Switching from Parallels to VMware

[martinmartin]

I am currently using Parallels and I've been fairly satisfied with it.

I have read a lot of good things about VMware and I'm thinking about changing.

My question is this - would I be able to simply 'point' VMware to my existing windows installation (the one that parallels is using)? Or would I have to do a fresh install and lose everything on the Windows side?

Thanks.

 

[brkirch]

I am currently using Parallels and I've been fairly satisfied with it.

I have read a lot of good things about VMware and I'm thinking about changing.

Well, in this case I must ask; why change? If Parallels works fine for you then you are only asking for trouble by making an unnecessary change to Fusion. I had tried Fusion, but from my experience it was buggy and underfeatured, and the developers aren't willing to say if there will even be decent free updates (which makes it seem as though all new features will require a paid upgrade).

My question is this - would I be able to simply 'point' VMware to my existing windows installation (the one that parallels is using)? Or would I have to do a fresh install and lose everything on the Windows side?

You would have to convert your Parallels VM to a Fusion VM using VMWare Convertor.

 

[martinmartin]

Well, in this case I must ask; why change? If Parallels works fine for you then you are only asking for trouble by making an unnecessary change to Fusion. I had tried Fusion, but from my experience it was buggy and underfeatured, and the developers aren't willing to say if there will even be decent free updates (which makes it seem as though all new features will require a paid upgrade).



You would have to convert your Parallels VM to a Fusion VM using VMWare Convertor.

Thanks brkirch - the only reason I'm thinking about switching is because VMWare sounds like it can be a lot faster than Parallels. I use Windows at work, so it's running all day.

Youre right though, sounds like it might not be worth it...

cheers.

 

[brkirch]

Thanks brkirch - the only reason I'm thinking about switching is because VMWare sounds like it can be a lot faster than Parallels. I use Windows at work, so it's running all day.

Youre right though, sounds like it might not be worth it...

cheers.

For Mac Pros there could be a significant speed improvement because there are more than enough processors to dedicate two to Windows and therefore you can use dual core support in Fusion while still leaving plenty of CPU for OS X. On MacBook Pros or other dual core Macs the difference in speed will be minimal, even with dual core support turned on. But regardless, I would hesitant to recommend moving to Fusion until we know what kind of free updates to expect, as the current feature set is rather lacking.

 

[Consultant]

For Mac Pros there could be a significant speed improvement because there are more than enough processors to dedicate two to Windows and therefore you can use dual core support in Fusion while still leaving plenty of CPU for OS X. On MacBook Pros or other dual core Macs the difference in speed will be minimal, even with dual core support turned on. But regardless, I would hesitant to recommend moving to Fusion until we know what kind of free updates to expect, as the current feature set is rather lacking.

Well not many people have MacPros, but overwhelming number of VMWare users say VMWare is much faster than Parallels on their machines.

 

[ksmith80209]

I actually made the switch from Parallels to VM on my MacBook Pro and couldn't be happier. Parallels is good, but Fusion feels significantly faster to me. The Windows programs I have to run - like Visio - feel like native programs on Fusion vs. emulated apps on Parallels.

 

[lugesm]

Probably a naive question:
I have not installed either . . . yet; but I was wondering . . . if you switch from Parallels to VMware, is it necessary to remove Windows and reinstall the whole works?

Thanks.

 

[phuong]

the answer is not. you can keep your current Parallels VM. so no lengthy re-install nessessary.

lick here or hereto see how easy it can be done

 

[colorspace]

I licked there and nothing happened.

 

[etoiles]

I would recommend installing both (demo versions) and run some test with your apps. I tried cinebench on a MacBook (only 1gig or ram), and Parallels blew VMWare out of the water... about 4x faster in rendering.

That is straight out of the box, though, VMWare probably needs some tweaking.

 

[webgoat]

I licked there and nothing happened.

haha i'm glad somebody commented on that

 

[Mac Hammer Fan]

I would recommend installing both (demo versions) and run some test with your apps. I tried cinebench on a MacBook (only 1gig or ram), and Parallels blew VMWare out of the water... about 4x faster in rendering.

That is straight out of the box, though, VMWare probably needs some tweaking.

Well. I have Parallels 6. I get 2 fps under Cinebench in Windows XP.
2 fps and I have a MacPro 2009 with an ATI Radeon 5870!!!
3D acceleration under Parallels is non-existent!