallels from the Apple store.. Had no idea we were almost due a release... I would probably just wait if you can, there are freebies out there or you could always just use BootCamp for the time being.

A Quick google post took me here http://www.releasedaterumors.com/parallels-desktop-7-for-mac/ which states a possible October release date. I don't really feel too bad about buying version 6, i will look at the specs for 7 when it comes out to see if i want to upgrade.

As for VmWare Fusion i would stay away from it. I used it for a good while when i first got into Macs but was finding myself doing lots of restarts during the day because of unexplained technical issues with my guest windows 7 OS. I can't say for sure everyone will have those problems but since i use my virtual machine as much as i use the applications on my mac i couldn't take it. I tried Parallels for 14 days free and then bought my retail copy. Feels at least twice as fast and i can leave it running all day every day without restart! Just how i like it!!
 
I've had zero issues with Parallels 6 as long as I keep up with their updates.

I found that Fusion had better performance, but Parallels had better function key integration.
 
Version 6 works just great with Lion - the most recent update specifies Lion compatibility. Not sure what version 7 will bring that it doesn't already do.
 
You might want to try VirtualBox- it's free, and it works decently well. I played around with it a couple of years ago, and it was almost as polished as Parallels was then. Maybe you can give this a go and wait on Parallels 7 or Fusion 4...
 
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