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Parallels 4.0 Promises Significant Performance Improvements

Parallels 4 ... Yes

I just wanted to throw out my two cents ... this is the first virtualization software that makes me want to buy it! Very, very nice job Parallels!! :)
 
I had that very same issue... I just reinstalled the TOOLS and it worked again... No complaints since.

bigrobb said:
I upgraded last night to parallels 4 and installed the tools but when I click in the vm I have to always hit ctrl+alt to release the mouse and keyboard and I cant get it to do it automatically like in parallels 3, does anyone know is there a setting or something I may have wrong that is causing it to do that, I looked and it all looked like the same settings that I had in parallels 3.
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3d acceleration is so much better over Vmware Fusion 2. Tried Rose Online and works really fast without anything problems at all. Under Vmware Rose Online would have massive graphical errors and alot of game contect would not be displayed and the game would run incredibly slow.

MacBook Pro 1st gen
Intel Core Duo 2.16GHz
2Gigs Ram
ATI 1600X 256mb
 
My experience

Just thought I'd post my experience -

using parallels to use Band-in-a-box and a few other applications - running XP pro

Macbook 2.2Ghz 2gb ram

Upgraded to 4.0

no probs with installation - took a while but didn't hang or cause probs

seems a *lot* more responsive. - much more like my work XP computer - feels "real"

Runs "My Sky" and BBCi catch-up TV properly, not like previous version.

Runs Band-in-a-box perfectly, also runs Superquartet DXi virtual instruments perfectly - which is the only thing I couldn't get an OSX box to run before -

so basically I'm as pleased as anything - runs everything I want just like a native XP box.

Not bothered about games at all so can't comment.
 
I tested Team Fortress 2 and it is very fast under Parallels 4. There is still some tweaking that parallels needs to do, issues that look trivial to fix but stop the show. Left 4 Dead demo doesn't work correctly due to a window sizing issue. Penny Arcade 1 and 2 work fantastically. I haven't tested any other games yet, I can't seem to stop testing team fortress 2.

My Visual Studio 2008 install works great, so I can get work done too.

I fixed Permissions and Verified my disk on leopard and checked the disk on XP before upgrading and made sure that I shut down XP cleanly.

My upgrade was uneventful, I started it and after some time, it finished and booted into XP sp3 with no problem whatsoever and worked completely. That's the way I like my upgrades to go.

I reinstalled the P4 tools although I probably didn't need to.

Good Stuff, and a great price for an upgrade.
 
Parallels Mobil

Hi everyone, I notice this wile I was Installing Parallels 4.0, Also in Parallels web site they announce the app.



attachment.php
 
Fullsmoke,
The best thing to do is to move your music library to the Mac & reformat the iPod. In the case of Windows Smartphones I used a Cingular 8125 with PocketMac for years & it was great (then I switched to iPhone!)
In short, use the Mac for what you can, only use Windows for what you have to.

fullsmoke said:
I've been looking into Fusion/Parallels in order to ease my switch from XP to OSX. Will I be able to hook my iPod (Windows formatted) and my Windows Smartphone (using ActiveSync) up to XP through Fusion or Parallels?

FS
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Just bought Parallels, going to be testing it. I'll keep you guys posted. I'm using a Santa Rosa MB 2.2 C2D with XP XP2.

UPDATE: Simple installation, same thing for the XP (I'm installing from scratch, not from Boot Camp). So far the graphics are sharp and crystal clear. Black borders on top/bottom, not yet recognizing my widescreen... VM app takes a lot of cpu, but Leopard is still running fine. Setup of XP (blue screen) took roughly 20 minutes, includes the installation of PD4 time as well. Let's see the performance...

UPDATE: Didn't finish XP installation, just the copying of files. My bad.. Works well, seems light/speedy. When setup was at the command prompt like screen it taxed my CPU quite heavily, using average 100 CPU under Activity Monitor. Now at the graphical setup phase, CPU is like sleeping. We'll wait and see...

Final Results:

Took about a good half hour to install or so. From installing the app to the Windows itself.

Easy to install, it automatically installed Parallels Tools upon first boot of XP. Auto reboot as well for software to finish install.

Overall, I'd give it a 9.5/10. Half a point due to some small little bugs that could be fixed, but do not affect anything.
 
MacUser4_20 said:
During the installation upgrade it stated that there was an Application for the iPhone available through the App Store to work Parallels through your iPhone, Parallels Mobile.... I cannot seem to find it?
Click to expand...

I'd like to try it too, but it does not come up in the app search page and a google search doesn't turn up much.

Did you ever find how to get it?
 
Parallels 4 is horribly slow - a big waste of time and step backward

What a waste of time! This version is junk from my experience! I'm glad my upgrade was free, but it sure has been a disappointing experience.

Installation wasn't straight forward, not much processor time from this program, but XP is way too slow. Cursor won't respond and it really just literally drags down the screen. Back to the drawing board on this one. A big no thanks for wasting my time Parallels!
 
Stay away from it!!!

Craigriver said:
What a waste of time! This version is junk from my experience! I'm glad my upgrade was free, but it sure has been a disappointing experience.

Installation wasn't straight forward, not much processor time from this program, but XP is way too slow. Cursor won't respond and it really just literally drags down the screen. Back to the drawing board on this one. A big no thanks for wasting my time Parallels!
Click to expand...


I would totally agree. I had Parallels since 2.0. Latest version is very bad with sound and USB peripherals. Just think about this for a moment - they messed up mic input, so now it works in reverse - higher level - lower gain. You do not want to hear what is coming from mic - it is just horrible. Sometimes it drops sound completely. My Voip application in XP used to work , although very unstable, now it is dead. When it adjust the mic gain - it shuts its completely down, due to reverse bug. My Logitech ClearChat USB headset was working barely in P3, P4 just produce a few clicks, but no sound at all. P3 and P4 also could occasionally go "belly up with sparks".

What a great job! It seems "Joe the Parallels" team cares only about 3D at expense of everything else.

I converted P4 VM to Fusion today and everything works as on real PC, not just 3D. I could not wait to get rid of Parallels as soon as I verify all XP applications are working on Fusion.


BTW, it took less time to convert P4 to Fusion, then running P3 to P4 VM conversion. Yikes :mad:

Stick with the winners!
Good Luck!
 
Parallels and Memory question

I have installed Parallels 3.0 and waiting for the code so that I can upgrade to 4.0 ( Ihave been a PC user for over 20 years and saw the light ....IMac)
I have been trying to get Windows XP to recognise the I-Sight webcam but unsuccessful...want to use it for Live Messenger
Your help be greatly appreciated

also

I have put in an extra 2Gb memory ..now 3GB total
What are the advantages of extra memory...particularly with using both Operating Systems

Bert
 
I use VMware Fusion on my Mac Pro and Parallels on my iMac.

The choice for Fusion was due to Parallels 3 not seeing my blu ray internal SATA player.

When I got the email for the upgrade to Parallels 4, I decided for amusement to get it on the tease about handling more than one "cpu."

VMWare on the iMAC worked very well but Parallels 4, option for both cpu's and running a moderately intensive Virtual Windows app got me to maxed out cycles. - Froze up BOTH Mac and Virtual Windows.

In my estimates, I think that Parallels needs to better CPU management to avoid this type of situation. In the meanwhile, I have returned to just one "cpu" being used and this makes it no better than v3x for me.

- Phrehdd
 
Upgraded Parallels 3 - 4, no problems

I just bought the upgrade to version 4. I was concerned about migrating my XP installation to the new version of Parallels as I've lost the Windows installer CD. No problems though. Parallels 4 installed itself quickly and seemlessly then converted my XP VM to the new format. Now when I run XP using Parallels 4 everything is as I left it the last ti me I used P3. Only complaint is that the dock Icons in version 4 look dumb.
 
brucepomeroy said:
I just bought the upgrade to version 4. I was concerned about migrating my XP installation to the new version of Parallels as I've lost the Windows installer CD. No problems though. Parallels 4 installed itself quickly and seemlessly then converted my XP VM to the new format. Now when I run XP using Parallels 4 everything is as I left it the last ti me I used P3. Only complaint is that the dock Icons in version 4 look dumb.
Click to expand...

atleast that's an easy fix (either manually, or with candybar)
 
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