Hi Chris, Thanks very much for that feedback. It sounds like you have swapped back and forth between Parallels & Fusion a bit - do you move VMs around when you do this (ie import pre-existing VMs created in another program) or do you set up a new VM from scratch each time?
Do all three actually allow you to import VMs from the other two or are there restrictions on this? (that's how I went from VPC on a PPC Mac to Parallels on an Intel mac and it was relatively painless in that case). If you have imported VMs from other programs I woud be interested in your thoughts as to how well this works between Parallels/Fusion/VirtualBox Cheers Neil -- Neil R. Houghton Albany, Western Australia Tel: +61 8 9841 6063 Email: n...@possumology.com on 21/9/09 6:40 PM, Christopher S at c...@iinet.net.au wrote: > > Well I've been using Parallels and Fusion on and off from the beginning > initially as my main work PC running Office 2003/2007, corporate apps, Adobe > design apps and for the testing of apps like SketchUp and SolidWorks. Each > version of each app gets better and in some cases overtakes the other one. > So earlier this year Parallels was slightly faster at most tasks than Fusion > see this review: > > http://www.mactech.com/articles/mactech/Vol.25/25.04/VMBenchmarks/index.html > > That was with VMware Fusion 2.0.1. Fusion is now up to 2.0.5 so it's > probably slightly faster than Parallels. > > In terms of features they are so similar. In the early versions Parallels > interface was a bit nicer - kinda Tonka Toyified. Fusion has certainly > caught up now though. Similarly VirtualBox is improving all the time, there > was an update just the other week. > > Speaking of VirtualBox it is straightforward to use if nothing goes wrong. > If it does you may have to do a bit of searching on the net or playing > around to sort it out. I suppose this is where its downfall is. Parallels > and VMware's support is pretty good - I've had to contact both and both have > responded quickly. With VirtualBox being a free product you're on your own a > little bit - but hey did I say it's free, and really impressive for a > freebie. My colleagues set up VirtualBox on a complete novice to VMs iMac > and he's really happy with it. > > Currently I'm running Parallels 4.0.3846 with Windows 7RC on Snow Leopard > 10.6.1 and it's running really well. The only reason I'm using Parallels > over Fusion is that it came as part of a MacUpdate Promo. Otherwise I would > have gone for the Fusion offer this morning. > > I wouldn't consider gaming with these VMs however using Bootcamp on a MacPro > is awesome... > > Hope this is helpful in some way - sorry for the lack of specifics I'm not > in IT anymore. > > Regards, > > Chris. > > >> From: Neil Houghton <n...@possumology.com> >> Reply-To: WAMUG Mailing List <wamug@wamug.org.au> >> Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:47:44 +0800 >> To: WAMUG <wamug@wamug.org.au> >> Subject: Re: VMWare Fusion $41 till 11.30am today >> >> >> Hi Peter, >> >> Out of interest, did you use all three just to compare the different >> applications - or do you use different VMs for different tasks. >> >> What, if any, would you rate as the particular pros/cons or points of >> difference of the three approaches - other than the obvious cost advantage >> of Sun's VirtualBox. >> >> I've only ever run Parallels 3.0 - just because it seemed to be the one >> everyone recommended at the time that I purchased it - I had a lot of >> trouble at the time upgrading my XP Pro VM (imported from Virtual PC) to SP2 >> but once I got that sorted (thank you Peter Hinchcliffe!) it seems to do OK >> so I didn't look any further. >> >> >> However, I suppose that at some point (SL upgrade?) I will need to look at >> upgrading from Parallels 3.0 - so I suppose that will be a good time to also >> look at the alternatives. >> >> >> >> Cheers >> >> >> >> Neil >> >> -- >> Neil R. Houghton >> Albany, Western Australia >> Tel: +61 8 9841 6063 >> Email: n...@possumology.com >> >> >> >> on 21/9/09 10:12 AM, Christopher S at c...@iinet.net.au wrote: >> >>> >>> Hi Peter >>> >>> I've used the current versions of Parallels and Fusion and Sun's VirtualBox >>> (which is free) and they are all pretty good virtual machines. Unless you >>> are talking the latest Windows games I would think any of the above would be >>> fine for most apps. Games may run best in Fusion but BootCamp is probably >>> the better option - that is of course debatable. >>> >>> There is a big caveat with all three and that is that you need to own a copy >>> of Windows to install in the virtual machine. >>> >>> If it's only a couple of apps that you need like the ATO Tax App then I'd >>> probably suggest Sun's VirtualBox. >>> >>> Regards, >>> >>> Chris. >>> >>> >>> >>>> From: Peter Curtis <pcur...@aapt.net.au> >>>> Reply-To: WAMUG Mailing List <wamug@wamug.org.au> >>>> Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:57:06 +0800 >>>> To: WAMUG Mailing List <wamug@wamug.org.au> >>>> Subject: Re: VMWare Fusion $41 till 11.30am today >>>> >>>> Hi >>>> I need to run windoze for a couple of applications that can't be run >>>> on a Mac and currently use a small windows laptop. Now that I've >>>> bought a intel Mac I intend to run windoze on it but haven't got >>>> around to choosing which program to use. This email suggests now might >>>> be the time to make up my mind. The question is: Is VMWare Fusion a >>>> reasonable program to use for someone who wants to run a couple of >>>> windoze programs on their Mac? or should I be more careful in choosing >>>> what program I use? >>>> Thanks in anticipation. >>>> Regards >>>> Peter >>>> On 21/09/2009, at 9:38 AM, Christopher S wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Hi Guys, >>>>> >>>>> Just a heads up Vmware Fusion 2.0.5 is US$34.95 till 11.30AM Monday 21 >>>>> September at this site: http://www.mupromo.com/deal/960/4438/vmware-fusion >>>>> this is quite a saving if you¹re in the market for Fusion/Parallels. >>>>> >> >> >> >> >> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- >> Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> >> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> >> Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au> >> > > > > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au> > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au>
