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VMWare or parallel? advice please

R

Rookies1000

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 2, 2011
15
0
Hello
This is my first macbook pro, 2011 15" 2.2GHz 8GB Ram, I just switched from windows to mac and so far I'm loving it:)
Now my study and work requires me to run some windows application. Mostly electrical engineering application. I have done some research but still in doubt what would suit me best VMWare or parallel?

My requirement is performance and ease of use/file sharing. I will be using windows 7 professional editions 64-bit
I don't think I will ever need to boot up in windows, so I probably will not consider bootcamp.

Thank you
 
Both programs are highly regarded and work great. You can't go wrong with either. I say close your eyes and pick one :D
 
Both Parallels and VMware are great virtual machines. I have heard the Parallels is slightly better, but that is definitely a debatable fact.
 
I haven't tried any of them, my MBP is on his way ^^".
but, if you want to purchase Parallels, you can save 30$ and get few more apps in the Mac Update Bundle (Spring 2011) : https://www.mupromo.com/ .
 
Both have their fans. Neither of them is better than the other, it's just a preference thing. You can find lots of threads about this topic which will tell you the same. Generally, users of Parallels will recommend Parallels while users of VMWare will recommend VMWare.
 
Parallels is an awful, buggy program that frustrates me on a regular basis. I have not used VMWare but would be surprised if it was worse. Parallels also have a very rapid iteration process where they launch new versions without ever fixing the older versions, and the new versions have the same bugs and more, new bugs. Crap company, crap software.
 
I prefer VMware myself although I am biased as that's what we use at work for all of our server virtualization and I'm also certified in it. I haven't used Parallels for comparison and probably never will, I'm very happy with Fusion and have no complaints at all.
 
AlBDamned said:
Parallels is an awful, buggy program that frustrates me on a regular basis. I have not used VMWare but would be surprised if it was worse. Parallels also have a very rapid iteration process where they launch new versions without ever fixing the older versions, and the new versions have the same bugs and more, new bugs. Crap company, crap software.
Click to expand...

Yup, that was my experience with Parallels (version 6, at least). VMware Fusion may not be as fast, but it's more stable than Parallels.
 
AlBDamned said:
Parallels is an awful, buggy program that frustrates me on a regular basis. I have not used VMWare but would be surprised if it was worse. Parallels also have a very rapid iteration process where they launch new versions without ever fixing the older versions, and the new versions have the same bugs and more, new bugs. Crap company, crap software.
Click to expand...

This.

Parallels is faster - confirmed - but it's unstable.

VMWare is slower - confirmed - but it's more reliable.

VMWare has better support, forums have a lot of helpful sorts as well.

Parallels integrates nicer on the Mac side - supports "Mac" things such as pinch to zoom directly in the VM.

VMWare supports VMs on the Mac or PC side without conversion.

VMWare is cheaper, for now.


Personal choice is VMWare. If stability doesn't matter, Parallels is fine. It's the one main thing that holds it back is the fact that it's just not stable. Remember also that VMWare as a company has basically cornered the market on virtualization technologies in general.
 
I'm using both, though I've used VM for a longer time.

In years with Fusion, no problems. In months with Parallels I've had one Win7 VM corrupt itself, no clue why.
 
I have been using VM Fusion for 3 years now, from V1 to V3.... Outstanding product. Constantly using it to dual boot my Win7 partition while running OSX. I need it for my job and have had ZERO issues. I too am getting a new 15 MBP, so that I can take advantage of the 8GB RAM limit in order to run more VMs concurrently... Good luck in your decision!
 
I like vmware.

Parallel always gave me issues. Granted I didn't use in a while but vmware just worked so I never had a reason to look further.
 
I have used vmware exclusively, so no real opinion on Parallells other than professors when I was in college telling me they wished they had gotten VMware instead of Parallells. The one thing about VMare (besides my company using it) is that any VMWare image that can be used in their other projects can also be used in Fusion. This makes it easy for me to use a Mac in a predominantly Windows shop (we have to use Windows as our software has no Mac alternative). I am just as productive as any one else within the company and can copy their images and use them just as they use them in player or workstation. This is just one area that Parallells lacks in, portability. A Parallells image only works in Parallells (it can be converted, but things can be lost and corrupted, never had any of these issues in VMWare).
 
I'm surprised to see so many reports of instability with Parallels. Mine has been great!

I used Fusion and it didn't work very well for me.
 
I was thinking a poll would have been more appropriate, but after reading this.. I think will go with Vmware based on popular opinion.
 
Al Coholic said:
Parallels for me (since version 4). No problems.

Tried VMware. It's noticeably slower.
Click to expand...

Try Googling 'Parallels sticky keys' and view some of search results. Parallels has this awesome bug that means suddenly, during normal typing, pressing 'R' brings up Windows Explorer, pressing 'T' does something else and so on. Net result, you have to reboot. That's just one example and it was/is a fairly common problem. Parallels' answer was to release a new version to fix it, ask people to PAY to upgrade, then present them with a slew of similarly serious bugs.

I am glad for you that you have had no problems because I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Trying to finish a 200-page full colour report and having to reboot every five minutes (or try fix it with a full reinstall, natch), is seriously almost enough to send you mental. :eek:

Many, many people have found Parallels software an utter disaster.
 
I have been using Parallels 6 windows 7 ultimate, for about a day.
So far no issues. I have never run VM before and am quite surprised at how smooth it is.
 
I've been using VMware for a few years now and after the MacUpdate promo, decided to try Parallels (that and ~10 more apps for 49.99). VMware should do everything you need, it's frustrated me at times but its never let me down in a huge way but I haven't found it to be hugely impressive either. It works, basically.

Parallels seems to be nicer, haven't spent much time with it but I can already notice the speed increase and it does seem to have lots of features that I can see to be useful. Again, I don't have much experience but I have haven't had any catastrophic failures.
 
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