VMWare & Parallels

MuGeN · 23 Sep 2010 at 08:16

Over time I have bought both of these, with my latest purchase being Parallels 5...

But I just got a (very sneaky) email from VM saying why pay $49.99 to upgrade Parallels when you could upgrade VMWare for $9.99 - and they're even letting you upgrade from Parallels :eek:

So, there we have it, last gen I preferred Parallels, have the tides turned again in these new versions, or are they both now good enough and established enough for it just to come down to personal preference?

fez · 23 Sep 2010 at 09:10

I prefer VMware myself. Find that its really unobtrusive and you barely notice you are using it.

picnic · 23 Sep 2010 at 10:01

Can I upgrade a trial Parallels to VMWare for $9.99

Qdos · 23 Sep 2010 at 10:36

+1 for VMWare - very easy to use, barely notice you're in a virtual environment.

MuGeN · 23 Sep 2010 at 11:27

are you guys talking about the new versions of each?

AbsenceJam · 23 Sep 2010 at 12:16

I'm using Parallels 6 and played with Fusion 3 a little, Parallels definitely seems to be faster. I run my VM's in isolation from OS X but from what I gather Parallels does this much better.

Si105 · 23 Sep 2010 at 12:47

I prefer VMware too. It's easier to use for me.

Spyhop · 23 Sep 2010 at 16:04

Sun's VirtualBox is free and works fine so there's no need to spend any money if you have simple VM needs.

MacRS4 · 23 Sep 2010 at 17:24

Parallels 6 is great for desktop virtualisation - I.e Win7/XP etc. It integrates well and is very fast. See my thoughts here: http://www.markc.me.uk/MarkC/Blog/Entries/2010/9/14_Parallels_Desktop_6_for_Mac.html

If you want to run server stuff etc. then Fusion scales better IMO. Memory over-subscription is supported & works - doesn't appear to work at all in Parallels.

SiriusB · 24 Sep 2010 at 00:23

If you bought Parallels 5 after August 15th, you get a free upgrade to Parallels 6. You should get an email about it.