Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
What version of Parallels should I get?
- Thread starter Glennster
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Depends. You have to ask yourself what you want to do with Windows! IMHO Parallels has to be update with every new version of OS X. It is known to run some more advanced games. Again IMHO if you want to run Windows games then go with a BootCamp partition and boot into windows.
Also I strongly suggest VMWare Mac Fusion for mission critical Windows applications running in OS X. IMHO it is more stable than the competition.
Go with Fusion then ... the licensing with Fusion is better as you can use one licence on multiple Macs, Parallels requires a licence per machine. Fusion is also cheaper and doesn't bring out chargeable upgrades to support each new OS.
From VMware's Web site. Neither one is on the AppleStore site. They go against some internal policy and Apple only supports BootCamp.
Since I only own one Mac, this is irrelevant to me personally.
No, VMware just has a much less frequent upgrade schedule, period.
Superior 3D gaming performance is the most well known advantage of Parallels over Fusion, but there are others as well. Likewise, Fusion has its points. You need to decide which features matter the most to you.
I happen to own, and prefer, Parallels.
This review has a nice outline of the latest versions of both.
It is true that Parallels has a higher list price and their upgrade pricing is not so generous, but if you wait for a bit after a new version release, you can usually get a license in a bundle or using a promo code for significant discounts.
It is also a common misconception that you need the latest version of Parallels to run the latest version of OS X. Parallels 8, for example, can be used in Mavericks.
Last edited:
In my opinion, Parallels is faster and easier to use. 3D application is better too. I can play some games on Parallels, but not on Vmware.
I use Virtual Box. It's fast, has some nice features (including easier USB and other peripheral controls), and it's open source software so it's free and regularly updated. https://www.virtualbox.org