Parallels desktop version 5 for mac

Forums › Mac OS › Parallels desktop version 5 for mac - Any good?

snowkiwi

160 posts

Master Geek

#67616 4-Sep-2010 16:56

Hi All

Has anyone used parallels desktop version 5 for mac ? Is it any good running windows office.

Cheers

dpw

843 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#376647 4-Sep-2010 17:04

Depends on the specs of your machine to a certain extent I guess. I have a 2.4 GHz MBP with 2 GB RAM allocated to the VM - runs Windows 7 with MS Word and Excel just fine.

Android user, software developer, a semi-typical (not a gamer) geek, and a Bernese Mountain Dog nut!

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snowkiwi

160 posts

Master Geek

#376687 4-Sep-2010 19:10

It will be a similar new MBP , so sounds like it'll work - cheers

nzpat

167 posts

Master Geek

#376719 4-Sep-2010 21:23

VMware fusion > paralells, just my 2cents having used both a fair amount. its faster, more stable and the ui is better,

snowkiwi

160 posts

Master Geek

#376748 5-Sep-2010 05:12

Thats food for thought patznz- I had discounted VMWare fusion because youtube reviews put parallels ahead on performance (however as always Im politely sceptical as to their bias- so I tend to put more credence in home, end user reviews) .So I'll try the trial of fusion as well now. Cheers

Just out of interest - patznz - were you running the latest fusion 3 and parallels 5?
The reviews state both have improved performance over last iterations.

Fusion looks a bit better but slower than parallels which intern has better performance especially 3D games -which I care about a bit but not as much as Office 07 performance and functionality.

snowkiwi

160 posts

Master Geek

#376749 5-Sep-2010 05:35

Anyone else interested in Virtualization solutions here are a couple of comparison review links.

This mactech one is quite comprehensive:
http://www.mactech.com/articles/special/1002-VirtualizationHeadToHead/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP5On5NRxkg&feature=fvw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aHM6CKTRok

As with any advice/reviews, look at lots, good and bad, and decide for yourself. Or just jump -your choice. I tend to spend days , weeks gathering data, driving my wife and kids crazy - I get the best -usually - but all my loved ones are dribbling and gibbering in the corner - just so you know where I am coming from.

minofgeek

39 posts

Geek

#376758 5-Sep-2010 07:54

If you've got the inclination and don't mind a bit of fiddling, I have found VirtualBox (www.virtualbox.org) -- the free virtualisation product from Sun (now Oracle) -- to be very good. I use it myself on my MBP, iMac and Mac Pro.

Of course, it all depends what you're hoping to achieve through virtualisation. Straightforward MS Office is excellent with VBox; gaming ain't! (But then, it's not all that good in Parallels or Fusion either.)

dpw

843 posts

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#376774 5-Sep-2010 08:50

I used and used to swear by Fusion too, especially when it came to Visual Studio .NET. Parallels used to have an annoying habit of keeping the bar cursor the same colour at all time! I code with a dark background in VS.NET, and that pretty much makes it useless since I can't see where my cursor is in the text! Fusion handled that the way it was supposed to. I had both Fusion and Parallels license but never bothered to give Parallels a try until I saw the reviews online. Sure enough, Fusion was crawling compared to Parallels! There were things in Fusion I preferred over Parallels but my priority is still performance.

Android user, software developer, a semi-typical (not a gamer) geek, and a Bernese Mountain Dog nut!

http://savitarbernese.com | https://nz.linkedin.com/in/danywu

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snowkiwi

160 posts

Master Geek

#376819 5-Sep-2010 11:12

Thanks for the opinions/ experiences. I'll add VirtualBox into the mix. For my main needs (ms office 07) it may just do. But so far it sounds like for paid packages, parallels 5 wins over fusion 3 for performance.

khull

1245 posts

Uber Geek

#377182 6-Sep-2010 16:06

I have both and can vouch for parallels 5. performance is better and cpu utilisation is less when compared to VM.

Kyanar

4089 posts

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#377511 7-Sep-2010 13:36

Ditto. Trialled both and Parallels beat the pants off VMware in every factor except price (VMware is cheaper).

minofgeek

39 posts

Geek

#377545 7-Sep-2010 14:54

Frankly, hard to beat the economy of VirtualBox for free if all you're really needing is MS Office.

Shagy

97 posts

Master Geek

#378445 10-Sep-2010 07:30

another vote for virtualbox you loose nothing by trying it out- free is always a good
on a side note you can also run a virtual mac os server on it
as others have said you need a reasonably grunty machine a macbook with in the last few years would be fine
with 1mb and over ram

gehenna

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#378456 10-Sep-2010 07:58

VirtualBox if you're only using Office...

Parallels if Windows performance is important to you...

VMware Fusion if you're going to be dealing with multiple OS versions...

I use VMware, I like it....it performs excellently with my 8GB RAM, 7200rpm HDD and 2.66GHz i7 processor.

Parallels 6 is coming out mid-September so if you are considering it still, hold off for a couple of weeks. It's touting a 40% performance boost in all areas over Parallels 5.

Alternatively to a VM environment, you could consider using something like Crossover to run Office "natively" within the Mac OS. Worked well about 2 years ago on Office 2007 when last I tried it out. It's kind of like Linux Wine for Mac.

snowkiwi

160 posts

Master Geek

#378741 11-Sep-2010 09:38

gehenna - that Parallels 6 update this month has my interest. I'm still going to try VirtualBox, with office 07, for its free-ness . But I'll look at the trial of Parallels 6 too