Parallels Desktop 4.0

http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/

Intro:
The world’s No. 1 selling Mac system utility, it has more than 1.5 million users worldwide. Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac provides the complete suite of essentials to run Windows on Mac the easy, fast and powerful way.
Parallels has led the industry with ground-breaking innovation since 2005 and Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac continues leaving others behind to play catch-up.
With all sorts of industry awards, I suppose Parallels Desktop deserves it.
MacWorld claimed that Parallels Desktop is currently the best solution for running Windows, Linux, or any of many other operating systems alongside OS X.

Expect me to be more or less bias to PD, because I'm a user of it and not BC and VMw. LOL!

Features:
http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/features/
PD categorizes all its features under 3 groups: Easy, Fast, and Powerful.

Easy!
• Install Windows in just 3 steps. (It really does, even a primary school kid who can read on-screen instruction properly can do it)
• Move your entire Windows system to your Mac.
• Run Windows programs right on the Mac desktop. (With the new Coherence mode)
• Open Windows files with Mac apps and Mac files with Windows apps.
• Remotely control your virtual machine with select voice commands.
• Instantly share files and folders between Windows and Mac OS X. (My Documents on Windows = User Document on Mac OS X)
• Easily access favorite USB devices in Windows and Mac OS X.

Fast!
• Maximize speed as you move between Windows and Mac OS X.
• Run 3D games and graphics apps at blazing speeds with up to 256 MB video memory.
• Drive smoother 3D and video performance with experimental DirectX 9.0, DirectX Model Shaders 2.0 and OpenGL 2.0 support.
• Handle heavy workloads smoothly with 8-way CPU support and 8 GB RAM.
• Run 32- and 64-bit guest OSs with maximum performance.
• Enhance media application performance with Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE4) support.

Powerful!
• Get longer battery life from your Mac with PowerSaver.
• Schedule automatic snapshots for no-hassle backup.
• Gracefully shut down Windows to protect files, folders and apps.
• Preview Windows 7 and Mac OS X Snow Leopard as guests on your Mac.
• Secure Windows with Parallels Internet Security powered by Kaspersky.

Virtual OS Installation guide:
3-steps:
— Select which Windows operating system you want to install.
— Enter your name and Windows activation key.
— Click finish — and let the Installation Assistant do the rest!
Just follow the on screen instruction step by step and you won't mess things up.
You can choose to install your virtual OS from CD or from any disk image file located in you HDD.
I'm currently running Windows XP SP3, just for 1 purpose only: to run XunLei torrent client. I know there are a lot torrent client for Mac but I somehow still find that XunLei is the fastest.
Also tried installing Windows 7 Beta before but delete it after a few hours. Reason? Coz Windows 7 Beta consume more space and I don't see why I need it. No need to mention Vista.
You can also choose to run the Virtual OS which is installed in Bootcamp partition.

Get all detail guides here:
http://www.parallels.com/support/desktop/documentation/

Personal experience:
- I like the Coherence Mode very much, this is the main feature which attracts me to use PD. LOL. With Coherence mode, you can access Start menu and windows app on the Mac Dock. The small taskbar icon of WinXP on bottom right corner (beside the clock) will be shown on top right corner of OS X (also beside the clock). You can also resize any apps windows just like OSX.
- Drag and Drop files among Mac OS X and virtual OS make life easier. (eg. I download torrent files using Safari, and then drag and drop the torrent files to XunLei in Windows XP and the download job starts immediately.)
- You can set the resource distribution for the virtual machine. I'm currently running the XP with 1 CPU core, 512MB RAM, and 128MB video memory. Everything is just more than enough as I'm not doing big business on XP. For gamers who need to run games on windows, maybe Bootcamp is more suitable.
- Transition effect for different view mode is simply graceful (like Steve Jobs's famous "Boom")
- Well the main point of using PD to run Virtual OS is to avoid rebooting and you can run more than 1 OS side-by-side.
- So I could say the only disadvantage/drawback of PD is you can't run your Windows with full native resource. Logic and make sense. As your Mac power will be shared among the OSes.

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Added on March 28, 2009, 11:40 pmWMware Fusion 2.0

http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/overview.html

Intro:
Ok, I suppose before PD 4.0, WMw is on the upper hand in terms of performance. But as PD improves, WMw seems to lost its stand. Both selling at a retail price of USD79.90 (but there are a lot of discount offered by various sites like amazon). WMw claims to be built from the ground up for the Mac with a Cocoa-native user interface, VMware Fusion has the Mac-native features users expect, and with an obsessive eye towards being a “good Mac citizen” VMware Fusion is the easiest, most Mac-friendly way to run Windows on the Mac. A Mac-first user interface ensures that users get the features they expect, like customizable tool bars, searchable Apple help, Boot Camp support, dock notification integration, and more. WMw also claimed that they have 4 million users worldwide.

Features:
Well I should say nearly all features of WMw 2.0 are provided by PD 4.0 too.
http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/features.html

The following is a summarize list of the features:
-Unity View (like Coherence mode of PD)
-Data Sharing
-Application Sharing
-3D and High Definition Video Acceleration
-USB Device Support
-Multiple Display Support
-Seamless Keyboard Mapping
-Driverless Printing
-Multiple Snapshots
-AutoProtect Automatic Snapshots
-Embedded Antivirus and Antispyware Protection
-Completely Redone User Interface
-Mac OS X Leopard Integration
-Boot Camp Support
-Tools for Switching
-Broad Operating System Support
-Multiple CPU Virtual Machines
-VMrun
-Large RAM Support
-Virtual Appliances

Virtual OS Installation guide:
Again, it seems that setup for virtual machine is just as simple as ABC 123, like PD. Anyway, all Mac Apps are easy to use, don't they?

Get all sorts of detail guides here, with tutorials and demo videos.
http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/resources/

Personal experience:
- N/A

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Added on March 28, 2009, 11:42 pmHead-to-Head Comparison of PD 4.0 and WMwF 2.0

The following is a perfect article by MacTech regarding the comparison of PD and WMw.
http://www.mactech.com/articles/mactech/Vo...arks/index.html
Be sure you read this interesting 5 pages report.

Digest version by AppleInsider:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/03...many_tests.html

So the overall results are:

PD 4.0
14% faster running 32-bit XP and Vista on a single virtual processor
20% faster running 32-bit Vista on two virtual processors
15% faster running 64-bit Vista on two virtual processors

VMw Fusion 2.0
10% fasster running 32-bit XP on two virtual processors



Just to note: Running 32-bit XP with single core processor is the most common Virtual Machine set up.

Check out the following link for a Features comparison made by PD, click 'Compare Features'
http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/why-switch/

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Added on March 28, 2009, 11:45 pmBootcamp

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/bootcamp.html

Intro:
I suppose the worst nightmare for Bill Gates and his Microsoft team is nothing more than Mac moving to Intel chip and the ability to run Windows on Mac, thus gaining strong momentum on market growth as Vista continue to slump. By introducing the Bootcamp beta during OS X Tiger days, I still remember my brother, who owns the 1st batch of Black intel MacBook with only Core Duo processor, is so delighted to get WinXP on his machine thru Bootcamp Beta.
So with Bootcamp bundle on every OSX Leopard, it lets you run your favorite Windows on your Mac with full native resource, and on a individual partition.
"Windows applications have full access to multiple processors and multiple cores, accelerated 3D graphics, and high-speed connections like USB, FireWire, Wi-Fi, and Gigabit Ethernet."

Features:
Am I suppose to repeat myself? LOL

-Boot Camp supports the most popular 32-bit releases of Windows XP and Windows Vista. When you use either operating system on your Mac, your Windows applications will run at native speed.

OS(Not virtual heh) installation guide:
http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/

Also 3 steps:

Step 1: Run Boot Camp Assistant.
Boot Camp Assistant helps you with these tasks:
-Creating a partition for Windows
Boot Camp Assistant creates a partition for Windows on your computer’s startup or other internal disk.
-Starting the Windows installation
Boot Camp Assistant gets you started with the Windows installation.
Step 2: Install Windows.
Step 3: Install the Boot Camp drivers on your Windows volume.

As for the drivers, it is included in the Leopard DVD. iSight, Apple Remote, trackpad, specific keyboard keys, keyboard backlighting, etc can be supported when you run Windows thru Bootcamp.

Hold down the Option key when you switch on your mac to choose OSX or Windows partition to run on.

Personal experience:
Ok, even though I never use Bootcamp, but do heard some comments from other users like my brother and friends.
- You can access the Windows Partition when you are running OSX but not in the other way, ie. you cannot access OSX partition when you run Windows. I suppose this is due to the different file systems.
- Running Windows on Bootcamp seems to consume more HDD space then running the same Windows as a virtual machine by PD or WMw. I think this it due to the extra partition and system files take up the extra space.
- Of course, the biggest drawback of Bootcamp is that you cannot run OSX and Windows simultaneously, no side-by-side. You need to reboot to switch to another OS.

This post has been edited by ahblu3: Mar 28 2009, 11:45 PM

@deadman8836, ok, this is due to the 'Shared Profile' configuration of PD. If you really want to disable it (for me its an advantage), Parallels Desktop>Virtual Machine>Configure...>Features>Shared Profile> and then disable it.

Let me know if it still doesn't work, coz I never tried to disable it. Cheers.

Edit: Screenshot added



This post has been edited by ahblu3: Apr 13 2009, 12:18 AM

@deadman8836, you download torrent files thru' Windows IE? or Firefox? You can just do it thru Safari and then drag and drop it into the virtual Windows you are running, one by one just as you like it. Oh anyway, Azureus Vuze in Mac can do the rocket torrent download job as sweet as XunLei in Windows.

@DarkTenno, thanks for your info regarding Fusion.

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As this topic is not closed up, users of Multi-OS are welcome to give comments or ask questions and discuss about PD, VMwF, and BC. Cheers.

deadman8836, first of all, what Mac are you using? I didn't encounter any freeze on the virtual machine before. For me, I'm using 2.0 alu MB, I allocate 1 core, 512MB RAM, and 128MB Video RAM to run WinXP on PD. Try to monitor your iStat Pro when you run PD. Do you run PD on a BootCamp partition? Or like me, just totally virtual?

Like I said on the previous post, you can try Azureus Vuze for downloading torrents on Mac OS. So you don't need to run BitComet thru PD.

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EDIT: you problem sounds familiar to me, I used to encounter exactly what you are facing, on my damn old PC running XP, many years ago. Problem occurs intermittently, at the end found out the cause is out of date XP and a bad HDD. Old HDD with only 15GB with a lot of bad sectors. LOL. But I cannot confirm what is the cause of your problem just base on your brief description.

This post has been edited by ahblu3: Apr 14 2009, 11:56 PM

Well I suppose you didn't allocate the hardware configuration properly and run heavy apps on both OS, that might cause the lag. PD4 sure do improve alot.

gyver, I'm sorry that I can't help you with your "Reverse" Virtual machine idea.
This post is dedicated for Mac users who wanted to use supplementary Windows alongside Mac OS X but not the other way. Cheers!

Sorry for the late respond guys, have been kinda busy recently.

@hellfried, thanks for the info about VirtualBox, if possible, you can help contribute abit regarding the pros and cons and add some snap shots along too. So maybe later on I will request moderator to merge your posting to the topic post.

@hidayat, as many PD users out there, I didn't encounter any problems using PD 4.0 to run WinXP. Just make sure you tweak the right resource allocation for your virtual machine in order to run those programing apps you mentioned without any hiccups. As said before, if you need to run apps with full native resource, use Bootcamp.

@dennisccy, maybe I'm not in a position to advice you upon VMWare Fusion problem, but make sure your copies of VMWare Fusion, Windows XP or Vista, and your Mac OSX are all up to date. As your description is quite vague, I also cant pin point what's exactly the cause. If you do have setup BootCamp, I would suggest try booting your Windows with BC to check whether it is your Windows problem or VMWare instead.

Guys, thanks for keeping this topic running and helping each other out there. Sorry I have been quite busy lately. Anyway, it has been a long while since I run PD4. Just working with Mac OS X is enough for daily usage. Everyone is eyeing on 10.6 SL now. Hehe.

@tpl, spend a little time to get used to Mac OSX save you a hell lot of time encountering crash, hang, lag, jam, and whatnot, on Windows platform.

Dear all, try to understand the nature of your problems properly before simply putting out kinda vague questions here. Using PD or VMw is actually really very easy and straight forward as long as you follow the on screen instruction. If you fail or stuck, try to check again what is missing or anything incorrect. Don't simply proceed by clicking 'Next' button without reading the step-by-step instruction. Most of the time you can find your answer by clicking the 'Help' or just google it up.

Explore 1st, ask later. Don't worry, you won't easily f*ck up a Mac like you used to crash your PC.