I tried Beta 1 and wasn't impressed so I deleted and stuck with bootcamp.
What's the Beta 6 version like if you've tried it?
What's the Beta 6 version like if you've tried it?
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Parallels Beta 6
- Thread starter MRU
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What didn't you like about Parallels b1?
I find b5 very useful, in fact I had intended to dual boot XP with boot camp but instead just use Parallels and Win2k. I use it to check how web pages look on windows/ie6, and run windows only apps. With iWeb I just publish to a folder on the Parellels Win2k side then drag to my ftp server if all looks well.
I installed Virtue in OSX as well so Windows can have its own screen.
I find b5 very useful, in fact I had intended to dual boot XP with boot camp but instead just use Parallels and Win2k. I use it to check how web pages look on windows/ie6, and run windows only apps. With iWeb I just publish to a folder on the Parellels Win2k side then drag to my ftp server if all looks well.
I installed Virtue in OSX as well so Windows can have its own screen.
What didn't impress you about it?
I was impressed with each version since beta2 (which gave me two kernel panics). But I think beta5 took a step back in stability. I haven't installed beta6 yet.
I find its performance excellent, roughly equivalent to one core at 90% native speed, for non-GPU-intensive use. Photoshop for example is up to 2x faster for some operations (edit: in particular, non-MP aware actions) than on the iMac. PS is slower in Parallels than Boot Camp (apparently, but I haven't tried it) but that's worth it to not have to reboot.
However, I and others have had problems with applications that require the CDROM to be present in the drive to run them if the CD is copy protected. Up to beta5, it still refused to find the CD when launching the app, even though I was able to install from the CD.
I was impressed with each version since beta2 (which gave me two kernel panics). But I think beta5 took a step back in stability. I haven't installed beta6 yet.
I find its performance excellent, roughly equivalent to one core at 90% native speed, for non-GPU-intensive use. Photoshop for example is up to 2x faster for some operations (edit: in particular, non-MP aware actions) than on the iMac. PS is slower in Parallels than Boot Camp (apparently, but I haven't tried it) but that's worth it to not have to reboot.
However, I and others have had problems with applications that require the CDROM to be present in the drive to run them if the CD is copy protected. Up to beta5, it still refused to find the CD when launching the app, even though I was able to install from the CD.
http://www.geek.com/labs/videos/macbookwsbc.mov
Thats a video of a real-time comparison between Boot Camp and Parallels.
It can also be found on the parallels.com website.
Thats a video of a real-time comparison between Boot Camp and Parallels.
It can also be found on the parallels.com website.
Beta 1 was horrible - no CD support? Incredible. 
Beta 2 I think lacked fullscreen.
If they're still working on basic features, then surely it should be labelled "alpha".
Beta 2 I think lacked fullscreen.
If they're still working on basic features, then surely it should be labelled "alpha".
Parallels will probably never be the choice for gamers, as there is a performance hit since you have to run OS X.
However, that program keeps on surprising me... who knows
However, that program keeps on surprising me... who knows
Why I HATED BETA 1
As others have stated.
Poor networking support, could never get wifi to work even following their own solution, no usb support, no sound, very poor graphics peformance, it felt sluggish and no where near as fast as that video, CD support was ropey
Yes it was faster than VPC but there was so much missing from it that it was AWFUL.
Hence wondering if BETA 6 is worth a try. Have those issues been resolved now. Is audio support working? Hows the screen re-draw like now - it was atrocious on BETA1, is airport working now?
As others have stated.
Poor networking support, could never get wifi to work even following their own solution, no usb support, no sound, very poor graphics peformance, it felt sluggish and no where near as fast as that video, CD support was ropey
Yes it was faster than VPC but there was so much missing from it that it was AWFUL.
Hence wondering if BETA 6 is worth a try. Have those issues been resolved now. Is audio support working? Hows the screen re-draw like now - it was atrocious on BETA1, is airport working now?
Networking is fine now, easier to setup from parallels than beta1, especially airport altho you still need to configure from within the guest os as well.
limited USB support was introduced with Beta5, has been improved in Beta6 but is still not quite complete (usb memory sticks, mice, external hard drives have all worked for fine for me with an XP guest OS)
Sound works.. not really tried it much but all the XP event sounds are fine.
Graphics performance has improved but is still not fantastic, dont expect it to play 3d accelerated games, but solitaire works redraw has been improved. Full screen works very well.
Im hoping virtualisation will be a part of leopard but if its not its good to know this is around and works as well as it does.
The pace of updates has been very quick, each beta seems to be a sizeable step forward. You could use it instead of boot camp if you just needed applications (not games) no problem.
edit. just watched the video above, parallels seems a bit quicker than that on my MBP, perhaps im giving it more ram than they did. (of my 2 gig im giving parallels 512 meg)
limited USB support was introduced with Beta5, has been improved in Beta6 but is still not quite complete (usb memory sticks, mice, external hard drives have all worked for fine for me with an XP guest OS)
Sound works.. not really tried it much but all the XP event sounds are fine.
Graphics performance has improved but is still not fantastic, dont expect it to play 3d accelerated games, but solitaire works
redraw has been improved. Full screen works very well.Im hoping virtualisation will be a part of leopard but if its not its good to know this is around and works as well as it does.
The pace of updates has been very quick, each beta seems to be a sizeable step forward. You could use it instead of boot camp if you just needed applications (not games) no problem.
edit. just watched the video above, parallels seems a bit quicker than that on my MBP, perhaps im giving it more ram than they did. (of my 2 gig im giving parallels 512 meg)
After G said:
What processor do you have? I have seen that the mini apparently has the VT switch in the processor disabled, resulting in much slower performance than on the imac or macbook.
mulletman13 said:Parallels will probably never be the choice for gamers, as there is a performance hit since you have to run OS X.
However, that program keeps on surprising me... who knows
Until there are GPUs wirth Hardware virtualization capability, Parallels will not be capable of playing most games.
Well I installed BETA 6 and it is a whole lot better than the first public beta.
Airport working well, Sound a tad glitchy
ReDraw has been improved
I dont expect to run games on it, just its handy for checking websites work and such in windows - quicker than having to reboot into bootcamp.
Handiest thing is that you can just stick the VPC onto an external drive and allocate it as much space as it requires and not worry about it.
So far I'm impressed with the new beta's peformance that it will suit my needs for quick xp access - enough to save myself $10 and pre-order it.
Also like the new screen switching.
Overall a big improvement and at least I can do my Keynote presentation, save it as a powerpoint and then check it's working in a pc before risking it on an audience untested.
I'm still keeping bootcamp for the odd game though. Regardless of how parallels works, it doesnt beat running nativly.
Airport working well, Sound a tad glitchy
ReDraw has been improved
I dont expect to run games on it, just its handy for checking websites work and such in windows - quicker than having to reboot into bootcamp.
Handiest thing is that you can just stick the VPC onto an external drive and allocate it as much space as it requires and not worry about it.
So far I'm impressed with the new beta's peformance that it will suit my needs for quick xp access - enough to save myself $10 and pre-order it.
Also like the new screen switching.
Overall a big improvement and at least I can do my Keynote presentation, save it as a powerpoint and then check it's working in a pc before risking it on an audience untested.
I'm still keeping bootcamp for the odd game though. Regardless of how parallels works, it doesnt beat running nativly.
Frankly, I don't care about how Windows performs. I'll maybe keep a Windows VM around but I don't think I'll boot it up much.
However, I code Java webapps for Linux servers. Although the webapps work on Macs and Windows, I have to build an rpm for our ops guys to install the app. So that means I need a Red Hat/Fedora Linux install.
Originally I set up my Dell laptop (2.26GHz Pentium-M) for dual boot into Linux, but this turned out to a pain since I still needed some things that Windows or Mac OS X provide that Linux doesn't (e.g. Office, or use of Outlook/Entourage for mail). So I now have a VMWare workstation running Fedora Core 3 on my laptop and another one in Parallels on my iMac.
To build the rpm takes 1m 10s in the Linux VM. This is fine since I don't build it that often, usually just to test a bug fix. But with Parallels on the Mac, it takes 15s, ie. 4-5 times faster.
Now, there are plenty of reasons why that is - e.g. no virtualization on the Pentium M, and it's single core, but 4x faster is seriously impressive, even if there's no complete USB support.
By the way Linux on Parallels on the Dell was at about the same performance as VMWare.
I haven't yet preordered Parallels. I still have some vague concerns about how stable it is and about what they do with kernel extensions. I haven't had any serious issues since beta2 (with the two kernel panics) but with beta5, I had two unexplained system restarts overnight (ie. the iMac may have restarted on waking from sleep) after running Parallels. On the other hand, we've had several powercuts over the past month so it might be PG&E screwing up again.
I'm interested to see how VMWare compete ... will they sacrifice performance for stability? Will they continue to charge 4 times as much?
All I have to do now is to persuade my boss to get me a MBP ... it would be cheaper after all than this Dell even now (when I checked last week, it was $2600 configured to the same specs as the one I have now)
Edit:
1. Right click on the Windows desktop.
2. Select Properties/Settings/Advanced/Troubleshoot
3. Move the slider one notch to the left.
However, I code Java webapps for Linux servers. Although the webapps work on Macs and Windows, I have to build an rpm for our ops guys to install the app. So that means I need a Red Hat/Fedora Linux install.
Originally I set up my Dell laptop (2.26GHz Pentium-M) for dual boot into Linux, but this turned out to a pain since I still needed some things that Windows or Mac OS X provide that Linux doesn't (e.g. Office, or use of Outlook/Entourage for mail). So I now have a VMWare workstation running Fedora Core 3 on my laptop and another one in Parallels on my iMac.
To build the rpm takes 1m 10s in the Linux VM. This is fine since I don't build it that often, usually just to test a bug fix. But with Parallels on the Mac, it takes 15s, ie. 4-5 times faster.
Now, there are plenty of reasons why that is - e.g. no virtualization on the Pentium M, and it's single core, but 4x faster is seriously impressive, even if there's no complete USB support.
By the way Linux on Parallels on the Dell was at about the same performance as VMWare.
I haven't yet preordered Parallels. I still have some vague concerns about how stable it is and about what they do with kernel extensions. I haven't had any serious issues since beta2 (with the two kernel panics) but with beta5, I had two unexplained system restarts overnight (ie. the iMac may have restarted on waking from sleep) after running Parallels. On the other hand, we've had several powercuts over the past month so it might be PG&E screwing up again.
I'm interested to see how VMWare compete ... will they sacrifice performance for stability? Will they continue to charge 4 times as much?
All I have to do now is to persuade my boss to get me a MBP ... it would be cheaper after all than this Dell even now (when I checked last week, it was $2600 configured to the same specs as the one I have now)
Edit:
Did you install Parallels Tools? That improves the feel of the app in Windows. Also, I find the mouse tends to "stutter", which I fixed by:MacRumorUser said:
1. Right click on the Windows desktop.
2. Select Properties/Settings/Advanced/Troubleshoot
3. Move the slider one notch to the left.
Yeah installed parallels tools in Beta6 and everythings grand - it was only Beta1 I had problems with. Now its grand for what I need it to do
I have been using it since beta2 and love it. I was waiting on USB support before pre-ordering. I have an Epson all in one printer that I got as a free bundle. They don't have any official drivers for Apple but there are some generic ones. So the most I can do with it through OSX is print. With beta6 I can now use it through windows to scan, but can't print in Windows. I also installed MCE2005 and was able to stream a divx video through transcode 360 to my Xbox 360 and it looked nice (MC2005 through parallels on OSX->transcode360->Xbox360). So I threw down my $40 and hope for full USB support. I think it might have to do with supporting Usb 2.0, i think its at about 1.1 now.
Character Zero said:
Does MCE2005 work alright then? I have a copy but was waiting to install it via bootcamp when a solution came available...
Ummmmmmm you do realize that this thread is 4+ years old. This was when Parallels was first coming out...
Do you a bigger irony...
I just did a google search for Parallels 6 Beta myself and found this link too.
Only to open it and see it was me who started it LOL