Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion?

I've never used Windows on my Mac since I have my PC for PC things, but yeah, which is better in terms of speed and features?

 

Well - both trade features and performance blow by blow in following versions, so really you won't be overtly inconvenienced by picking either.

Personally I find I get on better with Fusion, although some prefer Parallels. I maintain both, but I'd say 90% of my Windows-virtualised installs are Fusion. I also usually like to work in a dedicated full screen or windowed environment as opposed to a Unity / Cohesion, and I find that Cohesion gets on my nerves more than Unity.

 

I've tried both, really only to see if I can game in either environment. And as people from other threads had pointed out, it works but non-toowell. If you plan on using it for real work (office related) then either are viable options. But only Fusion supports shaders 3.0. =D

Damn teases.

 

I have Fusion 3. Works ok to play the simple game of Quake on my Win 7 bootcamp partition without rebooting to windows. Tried Test Drive Unlimited too, but Fusion doesn't have enough oomph and the framerate I get is crappy. Works a charm in bootcamp though.

 

Yeah, I tried TF2, works great except it seems to skip some frames. I didn't bother trying CS:Source or L4D after that.

I tried installing FFXI on it as well, ran sooooo slooooow.

 

shouldn't use VMware or Parallels for gaming.. but they sort of work on some things.

Better off with Wine or Crossover or some hacked Cider wrappers.

 

Just to get back to the OP's question, instead of just a discussion about gaming:

Parallels and VMWare Fusion 2 were just about like-to-like from a feature comparison. VMWare just released Fusion 3, as mentioned above, which has revolutionized a few capabilities in the Virtual Desktop space:

- Aero support in Windows Vista/7/2008/R2 Server
- OpenGL 2.1 support
- DirectX9 Shader Model 3 support
- 64-bit kernel support in Mac OS X Snow Leopard
- Other nice UI improvements, including better control of full-screen VMs and Unity now features a really nice new menu plugin that reflects a start menu in MacOS to run all of your VM applications within the Mac UI.

I've been using since its release on 10/27 and I wouldn't go back, or go Parallels for anything!

 

The thing is that the graphics improvements are kind of 'almost-gaming' teasing which sets up people who aren't aware of how virtualisation is done and aren't familiar with it's current limitations for a disappointment.

I'd expect Parallels to offer similar features with the next release. The two are never too far behind each other.

 

i'm more used to parallels...parallels 5 will soon be released and it will support windows aero...if you go for parallels, i would suggest you wait the the 5th version to be released.

 

I totally agree. Parallels will likely match almost feature-to-feature, but Fusion 3 is out now, and I was giving testimonial to the great experience already being had with it, since no one really knows how good Parallels will be when released.

I think its a six and half-dozen between the two on the capabilities list though... Neither is going to be good for gaming, but for desktop experience, Fusion 3 is great, and I'm sure Parallels 5 will catch up nicely.

 

fusion 3 is out now, and i would prefer fusion anyway feature for feature.

 

FWIW, I'm a recent Mac switcher and I just chose to install Fusion 3 with Win7 as it seemed to get the most praise on other Mac forums. Having never really used a VM before, Fusion was/is very easy to use.