Customer Reviews

Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(118)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(35)

 

 

I have been a Windows user for 25 years and I have made the leap and replaced my Dell laptop with a MacBook. I am an application developer on the PC and Unix platform, and thus I run a lot of industry strength development packages and tools. I use Virtual PC to host different server environments on my Vista desktop, and on my laptop I run all kinds of server applications, from a Sybase database to a WebLogic web server. So when it came time for me to move to a Mac as my mobile platform, I needed a virtual environment for environment. With the adance of hardware assisted virtualization, now is the time.

I tried three virtualization packages - the Sun VirtualBox, VMWare Fusion, and Parallels. After hours experimentation and testing, I have decided on Parallels. Here are my findings.

VirtualBox is just not for prime time, lots of graphics corruption right out of the box. For instance, when you switch from full screen Windows to the OS X desktop, some of the Windows desktop would be left on the screen, obscuring the OS X screen. The interaction between the Windows desktop and the OS X desktops is not as seamless as that provided by Fusion and Parallels, and numerous other little things that detract from the overall user experience. So even though VirtualBox is free, it's not worth what I need to put up with.

VMWare Fusion and Parallels are actually very similar in how they work, and I don't see any difference in terms of performance. But after extensive usability testing I have found that Parallels gets more of the little things right. And it's the little things, the attention to details, that differentiates the excellent from the merely good.

For example, when you maximize a Windows application in Windows full screen mode under Fusion, the application would maximize to cover the Taskbar. Under Parallels, however, the application correctly maximizes to cover only the client area of the desktop not cover by the Taskbar. I know VMWare must know how a correct Windows application should behave, and I attribute this behavioral error to either that they were lazy or that they hoped people don't notice. Neither speaks well for the code that runs underneath the surface.

Another example, when you task switch using command-tab in OS X, you can tell which applications are Windows native applications because Parallels would superimpose the two vertical bars Parallels logo over the Windows application icons. Parallels gets credit for extra effort. Fusion on the other hand not only does not show you which applications are Windows apps, but cmd-tab is simply not implemented correctly in virtual Windows and thus task switch is almost impossible when you're not in unity mode (Windows and OS X apps side by side). Very bad.

Yet another example, you can access the entire collection of Mac applications right from the Windows desktop because Parallels sees fit to create shortcuts to all the Mac application right on the Windows Start menu and you can of course duplicate those short cuts anywhere in the Windows environment.

Example number four, you can control the boot sequence of the virtual machine using the Parallels application menu, while with Fusion you need to get in to the virtual machine's BIOS to do that - and the BIOS screen flashes by so fast you need to manually edit the configuration file to slow down the welcome screen so you can actually see which keys to hit to enter Setup or choose the boot device. This is another example of lazy application development.

And not to belabor the point, example number five, VMWare only emulates multiple processors, NOT MULTIPLE CORES, so that Core 2 Dual you got there is useless if you run XP Home which only supports a single processor.

Now I don't know about you, but speaking as a developer, I think thoroughness and thoughtfulness on the part of the user interface is a good indication of the amount of effort that has gone under the surface to make the application work right.

As far as Parallels' performance is concerned, this is what I found. Now I can't speak for gamers, as I don't play games on my laptop. But Parallels is able to run industrial strength servers and development environments on my 2.0GHz, 2GB dual core MacBook faster than my 1.7GHz, 2GB single core Dell. So it definitely does what I want it to. And if you only run Office or Quicken, then you have nothing to worry about.

If you have made a transition to OS X and need a virtual environment to run your Windows apps, I encourage you to go download the trial versions of both Fusion and Parallels and do the testing yourself, using the applications that you want to use. Give it some time and don't get too excited by the initial wow factor of seeing your Windows application and your OS X application coexist side by side. Be thorough and dig deep, and you will find the choice you really want to live with day to day. And mine happens to be Parallels.

Parallels Desktop for Mac version 4 is a major upgrade, yet, same price as previous version. I had issues with the speed of version 3, but no more provided you have sufficient RAM ( 2+).

It installs effortlessly, in my case I was upgrading, and it was easy, saved all my doc's that were on my Windows XP Pro deskstop, and creates Virtual Machines of BootCamp and Windows XP that I had installed. Then it goes thru a well done video tutorial or you can just go to work. I had issues on my iMac, new in March '09 with installing the new HP Wireless printer. I tried the online database from Parallels, and it wasn't too good helping me. So next I tried a Tech Support person from India, who's knowledge of Windows and Mac were mediocre. Rather than a simple check list of things we could go through, he waste much time, and in the end, didn't fix the issue, so daily new emails came to me to try things, finally, I asked a fellow Alaskan Apple Users Grp member for assistance. He had it fixed and installed in half hour. Part of the problem was that Parallels includes a Virus software free, with a yearly subscription of updates, and it was installed, and it's built in Firewall, was stopping the printer drivers from being installed correctly.

The many new features of Parallels v 4 are important to note. First of all, you'll see how much quicker it loads after it's revised and much improved 3 click installation that detected my Windows XP, and you can click it's icon in the dock where you can access Windows programs or your Mac apps. Another feature I liked was drag and drop between Windows or Mac, like attaching a doc to Outlook Express or Mail. The ability to open files in either platform was good. and since Spaces works too, I found I could use more desktop areas/spaces and have more open windows. I liked the new clip tool that let's me attach a screen shot via Mac's copy/paste clipboard. or The Shared Folders feature allowed me easily move files between both OS.

I noted more speed in Parallels, but it still could be better on a MacBook with only 1 Gig of Ram. My 4 GIG iMac was fine. Windows 3D features are now active, I didn't play any games, but did see they are now up and running. I did try out a new game, that's Windows only, Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventure, and it worked well for me, the novice gamer. As I started to explore more of the new features, each was helpful, like PowerSafe, that extends battery life, great for the portable. I also noted less forced shut downs here too. Most welcome. When I plugged in my iPod, Parallels asked me if I wanted it to match it to Mac or Parallels.

All in all, a welcome new way to run Windows, and be able to use your Mac at the same time. I'd recommend it.

Here are Software Requirements:

Primary Operating System: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (including Leopard and experimental support for Snow Leopard) or higher running on an Intel® Mac.
Hardware Requirements

Mac Computer Support for any 32- or 64-bit Intel®-based Mac:

iMac
Mac mini
MacBook
MacBook Pro
MacBook Air
Mac Pro Tower
Processors Support for any 32- or 64-bit Intel® Core Duo processor featured in new Intel® Macs::

Intel® Core Solo
Intel® Core Duo
Intel® Core 2 Duo
Intel® Dual-Core Xeon
Includes full support for Intel Virtualization Technology (VT)
Memory Requirements 1 GB of RAM (2 GB recommended to run Windows Vista). Support for any memory configuration (up to 16 GB), without modifying your host system
Disk Space Software Installation -- 450 MB of available hard drive space for Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac installation (plus space to allocate to your virtual machine.)

Virtual Machine Installation -- Hard drive space allocation for virtual machines is dependent upon the guest operating system. 15 GB of available hard drive space is recommended per virtual machine for Windows and Linux.

CD-ROM CD-ROM drive for installation (if applicable)

Networking: Internet connection is required to receive online Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac product updates

Display: 16-bit or 32-bit display adapter recommended

Hardware Requirements:

Processor: Virtualized Processor of host Mac
Motherboard: Generic motherboard compatible with Intel i815 chipset
Memory: Up to 8GB RAM available for each virtual machine
Keyboard: 104-key Windows enhanced keyboard
Mouse: PS/2 wheel mouse
Display: VGA and SVGA with VESA 3.0 support
3D Graphics support (DirectX9.0 with Shaders Model 2, DirectX Pixel Shaders and OpenGL 2.0)
Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE4) support
IDE Drives Up to 4 IDE Devices; CD/DVD-ROM Drives, Virtual Hard drives or any combination of the two. Virtual Hard Drive from up to 2TB each
Floppy Drives 1.44 Floppy drive mapped to FDD image file
CD Drives CD/DVD-ROM drives mapped to physical drive, ISO or DMG image file

Burn CDs and DVDs directly in virtual machines, play audio CDs, and read data from copy-protected CDs and DVDs.
Sound Card AC'97-compatible sound card. Sound recording is supported
Serial Ports Up to four Serial (COM) Port mapped to a socket or to an output file
Parallels Ports Up to three bi-directional parallel (LPT) ports mapped to output file
Ethernet© Cards Up to 16 Virtual NICs
Ethernet virtual network card compatible with RTL8029 bridged to Apple Ethernet or Apple Airport adapter, connected to host-only or shared networking
USB Ports: USB 2.0 support; 8 USB 2.0 ports and 2 USB 1.1 ports

I recently upgraded from a workhorse Win98 PC home system that I've had for nearly a decade to a new iMac. (I've used Macs at my place of business for years, so was familiar with them and shared files between systems fairly seamlessly.)

Since I had some legacy software and hardware that I didn't want to re-purchase and upgrade (or were simply not available for Mac), I had Windows XP pre-installed with Parallels Desktop at the time I purchased my iMac. (I also upgraded the RAM memory to 4 Gigs.)

I am experienced enough to be skeptical about the claims of software out of the box. But because of Parallels, my migration from my Win98 system to my new iMac has been amazingly painless, straightforward and seamless. (Obviously, whoever installed the system set it up exactly as I needed it to be configured).

In addition to getting my old Quickbooks 2001 and Quicken 2003 software to run perfectly fine within Windows XP on the system, I even got an 11x17 scanner that was only compatible with Windows to work perfectly on the first try in the new system, and an old Epson printer that had no Mac drivers can print from both the Mac and Windows sides!! (I did track down some Mac drivers thanks to a community of software people who are committed to creating drivers for all printers for all operating systems.)

It runs seamlessly in the background, and I am able to share folders and files back and forth with no problem. I have a lot of memory, but I only open Parallels and Windows when I need it, I don't open it automatically at startup.

I'm so happy that the advent of Intel chip Macs and great software like Parallels has made the Mac/PC divide virtually non-existent!

Easy to install, works like promised. I could install Windows XP in my iMac 24" and could then run Quicken for Windows 2007. I could use all Quicken functions, including printing checks. I can surf internet using safari in the Mac and explorer in the Windows program, side by side! I have not had any crashes. Highly recommend this program if you need to run Windows applications in your Mac.

I'm a photographer and have spent a lot of money on Windows programs that I've used for years on my pc. After my last laptop burned out (from constantly overheating), I decided that I would try out a macbook - I have a lot of friends who use them and rave about them, but I'm very comfortable with a pc and know my way around it really well.

I have been so surprised by how well I've adjusted to a mac - there are some functions on it that when I go back to using a pc, I get so frustrated! The only problem was that I still had all of these expensive programs that I would have to re-purchase to be able to use them on a mac. That's when I heard about parallels and how I could do both, so I thought I'd give it a try. I can tell you that this is an amazing product! I can switch seamlessly between my Mac programs and my Windows programs and it's just as fast as it's always been. (especially considering that the programs I run take up a lot of RAM and slow all of my pc's down).

I highly recommend this product and have convinced a lot of my friends to do the same.

I have been a saisfied Parallels user for about two years. I participated in the Parallels 4 beta review and am pleased to report that this new software is great! Stable, very fast, new user interface, 3d directx 9.0, open GL, DirectX shaders, 32 and 64 bit operating systems, 256 video,8 gb ram, partition resizing FAT 32 support, are just some of the improvements.

The install procedure is much improved and should go smoothly (occasionally Windows install acts up, but that is usually a Windows problem). (Follow the instructions exactly!) Parallels Tools take a while to install but should work well. If you have problems installing, rebooting the Mac seems to solve most of the problems.

I think that many more games will now work in Parallels (my Roller Coaster Tycoon now runs flawlessly and fast compared to several problems before). Other beta users reported a lot of applications that will now work. I still do not think that every game will work, so don't be disappointed if your doesn't.

The configure tab is much improved over previous versions and there are lots of things you can configure. My computer worked well with the default settings. You can right-click on the mouse and configure the menu bar on the startup screen.

I use Windows for Quicken, EWallet (synching with Iphone), Microsoft Publisher (all 2007 products work well), and several Coffee Cup web applications, and several other applications that aren't available in Mac versions. All of these applications work well. If you sync with Ewallet, be sure you use default networking.

I particularly like the Coherence mode. It has been improved over Parallels 3 and integrated fine with Mac. I have lots of clip art on the windows side and I can access it on the Mac side as fast as Mac files (was much slower in previous version.)

The integrated help user manual is great -- and explains most that you need to know.

The supporting applications (Compressor, etc.) are much improved and there are lots of ways to back up -- including an automatic one similar to time machine.

I have also beta tested a new iphone application which will eventually integrate with Parallels 4. As of now it will turn on and off, suspend, and pause the VM. I think the uses will eventually be expanded.

I am using this in my Imac 2.16 gb 4gb memory machine with Windows XP home. I would recommend that you use Windows XP (less problems than Vista) and with the coherence mode you really don't need to see an interface -- use the superior Mac one!

I only have one minor problem with the application. Commercial videos will not display in Coherence mode but work fine in Windowed mode and Full Screen mode. Hopefully, this will get fixed in an update. I'm sure other users may encounter some other problems as this product is used in many ways.

I think they will still have a 30 day free trial (so no cost to give it a try). You won't be sorry.

And, no, I am not connected with Parallels in any way. Just like the product.

I'd been a "PC" guy since the early 90s. After the release of Vista, I became frustrated and decided to switch to an Apple. In my transition to the Macbook Pro, I found that I really missed Outlook; Entourage just doesn't cut it for me. I decided to try virtualization software to see if I could get my Outlook back up and running. I installed trial versions of both Parallels and VMWare on my MBP (2.6GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB Ram, 200GB HDD). It didn't take long to realize that Parallels was a superior product, so I dumped the VMWare and purchased Parallels 3. I recently upgraded from Parallels 3 to Parallels 4, I also upgraded to Windows 7 beta (64bit); everything went perfectly.

I wouldn't hesitate reccomending this product to anyone. It's simple to install, works with every version of Windows (that I've ever tried to install), and gives you seamless access to all of your windows applications on Apple computers. You even have several options as to how the windows interacts with OSX (coherence, modality, etc.).

A powerful product that does exactly what it says....very well!!

Parallels was originally one of my justifications for upgrading to an Intel CPU Macbook at home, and I have never regretted the switch. I was able to get rid of a separate PC notebook and to consolidate my PC and Mac environments on one elegant machine, which runs Windows as fast or faster than my old PC!

I have since purchased the program for two Macbooks at work (mine and a colleague's), so I use Parallels all the time. It does exactly what I want, which is to run Windows programs that don't have OS X equivalents, and it does this well. At work I run a Windows ERP program and Crystal Reports connected to a MS SQL Server database. I always need to transfer files from one OS to the other, and this is very easy with Parallels.

Originally I used Parallels exclusively in full-screen mode, but in the 4.0 release I have begun to use the "Coherence" mode, which allows you to run Windows and OS X programs side-by-side. In this context, the red parallel lines that appear automatically on Windows program icons in the Dock are really useful.

The upgrade from version 3 went smoothly, if a little bit long to convert my existing virtual PC (the setup program warned that it would take some time), and overall the program is very polished. I was pleased to discover that the upgrade includes a full year of antivirus protection from Kaspersky. I also appreciate the improved support for connecting USB devices (a window pops up to ask which environment you want to connect the device to, and you can optionally remember the setting.)

I'm sure I haven't explored every feature of the program (although I did notice that in the preferences you can set how many CPU cores to allocate to Parallels, which is pretty cool), but I'm very happy with what I'm using.

I use Parallels all day every day at work simultaneously with a bunch of Mac programs, my iPhone, etc. It is extremely stable on my stock white Macbook with 4 GB of RAM. I recommend the program wholeheartedly.

When I received my iMac at work a year and a half ago, the first thing I did was set up Boot Camp and installed Windows. It was my safety blanket while I dove head first into learning a new OS as part of the helpdesk group at work.

In the beginning, I found myself rebooting and selecting to boot either windows or OS X when the job calls for it. It then got tedious after helpdesk calls increased and more and more OS X questions arose. I decided to search Google for a virtualization program for Apple's OS X. What I found led me to download and test 3 products namely Sun VirtualBox, VMWare Fusion & Parallel's Desktop for Mac. Back then, VMWare's Fusion lead the pack followed by Parallels and Sun trailed a long way behind. I downloaded and tested all 3 products while actively following forums and articles before deciding which one to purchase.

Parallels (3.0 then upgraded to 4 a short time after) gave me the best option on flexibility and integration. Features such as accessing the NTFS partition or even being able to see and use Apple's BootCamp partition, not to mention coherence mode were features that shadowed the competing products. Another plus was having access to USB devices such as Flash Drives, external USB drives and other USB devices such as mice & keyboards. There are other wonderful features in Parallels but I'll let the other reviewers tell you about them.

Having access to NTFS partition is crucial to me since I migrated over to Apple after using Windows environment for so long. Parallels can read and write files to your NTFS partition from either a Boot Camp partition or a virtualized machine. This is what I call integration. This wasn't the case with either VMware nor Sun then; you needed to use a shared folder to share between the 2 OSes running.

Once in a while we test out new software titles and running things on native Windows gives you a better gauge on how the software does. Having this option using Boot Camp was great. After the initial install, we go back to the Mac OS X side and run it virtually using Parallels to see how it performs and if any bugs shows up. We can then configure the virtual machine with the least recommended virtual hardware and run it through it's pace. Then we tweak it for optimal deployment. Parallels makes this happen without actually physically configuring an actual PC.

Parallel's Coherence mode is a wonderful screen and application integration from within both OSes. It allows all running application from host and guess OSes to use one common desktop, Apple's. You can now easily and simply drag and drop data from an OS to the other and run with either side's default application. No more choosing which OS to click before, just click your data file and the default application runs. You can always choose which one to use though.

Having access to different USB devices is also a big plus when running Parallels. You can chose to use it on either the host of guest OSes. If you run it on the Apple OS, it can still be used on the guest OS when running Coherence mode.

Parallels is not without its flaws. Tech support is done via email or remote desktop only. This is because the company outsources its helpdesk to a foreign country which gives you a bit of a communication and timing issue. None the less, the technicians are very eager and very supportive and tries very hard to get your problems resolved before passing it to the next person on the next shift.

I recommend this product to everyone who is using Apple's Mac OS X and who needs to run some specialized Windows application. It sets up easily with the built-in assistant modules which help you set up your guest OS and network configuration plus hardware integration. Can't wait to see what's new with version 5.

I was nervous when I first purchased this product that it would really slow down my computer.

I decided to try it anyways because it seemed like the best option for what I wanted to do. I've been using it for about a month now and my computer runs faster than my pc did by itself! I have no problem transitioning between the two and utilizing all of the programs both on the mac and pc.

Coherence mode rocks!