3 Reasons Why I Chose Parallels over VMWare Fusion

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12 Responses

  1. Nice article.

    Being a long time VMware user I can’t help but think VMware have their work cut out to make their product as slick, desirable to use and with the release of v6 of Parallels anything near as fast.

    I too blogged about the ‘On the Fence’ here : http://blog.vmote.net/?p=273

    Regards,
    Darren.

  2. hugow says:

    Regardless of any performance difference between VM Ware and Parallels, after years of suffering through Parallels insanely bad customer support system, I’m done with Parallels. Three more hours wasted with Parallels 6 Tools installation problems, and I’m migrating to VM Ware. When it works, Parallels is fine, but be warned: when it doesn’t, you’ll be tearing your hair out just trying to find out WHERE to get help, let alone actually getting live, competent tech support.

  3. Ken Ng says:

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I however have a rather pleasant time with Parallels’ support, both via emails and through the support site. Nevertheless, the web is also a great place for support when all things fails 🙂 What was your problem with the tools install? Perhaps crowdsourcing would help you here.

    Parallels 6 is such a great product for the Mac, it’s a shame to put it off just because of lousy support. I’ve got both Parallels 5 and 6 and VMware Fusion. Parallels 6 wins hands down from performance perspective.

  4. Matt says:

    I chose vmware for the icon. The parallels ‘pause’ icon is just ugly. The vmware icon is very nice…

  5. Ken Ng says:

    I’ve to say that I too think the dock icon can be much better. Even VirtualBox’s dock icon looks nicer 🙂

  6. Gig says:

    you chose an application due to an icon. You are a moron.

  7. Lawrence_o says:

    After evaluating both I have to agree with the author. Price is the same. Features very similar but performance of Paralleles is wayyyyy better. From v4 to v5: BIG difference. From v5 to v6:BIG difference.  Especially the possibility to use 2 cores or more is cool but VMware have this too. Either way, Parallels comes out as the clear winner for me.

    Cheers Lorenzo

  8. wmware actually pretty much invented virtualization, their product is cross platform and therefore superior, it also supports direct x… your article seems to have an element mac fanboyism, like many sadly you want a product that maintains your illusion of platform superiority… i love my shiny new mac but it is just a pc

  9. Ken Ng says:

    Hi Richard,

    But here’s the thing. I’m am indeed using a Mac and it is my main machine where I do my work, both professionally and personally. And between VMWare Fusion and Parallels, Parallels just works better for me. And last I check, Parallels supports DirectX too, so I’m not sure what’s your point was. I’m sorry that you do not agree with me. I like VMWare too for what it does, especially on a WinTel based system or even bare metal using hypervisor.

    And so you know, I bought VMWare with my own money and do use it quite extensively for work, but it’s mostly VirtualBox now since it’s free. Who doesn’t love free.

    As for the illusion of platform superiority, I’m not sure if that was the point of the article in the first place? Both VMWare and Parallels that I use are both used on a Mac and I’m not comparing them over the use of a Windows or Linux PC. Perhaps this article is too Mac oriented? But that is exactly what it’s meant to be. 🙂 But for the sake of differing point of views, I always welcome a nice discussion of Windows vs Mac vs Linux platforms. In fact, I do this a lot with my friends. At the end of the day, after comparing notes between us all, the conclusion is simply this. The superior platform is always what’s best to fit your needs. Each platform has their pros and cons. For me, the OS X simply provides me with the tools and capabilities I need to be extremely productive at what I do, both at work and at home without needing to buy too many 3rd party tools to beef up it’s native capability. Simple features like Quick preview, Automator, Apple Scripts saves me the precious time I have. What I lose then is the ability to play games well which is where the Windows platform excels far better than the Mac. But with two kids, I hardly have any time for games anyway. 🙂

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