Mac Book Pro: VMware or Parallels?

QuadLeo

I'm still on the market for a MBP. I'm looking at the 15" 2.4GHz one for €1,655.28.

I also plan to run XP Pro on the mac. Does anybody have advice on what I should buy to do this, VMware or Parallels? From what I can find you need to reboot to run windows using Parallels but with VMware you can run windows and mac applications at the same time and minimize from one app to the other (which is what I need). Is VMware stable and easy to install etc...??

I'm looking at buying my MBP, VMware Fusion, and Windows XP Pro x64 OEM.

Will this version of XP run on the MBP using VMware fusion? Also is there much of a difference installing OEM version? Any advice is appreciated as I'm not excellent with computers. I'm confident that I can manage the installation I just want to know that the software is compatible and I'm buying the best software available to do the job.
Cheers

zeris

Are you confusing Parallels with Bootcamp? You don't need to reboot to use a virtual machine under Parallels.

I use Parallels to run a XP (32 bit) VM and it works fine. I have no experience of using VMware.

QuadLeo

Yea, I got the two confused. What I'm really trying to find out is if there is much of a difference between parallels and VMware and what one people think is best.

Dont be at yourself

I havent used VMWare, but I have used Parallels and I find it very handy. It's pretty snappy speed-wise, and coherence mode is nice. Very easy to setup and use too.

WUSBDesign

OP, you aren't confused. VMWare Fusion and Parallels are both different products for the same purpose - Windoze virtualisation under Mac OS. That is, no reboot needed and they run as regular Mac OS applications.

I use Parallels and am happy for the occasional use - fast on a MacBook CoreDuo 1.83GHz with 2GB. There are strong Fusion supporters though. You can try the latter free for a short time.

FWIW, I'll go for the cheapest if my demands on running windoze is not high.

Breezer

I've had Fusion installed for a year or so and recently I was getting majorly pissed off with it running so slowly. A new version of VMWare Tools (package that optimises the performance) came out in the last few days though and since then it's been much snappier This is on a Core Duo 1.83GHz Macbook with both processors and 1GB of RAM given to Fusion.

QuadLeo

Thanks for the info. From what I've been reading elsewhere the latest version of VMware is very good. Mainly because it was developed from the ground up to run on a mac. I think I'll go with a deal I found on amazon; lastest version of VMware fusion and Windows XP Pro x64 OEM for $200. I'm assuming that this 64 bit version of windows will run ok on a mac or else they woudln't be selling them together. Can anyone tell me if OEM version is tricky to install?

srdb20

OEM versions of software will be no different when installing!

QuadLeo

Ok, that's good to hear. Thanks srdb20.

WUSBDesign

About deals, I stumbled upon a package (more than 10 apps which included Parallels) for USD64. Cannot find it anymore, though I am sure it was on this site.

EDIT: found the ad, not the deal.

QuadLeo

Not a bad deal though.

nialler

Both very good programs but I'd personally go for VMware Fusion as they've a long history in this area and are very successful.

McSandwich

I have both, Parallels for nearly 2 years and Vmware for 1. Both have similar features, i.e windowed, full screen, and 'integration' modes.

In my experience:

• Vmware is faster and more responsive, especially when resuming from a paused VM.
• Vmware also crashes less - my Parallels XP VM sometimes disappears from the screen for reasons I haven't discovered yet. One time it corrupted the vm disk image but luckily I had a backup.
• Parallels works better with software requiring dongles. One application I use refuses to work in VMware as it detects that it's in a VM but works fine in Parallels.

mike dee

I use VMware to run XP (OEM copy). I find it great, never had problem. Only thing is I kinda now don't use windows, as all my programs are mac-based now. One of the reasons I bought it was that I am recent "switcher". Still it has some uses. I find VMware really easy to use. Some people say Parallels is now faster, but Its marginal, buy from the company website its cheaper, DON'T buy off APPLE or CD, will save 20-25 €.

Red Alert

Parallels won't install a 64-bit OS (Windows XP x64) on my MBP which has a Core 2 Duo processor. You might want to check that one for yourself and see if it'll run on VMWare Fusion.

WUSBDesign

New-ish kid on the block for virtualisation on MacOS - for free. See here for download.

muggyog

At that price it has to be the winner:)

joekelly123

Some more free to download available here
http://www.virtualizationmanager.com/tools/

silvine

I've used VMware and it was easy to setup, install Vista and it works great for starting and stopping virtual desktops.

My only criticisms are:

1 The application makes it difficult to delete virtual desktops. There's no way to do ith through the VMWare application. You have to manually delete the virtal desktop through finder.

2 The performance of my virtual desktop wasn't great. I tried gaming on it and found Bootcamp a much better option.

Out of curiousity, what do people here use their virtual desktops for? Combined with spaces it seems like it could be a powerful tool.