Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac to Debut on September 14th

[bilboa]

I don't understand all the posts on here complaining about how often they release paid updates. You seem to be implying that you're somehow being forced or at least pressured into buying the upgrades, but you're not.

Well actually you are, as the announcement of the new version heralds the end of development of the old version. This means that version 5 will soon stop working properly when Apple updates OSx (10.65?) or boot camp which it inevitably will.

That's a good point. Though in practice I think you may be overstating your point. Based on my past history with Parallels, I've skipped buying some versions, and was able to keep using the same Parallels version across multiple OS updates. So I don't think there's any reason to think that the very next OS update will break your current version of Parallels.

If Apple releases a new OS update in the near future which breaks Parallels 5, and Parallels doesn't release a free patch for Parallels 5 users, then I will agree with you that Parallels is treating its customers badly. But as long as they keep supporting previous versions of their software for some reasonable amount of time, then I don't see how they're mistreating anyone by releasing new non-free versions of their software.

 

[MRU]

Well I updated to Parallels 6.

If anything the whole thing is a lot slower and more sluggish. Expanding windows now has a much slower redraw etc...

€39.99 upgrade worth it ? Not really


Hopefully the version you can upgrade to at the moment may be pre-release because if this is the final version it just isn't worth the upgrade from Parallels 5.

 

[bilboa]

I upgraded and found the performance to be a good improvement over Parallels 5.

I'm running on a 2.33 GHz 15" MacBook Pro with 3 GB RAM, running OS X 10.6.4, and running Windows 7 in the virtual machine, with 1 GB RAM allocated to the virtual machine.

When in full screen mode, running normal (non-game) apps, I really can't tell any difference between running in Parallels vs BootCamp. Window updates, menus appearing, etc, are all just as smooth. That all worked out pretty well in version 5 too though. Where I see a big improvement is in 3D performance. I run the Phoenix RC flight simulator, which requires DirectX support. Under Parallels 5 I had to lower the graphics quality settings in Phoenix in order to get a decent framerate. Under Parallels 6 I can set the graphics quality settings at highest quality and I still get a constant 60 fps, which is exactly right since I have vsync on. The main flaw I can see is that anti-aliasing doesn't work. I have the anti-aliasing checkbox checked, but it's obvious that no anti-aliasing is being done, whereas that works fine under BootCamp. So at least on my computer, that's still a limitation of the Parallels graphics driver support.

If you're getting sluggish behavior, I can only guess that maybe your machine is running low on memory, or maybe you have a lower spec machine than me. What machine are you running, what host and guest OSes, and what settings?

 

[wodeh]

Just upgraded my 13" MacBook Pro and it seems snappier, although it was grinding until I rebooted and updated Parallels tools. I normally have far, far too many applications open and rarely reboot, so this was expected.

Now installing on my iMac so I can pick up my BootCamp partition and see what happens when I fire up Steam.

 

[jbar86]

PD6 has been great so far, the performance / speed really does seem to be an upgrade like most people have stated.

 

[twoodcc]

now i'm glad to see the latest version of this software being released soon. speed increases are always nice, as well as new features. i wonder if there's a server version of the software?

 

[palmharbor]

Parallels full of bugs

I have v 5 and it still has problems, now they want me to invest more money to fix the problems that were not fixed in v4 or v5. If you have
no life and want to spend time getting this thing to work then Parallels
is the software for you. I have been a mac user since my first powerbook 150 and this is the worst software I have every used. It has more bugs
than an abandon Florida mobile home.

 

[palmharbor]

upgrad

Well I updated to Parallels 6.

If anything the whole thing is a lot slower and more sluggish. Expanding windows now has a much slower redraw etc...

€39.99 upgrade worth it ? Not really


Hopefully the version you can upgrade to at the moment may be pre-release because if this is the final version it just isn't worth the upgrade from Parallels 5.

Don't worry V 7, v8 or V10 will fix it all. Of course it will end up
costing you more than a powerbook by the time you add up all
the money...the company who makes this stuff is based
in Siberia Russia.

 

[Ori]

Funny how sopcast crashes under windows 7 Parallels 6, but not VMWARE.....

 

[Baya87]

grumble grumble grumble...

I bought my copy July 16.... as I had to by it for a pre-course for school. I would have normally bought it just before the semester started aka around August 20.

V 5 is a little slow on my computer, so an upgrade would be nice, but wtf, I just bought it! Also, since I am a student, it's not like the 49.99 is a great upgrade deal for me...

I want a free upgrade!!!

 

[mikepro]

I bought my copy July 16.... as I had to by it for a pre-course for school. I would have normally bought it just before the semester started aka around August 20.

V 5 is a little slow on my computer, so an upgrade would be nice, but wtf, I just bought it! Also, since I am a student, it's not like the 49.99 is a great upgrade deal for me...

I want a free upgrade!!!

Doesn't Parallels offer a 90 day money back guarantee?

http://www.getparallels.com/money_back.aspx

 

[sdsvtdriver]

In anticipation of P6, I ordered another copy of P5 from Amazon this morning. $19.95 after rebate and a free upgrade to P6.

I did the same thing!

 

[mrtekkid]

I did the same thing!

I did the same thing too, ordered it from Amazon, but mine still says after like... three days "Shipping soon"

Is it not in stock? Does anyone else have that displayed with their order?

If it comes without the rebate, I'll ship it back and have 'em refund me.

 

[alex.a]

Well I updated to Parallels 6.

If anything the whole thing is a lot slower and more sluggish. Expanding windows now has a much slower redraw etc...

€39.99 upgrade worth it ? Not really

Hopefully the version you can upgrade to at the moment may be pre-release because if this is the final version it just isn't worth the upgrade from Parallels 5.

Hello, MacRumorUser and all. I'm a tech guy from Parallels and I'm hunting for any reports about slow PD6 We really care about PD performance and we appreciate any report about slow boot, or sluggish 2D/3D, application start, etc.

So if anyone feel PD6 (or PD5) is slow, please let us know:
a) run PD, boot your VM;
b) Report a problem (topmenu -> Help -> Report a Problem);
c) Enter your email address to the report
d) post here (in this thread) report ID number.

And we'll contact you. Thank you!

 

[TheStonepedo]

Depends on Your Needs

I used to use Parallels, but stability and upgrades have pushed me back to VMWare. (I've tried VirtualBox for a while as well)

Ignoring the nerd crowd running Linux/BSD in a VM, most users will be running a Windows guest on top of a layer of virtualization voodoo that makes it seem like part of the host OS.
If one must own a license to Windows anyway, why not run programs at full speed in Windows on Boot Camp?
Periodically throwing $50 to people who cobble together a band-aid for using software pseudo-natively will not get you any closer to true native performance.
Would your $50 not serve you better if used to encourage developers to release Mac versions of the software you need?

 

[C. Alan]

Ive been a parellels user since version 3. I skipped version 4, and only upgraded to version 5 when I purchased a new mac pro that had snow leopard on it.

I use it mainly for 2d Autocad work with windows XP. Parrelles has always been pretty stable for me, but I admit, I am not exactly a power user. My attitude about upgrades is that I don't take the plunge unless I really have to, so I may be in version 5 for a long time.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Hello, MacRumorUser and all. I'm a tech guy from Parallels and I'm hunting for any reports about slow PD6 We really care about PD performance and we appreciate any report about slow boot, or sluggish 2D/3D, application start, etc.

So if anyone feel PD6 (or PD5) is slow, please let us know:
a) run PD, boot your VM;
b) Report a problem (topmenu -> Help -> Report a Problem);
c) Enter your email address to the report
d) post here (in this thread) report ID number.

And we'll contact you. Thank you!

Hey thanks alex.a - your efforts are most appreciated.

I noticed also that Parallels Desktop 6 works much better with Linux than it did before - including WAY faster boot times. Kudos goes out to you guys for your hard work.

That said, there's a LOT of variance in boot time still. I suspect at least some of it is outside your control - i.e. stuff related to Mac OS X's caching mechanism. An example: Booting a Windows XP VM after a cold boot of the host computer takes about 45-60 seconds, since the whole cache has been cleared (at least on my iMac). If you shut down the VM, quit and restart Parallels, then restart the VM, it boots much faster: 20-30 seconds.

 

[ZeeDan]

I did the same thing too, ordered it from Amazon, but mine still says after like... three days "Shipping soon"

Is it not in stock? Does anyone else have that displayed with their order?

If it comes without the rebate, I'll ship it back and have 'em refund me.

I can't believe this is true either - $40 plus a $20 rebate. And then a free update to version 6 (although you have to do some monkey business with Nova to get the 6 code)? You can't beat that with a stick.

Careful there, Amazon doesn't like to take back opened software.

By the way, my copy is shipping (I'm an Amazon Prime member, 2 day shipping all the time). You probably chose Free Super Saver Shipping - that automatically puts you at a delay for shipping. If you had paid for shipping it would have gone out immediately.

 

[keoleoleo]

Amazon Price Increase

I can't believe this is true either - $40 plus a $20 rebate. And then a free update to version 6 (although you have to do some monkey business with Nova to get the 6 code)? You can't beat that with a stick.

So it looks like Amazon.com just increased their price by $10. Now it's $50 for version 5, and $30 after the $20 rebate.

 

[linux2mac]

VMWare's Fusion has been the best $80 I ever spent! I run a test environment with Ubuntu, SLES 10, SLES11, and OpenSuse desktops.

 

[87vert]

just got done installing PD6. Looks good so far.

 

[w0ngbr4d]

I can't believe this is true either - $40 plus a $20 rebate. And then a free update to version 6 (although you have to do some monkey business with Nova to get the 6 code)? You can't beat that with a stick.

Careful there, Amazon doesn't like to take back opened software.

By the way, my copy is shipping (I'm an Amazon Prime member, 2 day shipping all the time). You probably chose Free Super Saver Shipping - that automatically puts you at a delay for shipping. If you had paid for shipping it would have gone out immediately.

I ordered Thursday night and it shipped Friday via USPS with Standard Shipping. Should be here on Wednesday.

 

[nicklad]

If you, like me, got the advanced upgrade to 6 for existing users, a newer build is now available:

Build 6.0.11822
(Revision 604190; September 14, 2010)

From the 'Parallels Desktop' menu, click on 'Check For Updates'.

It downloads ParallelsDesktop-parallels-en_US-6.0.11822.604190.dmg from which you can install the update.

The previous was ParallelsDesktop-parallels-en_US-6.0.11820.602974.dmg

 

[alex.a]

That said, there's a LOT of variance in boot time still. I suspect at least some of it is outside your control - i.e. stuff related to Mac OS X's caching mechanism. An example: Booting a Windows XP VM after a cold boot of the host computer takes about 45-60 seconds, since the whole cache has been cleared (at least on my iMac). If you shut down the VM, quit and restart Parallels, then restart the VM, it boots much faster: 20-30 seconds.

Yes, exactly. Boot time depends on:

1) MacOS RAM 'state'

if you just restarted your Mac, all memory is free and Windows will boot quickly in PD.

But if you use your Mac several days without reboot, than typically all your memory is used by applications code, data and caches. And even if you close all your applications in MacOS, memory will not be completely freed (you can check it in Activity Monitor). Then when your start a VM, it requires some RAM, and it can take some time to allocate it, so Windows boot time could be slower.

2) Software installed in Windows

Applications, antiviruses, drivers, etc installed in Windows also affects boot time. Usually the older your Windows installation, the bigger number of applications installed, the bigger Windows boot time.

3) Windows services activity

Windows can do different work on boot. So suddenly you may fill boot time became slower, but than it is ok back. So boot time can vary

4) Virtual Machine location on disk

Disk performance depends on offset from disk start, so performance may vary even on the same Mac.

====

Normally if you have newly installed MacOS and fresh Windows installation, then VM boot time shouldn't exceed 30-35 sec on any Mac. For WinXP typical boot time is 15-20 sec

 

[mmmmisha]

PD 6 seems sluggish to me

Maybe the latest build will fix it, but between windows updates and kaspary database rebuilds, I've yet to actually get any work done on my VM (running Windows 7). Plus delays/hangs on the mac side are awful. Will update this post if things improve, but so far this is turning out to be another example of not buying v.X.o of anything.