What is better for running Windows on a MAC, Parallels or VMWare?
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M$8 Answers
Before I get into it, you should know that both VMWare and Parallels offer a 30-day trial, so you can install both and give them a try before you decide.
I have a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM.
I have run VMWare Workstation (the latest, 6.5 for Windows) and VMWare Fusion for MAC. I have never used Parallels. My experience began with VMWare and will stay that way. Here is why I think you should go with VMWare Fusion.
1. VMWare's commitment to virtualization began a long time ago, compared to Parallels, which was recent. Why is it important? Parallels just rebranded itself within the last 8 months as a virtualization company, and have recently acquired/merged with other companies. Parallels use to be known as SWSoft. (Go to swsoft.com and it auto-redirects you to parallels.com). Why is this important? Because VMWare has more experience and more stable software and a bigger user community, when compared to Parallels. VMWare has large Enterprise (Fortune 500) customers using their software. So any problems with buggy software that are encountered are likely to be fixed faster. While there are many Enterprise specific products, the Workstation and Fusion product would likely receive the same attention. The Workstation and Fusion product is not just a consumer product, but also used in the Enterprise. Parallels is just starting out, they don't have the solid foundation like VMWare does.
Support: Go to the VMWare support site and check out the user community there. Lots of information and lots of tips.
I've used VMWare Workstation for the past 3 years and its been rock solid and I haven't encountered any unusual bugs or issues that caused me to stop using the product. For that reason, when I got a MacBook Pro, I decided to stay with VMWare Fusion.
To contact technical support, there may be limited support. I personally have not had to call them. If I had an issue, I looked for it online. For example, OS X was unstable (due to my own fault), and I needed to shut down Fusion and it wouldn't, and I had to shut it down before I could reboot. I found documents online that allowed me to power off the virtual machine from the command line.
I currently have FreeBSD, Win2K and WinXP installed in Fusion. Running both Win2K and WinXP at the same time can sometimes be a little sluggish, but that's to be expected.
I have not had any experience running Office in a Fusion workstation instance. I've used Excel in a Workstation virtual machine with Win2K and it was fine.
I'd say make sure you have the max amount of RAM you can have.
Also, back up your virtual machines. Just copy the directory to an external drive. The files can get anywhere from 5GB +. You could burn them on to DVD as well.
I'd say the range of features that are available for VMWare, the stability in the software, the knowledge base available to customers and the fact I've used the Windows product for a couple of years makes me choose VMWare.
They are the defacto leaders in Virtualization in my opinion. VMWare has been around a long time.
Here is a link to an article about an online journalists experience with VMWare. He went with Parallels. I personally question the guys knowledge has I don't agree with some statements he made in the article. But I thought the article might be helpful to your decision making.
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/10000
Good luck and let us know what you decide.
To add: boot camp is different, you have to partition your drive and can only run either OS X "OR" Windows. You can't run both at the same time. With either Virtualization product, you can run Windows while running OS X.
I've also used Mac Office 2008. Feature set is also identical, and functions the exact same way it does for Windows.
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M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
On the partitioned drive stuff, does it take up the space that I partition, or is it only what I use.
Example- If I partition 20 gigs and only use 10 gigs, is the extra un-used 10 gigs available on my MAC or is it "held" by vmware?
once you partition the 20 gigs it is not available for use by the mac (unless you reformat the partition). once you partition your drive, the partitioned drive appears on your desktop similar to how an external hard drive appears. it is sort-of like having two hard drives.
you can share files using a shared folder in your windows partitioned drive. this is useful for files like mpeg, mp3, avi, etc. but you will want to keep your applications and windows specific files separated from your mac drive.
in short, it is 'held' by windows.
For MS word and Powerpoint, VMWare and Parallels are virtually identical. For Excel, Parallels is faster for XP, and VMWare is much faster for Vista.
VMWare is also easier to install under MS XP, and doesn't have any glitches.
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M$http://arstechnica.com/reviews/apps/parallels-4-review.ars
Update: I found a promo code for vmware that saves 50% of the price: VMWHAPPYHOLIDAYS
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M$Both Parallels and VMWare Fusion are closely matched programs.
Ars Techica summed up the pros and cons of each one:
Parallels 4.0
Better multi-core support
OpenGL acceleration
Interface is one step ahead
VMware 2.0.1
Feels faster with all client operating systems
Better disk performance
Better USB device support
Far more stable
More conservative memory usage:
The conclusion is:
Both are good programs, but VMWare is inches better, because it is more stable and uses less RAM and disk space than Parallels. Parallels also has a bit of an unpleasent integration of the Windows Start menu on top of the dock (picture bellow), which for me, is in itself a deal breaker.
Recommended specs to run VMWare + Office Suite:
They say 2 GB RAM, 400MB disk just for VMWare, so you should have 4GB RAM and at least 10GB+ free disk space.
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M$http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/08/16/fusion.vs.parallels/
You know what they say: Nobody builds software for Macs like Apple :P
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/bootcamp.html
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M$
Restarting sounds like a big deal to a Windows user but on the Mac it only takes a few seconds. I don't think you would be switching back and forth between OSs when working, so restarting once the doing your work is pretty reasonable.
the problem with bootcamp is that you have to restart your computer to use windows. then restart it to use mac. this is very inconvenient and redundant as you must have two versions of itunes (if you like always having access to your music). among other probs
If you already have the PC version of Office and don't want to buy another copy, then use VMWare. Bootcamp is overkill for simple Windows programs like Office. Who wants to reboot just to use a simple Office suite?
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M$
I have tried MS office for MAC and I personally dislike it. It is missing some key features that you get in the MS version. I think that is Microsoft's way of keeping us Apple users from becoming too independent...
Really? Microsoft states that they both have the same features. What feature were you not able to find?
There are none of the VBA and proper integrations between applications. There's no MSAccess. Etc.
Really? You trust MS and Apple's marketing? *friendly poke*
Apple.com
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M$
That's just fear mongering. I've been dual booting on my Intel MacBookPro since I got it, and I've been running windows under Mac emuation for almost a decade (at least since the MacOS8 days.) Speed can (obviously) be an issue when emulating, but it's certainly not a warranty voider or a hermaphrodite.
regarding jamiesimin question, regarding what happens when you max out on RAM, and what does it do to the Apple side of thing, the system becomes slow.
I've run Fusion with 2GB RAM and it was still okay, I just wanted an extra 2GB just in case. I don't run Photoshop. More RAM always helps.
When you max out the RAM what does that do to the Apple side when you have both running?