More apple.... next question.... VMWare Fusion or Parallels

otispunkmeyer

otispunkmeyer

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now that i successfully have OSX snow leopard (thanks to having to buy an external usb DVD drive) and a properly working 64bit Win 7 boot camp after some laborious fiddling and circumventing pointless blocks.... i now what to be able to access that boot camp partition from OSX when i just want to do something quick and simple

so i need some virtualisation.

which means VMWare or Parallels.

i started out with my mac, using parallels but was less than impressed.... i eventually moved to VMware fusion and thought it was better, but then that started to go down hill rapidly to the point where i couldnt even install a VM any more.

so ive left them and now have no idea which is best. im inclined to go with VMware again though. thoughts?
 
I'm running VMWare Fusion 3, no problems on my 2gHz iMac C2D.
 
ive been reading that parallels is faster and more whizz bang flashy that VMware with its OS X integration. however in the same reviews theres often talk of it being a bit unstable, Where as VMware might not be so flashy, but its rock solid and dependable. Parallels 5 has been optimized for Win 7 though, seems to run it better. heh theyre both ?60 odd quid, might just make do with restarting to get to windows for the time being.
 
Not sure about Mac, but for Windows, there is a free VMWare player, and the Workstation version has a free trial...
 
Parallels is ok, it does some stupid stuff with file associations that are quite annoying.


From memory if you access a boot camp partition in parallels or vmware, you'll have activation issues
 
I've tried both and they both are about the same in my opinion. I somehow accidentally glitched parallels to make my tablet work (pen pressure for tablets isn't supported on any virtualization program) so I am rather happy with that.
 
I find that the further you get from mainstream productivity software you get with Parallels, the less stable it gets. VMware is a touch slower but is actually more stable and more compatible with weird off the wall software than some of the Dell Optiplexes we were running side by side at one client.
 
If all you need is basic virtualization, you could always try the free option, Sun's VirtualBox. I've been using it on OSX and it seems to work well enough, although it's definitely less friendly than the paid options. If you do decide to go with Parallels or VMWare, let me know, because I've been trying to decide which one to use too (I've stuck with VirtualBox for now since I can't decide).
 
Yeah I'm gonna repeat what others have already said... Having used both, the only one I can recommend is WVWare. Parallels just didn't work after a while. WMWare does have a few issues as well, but atleast it's MUCH more stable.
 
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