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VMware vs. Parallas

Which product to choose?

  • VMware

    Votes: 24 39.3%

  • Parallels

    Votes: 37 60.7%
  • Total voters
    61
  • Poll closed .
I have not done a direct comparison of VMWARE Fusion and Parallels... but from reviews and reading different forums in regards to 3D / graphic intensive CAD programs - Fusion always received consistent high marks.

The performance I have seen has been good. Not "snappy" but not slow. I watch video demos done on Windows-dedicated machines... and my mac, running Windows 7 in virtual mode runs much faster than those demos.

I would like to get objective opinions as to whether Parallels has an advantage (or disadvantage) when compared to Fusion. Does anyone have a comment on this comparison from experience ?

TIA
 
Here Are Some Fusion and Parallels Reviews

Perhaps these will help you decide:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/11/vmware-fusion-3-review.ars/4

http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2010/09/parallels-desktop-6-the-ars-review.ars

http://forum.notebookreview.com/app...oot-camp-parallels-desktop-vmware-fusion.html

FWIW, after a lot of reading I went with Fusion for a client who is running Windows 7 and a bunch of medical software in Windows emulation. She is also using a multi-function printer via Airport.

The Fusion installation was relatively painless. Since it was the first time that I used Fusion I found this free ebook to be very helpful and a real time-saver for tweaking Fusion and Windows settings: http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/Take-Control-of-VMware-Fusion-3-eBook.pdf.

Since my client is a computer noob ease-of-use and reliability is essential. I set up her system over seven months ago and she hasn't had any problems, which is saying a lot considering how much she is using Windows software.
 
I paid for Parallels twice and never again!

I had to upgrade twice when I upgraded to previous OS's. The last straw was when I upgraded to either Leopard or Snow Leopard and made my then current version unusable. I was FORCED to pay for an upgrade / new purchase even though everything was working perfectly fine.

Parallels may have a little edge on gaming, but I refused to be raped and forced to upgrade when I don't have to. A purchase of parallels forces you to have to upgrade to newer and newer versions even if your requirements or Windows VM doesn't change ever.
 
Parallels allows you to run a boot camp partition as a virtual machine. I am fairly certain VMWare does not have this capability, but I do not know about VirtualBox. To me, this is the big reason to go with Parallels.
 
retrorichie said:
Parallels allows you to run a boot camp partition as a virtual machine. I am fairly certain VMWare does not have this capability, but I do not know about VirtualBox. To me, this is the big reason to go with Parallels.
Click to expand...

VMWare does this well.
 
Interesting. It seems many of the posts favour VMware, but the poll stands for Parallels (as of now)!
 
alpinadvl said:
I have not done a direct comparison of VMWARE Fusion and Parallels... but from reviews and reading different forums in regards to 3D / graphic intensive CAD programs - Fusion always received consistent high marks.

The performance I have seen has been good. Not "snappy" but not slow. I watch video demos done on Windows-dedicated machines... and my mac, running Windows 7 in virtual mode runs much faster than those demos.

I would like to get objective opinions as to whether Parallels has an advantage (or disadvantage) when compared to Fusion. Does anyone have a comment on this comparison from experience ?

TIA
Click to expand...

I have used both, and it's hard to go wrong with either one of them. I went with Parallels because I think the performance is better. They are also upgrading it more often (which can be a double-edged sword, as Parallels 5 owners found out with the switch to Lion), but it also tends to mean they are on top of new hardware a little more quickly.

Pick one and don't look back.
 
I have run Parallels 6 for the past 9 months. I found it buggy at first, but after a couple updates it runs great now. I have no complaints.
 
I've tried Virtual Box a while back. But it didn't suit me then. I switched to Parallels 4 purely because it was earlier in the alphabet than VMWare Fusion on the downloads page.:roll eyes: I've never tried VMWare because Parallels has not yet given me any reason to. I've followed Parallels through version 5 and now 6. I still think it works great. Unfortunately I can't compare it with VMWare really though.
 
Interesting thread

I use virtual box, from my linux days as all i need is quick access to I.E. for testing purposes.

I did try ubuntu 11.04 through virtual box once, which requires heavy use of 3d graphics and it started to show its flaws. Virtualbox is great, for basic access.
 
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