We have a new Parallels discount offer: 20% off Parallels Desktop, the best way to run Windows on your Macc. Buy it here and use the coupon code MACM-4KXV-PDM.
Browsing Posts tagged Virtualization
Parallels Desktop 5 and VMWare Fusion 3 were both released in the last week, and as usual I tried both. I find that Parallels is noticeably faster running Windows 7, and it doesn’t slow down my MacBook Pro like VMware does.
When running a Windows 7 VM with 768M RAM allocated, VMWare uses 1GB of physical RAM and at least 20% CPU most of the time. Parallels uses around 632M and almost no CPU time when idle.
Parallels Coherence mode still looks a lot cleaner than VMWare’s Unity. Parallels starts up cleanly in Unity, while VMWare can’t switch to Unity until the virtual machine is fully booted & the VMWare tools are loaded. Dragging windows in Unity tends to be ugly, with desktop artifacts appearing, while dragging seems faster & cleaner in Parallels.
Parallels 5 adds a new crystal view, which resembles Coherence plus it makes the Parallels application disappear completely, with an icon added to the menu bar that lets you launch Windows applications.
I was beta testing Parallels Desktop 5 for several months & the release version is a major advance over the betas, which lacked the crystal view. Unfortunately Parallels doesn’t offer their beta testers a discounted upgrade to the release version.
MacTech has published their latest virtualization benchmarks comparing Parallels Desktop 4.0 with VMWare Fusion 2.0.2 on several machines. The tests show that Parallels Desktop is the clear winner, running 14-20% faster than VMware Fusion in most of the tests. Parallels also uses less Mac CPU time when idle and much less RAM. Read the full benchmarks here.
You can still get 10% off Parallels Desktop 4.0 with our coupon code MACM-VXKD-SALE.
Parallels has released a new update to Parallels Desktop 4.0, build 4.0.3810 which adds support for Snow Leopard, both as a host and guest OS, as well as Windows 7 plus several other enhancements.
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Parallels Desktop 4.0 is well worth the upgrade price, thanks to some welcome new features. You can get an additional 10% off with our coupon code MACM-VXKD-SALE.
I own both Parallels Desktop and VMWare Fusion, and I’ve switched between them several times. I always found Fusion tempting because of their superior Linux support, and with 2.0, the ability to virtualize Mac OS X Server, however even with the most recent version, “Unity” always feels sort of clunky and not quite as smooth & responsive as Parallels “Coherence”.
Parallels Desktop 4.0 further improves their already excellent Windows integration by optionally showing Windows taskbar icons in the Mac’s menu bar and providing start menu access from the dock. The new version also adds a unique modality view, which lets you shrink the VM to a floating window that lets you watch lengthy operations such as software installations while you’re doing something else.
In addition to the Windows improvements, Parallels Desktop 4.0 improves their Linux support with folder sharing between OS X and Linux. The major enhancement in 4.0 is the ability to run Mac OS X Server in a virtual machine.
Renton, WA — November 11th, 2008 — Parallels today announced the availability of version 4.0 of Parallels Desktop for Mac, its market-leading product that currently enables more than 1.5 million users to run Windows, Linux and other operating systems side-by-side with Mac OS X. This new version of the award-winning Parallels Desktop for Mac improves OS integration, performs up to 50% faster and incorporates a range of security, backup and power saving features to give Mac users a truly easy, fast and powerful desktop computing solution.
“We run a high volume of Macs and it’s absolutely vital that they deliver on fast performance and ease of use. Parallels has met this need well with features like Coherence and SmartSelect in creating a seamless Windows-on-Mac experience,” said John Hermes, Chief Technology Officer at Oklahoma Christian University. “Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac builds on this, providing blazing speed and all-round performance through innovations such as the Adaptive Hypervisor, which gives our users the resources they need on the fly; and advanced graphics support, which provides a very smooth experience.”
Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac introduces support for DirectX 9.0, DirectX Pixel Shader 2.0 and OpenGL 2.0, providing fast video performance, while the Adaptive Hypervisor dynamically allocates resources to meet user needs. The responsiveness to all applications is further enhanced as the virtualization engine has been optimized to consume 15-30% less resources than previous versions.
“Parallels is committed to continuing the innovation that has resulted in Parallels Desktop for Mac winning more than 30 major awards and being a premier Windows-on-Mac virtualization product,” said Serguei Beloussov, CEO of Parallels. “With version 4.0, we’re delivering an advanced solution that is easy, fast and powerful — with industry-leading tools and utilities included at no extra cost.”
Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac addresses two other primary user concerns: security and backup. The software offers users peace of mind through Parallels Internet Security powered by Kaspersky for anti-virus, firewall, scanner, recovery, filtering and identity protection as well as Acronis True Image Home backup and restore and Acronis Disk Director Suite. These three additions to Parallels Desktop represent $175 in extra value along with a more complete user experience.
“Mac OS X is the world’s most advanced operating system and its ability to run Windows on a Mac is yet another reason users are switching to the Mac at a rapid rate,” said Ron Okamoto, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. “This rapid adoption is supported by applications like Parallels Desktop for Mac, which enables users to get the most from their hardware.”
Parallels Desktop 4.0 offers a computing experience that is:
- Easy — Get easy access to all your applications and data while enjoying the full Mac experience with Improved Windows and Mac integration, True Drag & Drop and Copy & Paste, SmartX Technologies and Built-in Installation and Migration Tools.
- Fast — Experience the fastest speed for all applications with Adaptive Hypervisor, FastLane Architecture, up to 8 way SMP and 8 GB RAM plus 64-bit support for each VM, HyperBus and support for DirectX 9.0, DirectX Pixel Shader 2.0, and OpenGL 2.0.
- Powerful — Get a complete suite of essentials for Internet security, data protection and disk management with Parallels Internet Security powered by Kaspersky, Acronis True Image Home backup and restore, SmartGuard, PowerSaver, Full-hardware ACPI support and Acronis Disk Director Suite disk management.
- Developer and Enterprise Ready — Additional features specifically for Developers and IT administrators include Mac OS X Leopard Server and Windows Server OS support, VM Directory, CLI and Scripting support, SDK and API, remote control from iPhone, PXE Boot, improved networking and VM Templates.
With more than 50 new features, additional highlights include a redesigned user interface with quick access to all VMs, additional Screenview modes, Clips for screenshots, Speech Recognition, Security Manager, Safe Mode, Shut Down Mode and Over 45 Supported Guest OSs.
“The growth, in both performance and ease of use, of desktop virtualization software is making it easier for Windows users to adopt Macintosh computers. The availability of this technology is one of many factors driving growth in the adoption of Mac desktops and notebooks, for which shipments have grown 46.6% between the first half of 2007 and the first half of 2008, according to our data,” said Michael Rose, Industry Analyst at the research firm, IDC. “Those users leveraging virtualization software on their Macintosh hardware will find that many of the new capabilities in Parallels Desktop 4.0 represent another step forward.”
Availability and Pricing
Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac is available in English and localized versions will soon be available in Chinese, Czech, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Polish and Russian.
The standard retail price (SRP) of Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac is $79.99. New users can test a free, fully-functional copy for 15 days. Current Parallels Desktop users can upgrade their existing software for only $39.99 — a 50% off promotional price available until November 30, 2008. Users that purchased version 3.0 on or after September 1, 2008, qualify for a free upgrade to version 4.0.
Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac is available at Amazon.com, Apple Store, Best Buy, Fry’s Electronics, MicroCenter, Office Depot, Staples and hundreds of other retailers nationwide.
Volume pricing and site-license opportunities are also available for new customers by contacting the Parallels Sales Team at sales@parallels.com or 425-282-6400.
In-depth information on Parallels Desktop 4.0’s new features and major improvements, as well as videos and screenshots of key features in action, are available at http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop
About Parallels — Optimized Computing
Parallels is a worldwide leader in virtualization and automation software that optimizes computing for consumers, businesses, and service providers across all major hardware, operating systems, and virtualization platforms. Founded in 1999, Parallels is a fast-growing company with 800 employees in North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information, please visit http://www.parallels.com
VMWare Fusion 2.0 beta 2 is out and it lets you run Mac OS X Server (not client) in a virtual machine. This is especially useful for software developers, since it gives you another machine for testing, plus you can use the snapshot feature to revert to an earlier state if you mess things up badly.
It took some work and I ran into a few difficulties, but I finally maaged to get it working.
Although I don’t have a Server license, Apple makes it available to Apple Developer Connection members, so I was able to download the disk image from the ADC member site.
If you try to install directly from the Leopard Server DVD image, you’ll find that VMWare doesn’t let you choose a .dmg file. To get around that, open the image in Disk Utility and convert to DVD/CDR Master. VMWare will then let you install from the resulting .cdr image.
If you try to use the default settings for the virtual machine, the installation will fail. VMWare has posted instructions for successfully installing Mac OS X Server. The important thing is to customize the VM settings, remove the IDE hard drive and add a 30GB SCSI hard drive.
When you start the installation, the installer won’t find any drives to install the operating system, so you’ll have to open Disk Utility in the VM and erase the virtual drive. Once you do that, the installation will proceed smoothly.
Buy any Parallels product including Parallels Desktop 3.0 or Parallels Desktop Premium Edition and receive 10% off by using the coupon code MACM-VXKD-SALE .
RENTON, Wash., June 17th, 2008 – Parallels announced today that Parallels Server for Mac, the world’s first server virtualization solution for Intel-powered Apple systems, is now available. Parallels Server for Mac is a powerful and easy-to-use hypervisor solution for server virtualization that provides a great value for cost conscious organizations seeking to standardize and optimize their IT infrastructures. It can run on any Intel-powered Apple hardware, including the Xserve and Mac Pro, running OS X Leopard Server and comes to market after a successful worldwide beta testing program involving Mac, Windows and Linux server professionals.
Enterprises of all sizes can use Parallels Server for Mac to seamlessly standardize on the Mac platform and integrate into existing IT infrastructures. It can be used to effectively consolidate server resources, consolidate and support legacy OSes and applications, streamline server and application deployment, reduce maintenance and management, simplify software testing and development, and optimize server and application availability.
“Parallels Server for Mac opens the door for virtualization on Apple servers and represents an important step in delivering on our ‘Optimized Computing’ vision by adding hypervisor-based server virtualization,” said Serguei Beloussov, CEO of Parallels. “Parallels Server for Mac will be a catalyst in driving Mac server adoption in the enterprise, as it is the first product ever to enable IT professionals and developers to capitalize on the power of OS X Server while keeping the flexibility to run Windows and Linux workloads.”
“Leopard Server is easy to set up and includes innovative features such as Podcast Producer and iCal Server that you can’t find in other major operating systems,” said Ron Okamoto, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. “Now, Parallels Server makes the combination of Leopard Server and Xserve even more appealing to IT departments considering a switch to the Mac.”
Parallels Server for Mac includes industry-first support for OS X Leopard Server as a guest operating system in a virtual machine. Running OS X Leopard Server in a virtual machine enables Mac server administrators to run multiple, isolated workloads on a single OS X Leopard Server-powered Xserve, providing the ability to test and sandbox with more agility than ever before.
Parallels Server includes a wide range of enterprise-class features, such as:
[list]
[*] Virtual Support for 4-way Symmetric Multi-processing (SMP), which lets users assign up to 4 virtual cores to a virtual machine for exceptional performance under heavy workloads. 2-way SMP is also supported, giving users an unsurpassed level of virtual machine customization.
[*] The inclusion of key next-generation technologies such as an ACPI BIOS, and support for up to 32GB of physical RAM.
[*] Support for Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel VT-x) technologies to take full advantage of hardware-assisted acceleration.
[*] A fully Scriptable Multi-client Parallels Management Console that lets users manages virtual and physical servers locally and remotely. The Parallels Management Console’s APIs are completely open and scriptable with Python, enabling administrators to automate common server tasks straight from the command line.
[*] An Integrated Toolset that enhances and simplifies the user experience. The toolset includes: Parallels Tools, a set of helpful utilities that make working with virtual servers easier and more productive; Parallels Transporter, a built-in, assistant driven physical to virtual (P2V) and virtual to virtual (V2V) migration tool; and the Parallels Image Tool, which lets users modify settings of their virtual hard disk.
[*] The ability to run any combination of more than 50 different x86 (32-bit) and x64 (64-bit) guest operating systems, including the just released Windows Server 2008 in secure, high-performing virtual machines.
[*] A Powerful SDK that enables third party vendors to integrate Parallels Server support into their products. The SDK is the same one used by Parallels engineers to build the Parallels Management Console.
[/list]
A full list of features and specifications is available at www.parallels.com/server.
[B]Pricing and Availability[/B]
Parallels Server for Mac is available immediately at a standard retail price of $999/ £620/ €860 per system, running on an unlimited number of cores. Platinum and Gold Maintenance packages, which include free upgrades and priority support, are also available for purchase. Parallels Server for Mac will be available via the Parallels worldwide network of channel partners.
To find a reseller or distributor, visit www.parallels.com/partners/find/cp[/URL].
Licenses can also be purchased directly from the Parallels online store at =http://www.regnow.com/softsell/visitor.cgi?affiliate=224927&action=site&vendor=13166&ref=http://www.parallels.com/buyonlinewww.parallels.com/buyonline.
[B]About Parallels – Optimized Computing[/B]
Parallels is a worldwide leader in virtualization and automation software that optimizes computing for consumers, businesses and service providers across all major hardware, operating system and virtualization platforms. Founded in 1999, Parallels is a fast-growing company with 900 employees in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit www.parallels.com.
VMware has released the first beta of Fusion 2.0 for the Mac, now available as a free download.
VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 brings support for multiple displays, tools for even easier switching to VMware Fusion, experimental support for DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 2 3D acceleration, and more!
When released, VMware Fusion 2.0 will be a free downloadable upgrade for all VMware Fusion 1.x users, as a sincere thank you to VMware Fusion early adopters.
[B]Key Features of VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta [/B]
[list]
[*] [B]Two Heads Are Better Than One—True Multiple Display Support[/B] Now you can use VMware Fusion with as many displays as your Mac can handle! VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 offers the first true multi-display support for your Mac, with additional physical displays showing up as individual displays in your virtual machine.
Drag Windows applications from display to display. Switch your virtual machine to full screen and watch it expand across all of your displays! VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 multiple display support lets you get the most out of your screen real estate.
[*] [B]Experimental DirectX 9.0 3D Acceleration[/B] VMware Fusion 1.0 pioneered 3D acceleration in a virtual machine for Mac, supporting DirectX 8.1. VMware Fusion 1.1 turned up the volume with DirectX 9.0 without pixel shaders.
Now, VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 raises the bar for 3D acceleration yet again, offering experimental support for DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 2.
[*] [B]Flip the Switch—Import Parallels and Virtual PC for Mac Virtual Machines, or Even Your Boot Camp Partition[/B] VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 integrates importation of Parallels Desktop and Virtual PC for Mac virtual machines.
And while VMware Fusion makes it easy to run your Boot Camp partition side by side with Mac OS X, VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 helps current Boot Camp users go “fully virtual” by converting your Boot Camp partition to a virtual machine.
[*] [B]Windows Printing Even Easier on the Mac[/B] Printing in Windows virtual machines can be tricky, requiring the right drivers in the right places. VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 seamlessly lets your Windows virtual machines print to any printer attached to your Mac, without any additional setup.
[*] [B]Even Easier, Mac-Native Design[/B] From the same team that brought you the first Mac-native user interface for a virtualization application…comes more of the same!
A totally redesigned Virtual Machine Library, Settings Editor, Shared Folders setup, and Status Bar make VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 the user friendliest way to run Windows on the Mac.
[/list]
Other features of VMware 2.0 include:
[B]New Settings Editor[/B]
[list]
[*] Provides quick overview of all virtual machine settings
[*] Works just like System Preferences
[*] Works in Unity, Full Screen, and Single Window views
[*] Add existing virtual hard drives to virtual machines and even optionally copy them into the virtual machine bundle
[*] Simplified Shared Folders interface
[/list]
[B]Shared Folders Improvements[/B]
[list]
[*] Simplified Shared Folders setup in the new Settings Editor
[*] Shared Folders are easier to discover. New Shared Folders option in Status bar and Virtual Machine menu. Can open all Shared Folders or just a specific Shared Folder in the virtual machine
[*] Support for Home folder (~) shortcut for Shared Folders in VMX settings file
[*] Improved compatibility with Windows applications including QuickBooks and Visual Studio
[*] Improved compatibility running Java applications from a Shared Folder
[/list]
[B]USB Improvements[/B]
[list]
[*] Allow USB mice/tablets in a virtual machine without custom configuration
[*] Faster USB Storage performance
[*] USB devices are recognized by type in the Status bar
[*] Improved USB robustness
[/list]
[B]Networking Improvements[/B]
[list]
[*] Virtual machines in Bridged networking mode now know when your Mac’s network connection is available or becomes unavailable, and will refresh their network address automatically
[*] DNS and WINS server pass-through with NAT networking
[*] Browse for Bonjour printers with NAT networking
[*] Improved performance when using NAT networking
[*] Manual option to override the MAC address to any MAC address in VMX settings file, previously limited to VMware-specific MAC addresses
[*] Automatically obtain a new DHCP lease when switching between NAT/Bridged networking
[*] Windows guests now able to join Active Directory domain with NAT networking if WINS is enabled on Mac OS X
[*] Improved compatibility with wireless bridged networking and certain DHCP/routers (also included with VMware Fusion 1.1.2)
[/list]
[B]Unity Improvements[/B]
[list]
[*] Virtual machines can resume and start directly in Unity view
[*] Unity windows can now be dragged into additional displays
[*] Quit Windows applications from the Dock icon
[*] Unity windows now respect the Dock location and won’t maximize underneath the Dock
[*] Exposé now filters out non-application windows
[*] Virtual machine desktop background no longer displayed on Windows apps minimized to the Dock
[*] Drag and Drop to overlapped Unity windows now works
[*] Cursor not hidden while typing in Unity view
[*] Handle Unity windows without titles better
[*] Improved window filtering for Unity view
[/list]
[B]Full Screen Improvements[/B]
[list]
[*] Virtual machines can resume and start directly in Full Screen view
[*] Full Screen can use one or all monitors on the Mac
[*] Notification sheets are replaced by standalone dialogs
[*] Support super large displays that are over 2048 (MacBook and MacBook Air) or 4096 (iMac, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro) pixels wide
[/list]
[B]Mouse and Keyboard Improvements[/B]
[list]
[*] Support advanced USB input devices like graphics tablets
[*] Support for more than three buttons in the Windows guests…
[*] Gaming mouse mode: When the OS no longers draws the cursor, VMware Fusion 2.0 Beta 1 prevents automatic mouse release along the edges of the virtual machine
[/list]
