Run Windows, Linux and more side-by-side on Mac OS X without rebooting. Virtualization software review.

I recently purchased a MacBook and now think about how to run my favorite and useful Windows apps on it. The software market offers several virtualization solutions and Apple Boot Camp – a free utility from Apple allowing users to run Windows on a Mac.

First of all, I didn’t use Boot Camp as it requires me to reboot for changing OSes, so this solution doesn’t work for me as I prefer deeper integration.

I compared two solutions from virtualization software vendors:

Parallels Desktop for Mac from Parallels and VMware Fusion from VMware.

The products are absolutely similar at the first sight that’s why I tried to describe both product benefits in this review.

Each of these software solutions allows you to run Windows on your Mac at the same time without any rebooting with a deep integration from one OS to another, You can even drag-and-drop files between desktops!

Both products have the same $79,99 price, so looks like from the price point there are no advantages from both vendors.

Both software companies provide a free fully-functional trial version for users to decide.

Installation

The whole install process took about 20-25 minutes, which is quite few for Windows + VM installation process.

Parallels try to offer a very easy-to-use installation process, so user just need to install Parallels Desktop and then install Windows with 3 clicks of the mouse. Looks like Parallels made installation of Windows process more simple in virtual machine than on the real PC machine.

One thing I did enjoy about the Fusion installer is that you can input your username, password and product CD key and it will autofill all of that information during the install process. It also automatically installs the VMWare tools (mouse, video, etc drivers…) right away, while Parallels makes you manually do that.

OS integration

Both software solutions allow full screen mode and a special mode (called Coherence in Parallels and Unity in Fusion) where only the windows are shown as if they were just applications running directly on the Mac. One difference I noticed very soon: Parallels is better integrated into the Mac OS desktop by means of registering file types with the Parallels guest applications, MS Office applications could be opened by just clicking on them. Parallels seems to set up shared folders between OS X and Windows quite nicely. Fusion seems to require you to do this manually.

Fusion lets you access Windows programs from its Applications menu. Parallels let you run programs from its Applications menu or the dock icon.

Parallels have a “snapshot” feature which lets you save a copy of your virtual machine at a point in time. You can create a snapshot for a stopped or running virtual machine. When I created a snapshot of my Windows XP, it took about 23MB. Parallels also have a nice UI for managing the snapshots. VMware also has snapshots, but they seem less robust. It appears that there can only be one snapshot available at a time and it was very hard to find where the snapshot files are stored. Parallels lets you have any number of snapshots and they can all be managed nicely.

When you right-click on a file and select Open With in Parallels, you can pick from a list of both Windows and Mac applications (this is a built in feature SmartSelect). If you choose a Mac application, it starts in OS X with the file. It’s very slick. It is really facilitate the working process and make the barrier between real and virtual machine less noticeable. The capability of Parallels is more likely, you just don’t notice that you are working with virtual machine, it seems to be just a real.

Performance

After working with both solutions I think Parallels Desktop is faster in one-step tasks like launching applications, scrolling through them and printing documents. Cross-platform tasks that focus on interaction between Mac OS X and Windows and Internet Explorer works better through Parallels Desktop for Mac. One thing you have to consider about VMware is that they support 64-bit virtual machines (think guest OSes) and SMP while Parallels don’t.
Also, one more important thing is that VMware supports large memory (RAM) – 8Gb.

Small Test

I made a couple of small tests on performance and copied a 250MB file from Parallels to Mac OS X. When dragging it from Windows Explorer to the Finder, the copy took about 2 minutes. If I opened up the Parallels Shared Folder within Windows Explorer and then did the copy from within Parallels it took about 20 seconds only.

Games and Entertainment

Both solotions include an option to run 3D games and support DirectX 8.1. However, Fusion supports about 1/4th the amount of games that Parallels does. Considering OpenGL, Parallels offer support of this technology while Fusion does not.

Purchase convenience and pre- and after-sale support

Both solutions are available in ESD and boxed versions at companies websites www.parallels.com and www.vmware.com in products section. The purchase process on Parallels website (which I purchased finally) is very simple and fast without any problems.

I was glad to find out that Parallels really try to take care about their customers and think about the after-sale software use. You can simply download several utilities from their website that will make your work with virtual machine much easier.
If you have any problems , Parallels offers FREE email support and phone support for $29,99, instead of VMware suggesting you the email support only for the same price VMware phone support is much more expansive. I think this aspect (not very important as many of us think) plays a great role, because this all is about software where we as customers need to be supported on upcoming issues.

VMware has a great reputation in virtualization space and I probably would go with their Fusion but I consider Parallels to be more deeply integrated for convenient use of both Windows and Mac applications, that’s why I preferred Parallels.