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Is Fusion 4 more stable than Parallels 7?

T

TazExprez

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 4, 2010
136
30
New York
I am trying to decide whether to purchase Fusion 4 or Parallels 7. I only need Windows 7 for two programs that require Internet Explorer and some windows USB drivers. I find that both Fusion and Parallels are pretty much stable for my use and I prefer the UI that Parallels provides and I like the fact that you get the Windows start menu with Parallels. Btw, I am running Windows 7 64-bit with 4GB & 1 core for the software and 4GB & 1 core for Lion. I am not playing any games. What do you think? Thanks for any help.

Btw, I had my trackpad freeze on my 2010 2.4 MBP 13. This happened once, when I was starting Windows 7 under Fusion. I also had a corrupted Boot Camp partition. This happened once under both Fusion and Parallels. This last problem was probably because I shut down the programs quickly, without going through with the whole Windows shut down procedure. Thanks again.
 
Thanks a lot for replying. I am interested in knowing more about the stability advantages of Fusion because I have read some other threads on this board mentioning that Fusion is more stable than Parallels. From my own testing I have not noticed much of a difference. I must admit that I have very little use for Windows 7 and will not be pushing it hard. Maybe that is why I am not noticing a difference.
 
Fusion is fantastic. I found that the daemons Parallels leaves running made my computer boot and wake up slower. Fusion has none of that; in fact, Fusion 4 is a completely self-contained app. I love it. The speed of the two is comparable.
 
Fusion did that mouse freezing thing again. It occurs when I first launch Windows with it. This is the second time this has occurred. It has nevered occurred with Parallels.

Another thing I noticed that occurs with Fusion is that slightly more than half of the time I use it, the Windows taskbar covers the bottom of a program. Parallels has never done this. Is there a way to make sure that the Windows taskbar does not cover the bottom of a program when using Fusion? Thanks again.
 
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I've found in general that Fusion is more stable then parallels. As for Fusion 4 vs. parallels 7 I cannot fully judge. I'm very happy with Fusion 4, it works wonderfully no issues here. You mention some sort of mouse issue, I have not incurred any irregularities with the mouse on Fusion 4.

If you're happy with interface with parallels and like how that works, I recommend sticking with them. It all boils down to personal preference.
 
I run both and this is what I've found:

- Parallels is faster then Fusion in terms of: Booting, Opening Windows, Responsiveness

- Before the current version, Fusion has been more stable then Parallels. (App itself, not guest OS)

- Having Parallels installed doesn't make your system boot slower. If it does, I have not seen it. My OS X still boots up in about 35 seconds with a 7200RPM drive.

- 3D graphics is still Parallels' kingdom.

- Window smoothness in guest OS wins in Parallels. Fusion still have jumpy graphics when it comes to Aero.
 
tigres said:
I have been running fusion for a few years now without issue.
FWIW, it has always been rock solid.

I have never tried Paralells, so I cannot offer a comparison.
Click to expand...

Agreed, though I had used parallels for a number of versions and they were always less stable the fusion. I can't say if version 7 is any better but at this point for me, I'm firmly entrenched in vmware and I'm quite content with vmware fusion ver. 4.
 
If it's only for a couple programs, have you thought about XP and VirtualBox? XP is the fastest Windows release, and it's still getting security updates and enhancements. Virtualbox is a free product released by Sun Microsystems (now Oracle) that is basically Parallels/Fusion without all the UI enhancements.
 
I'm using Parallels for 1 year now for coding (C++, Java, XML) and it is very stable! I don't think the app crashed a single time
 
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