August 4, 2007 at 8:18 am · Filed under Hardware, Beta, Applications
I’ve been running Parallels on my Mac Book Pro for quite some time now. I’m very satisfied with the product. And, when it was announced a few days ago that anyone with a valid 3.0 license key (including trial keys) could try a beta version with some upgrades, I couldn’t resist. The installation experience (upgrade) was seamless, and I’ll report back on performance and the new features in a few days. A little about the 3.0 beta build:
Parallels Desktop for Mac (beta, build 5060) features:
- Expose for Coherence windows
- True stacking support for applications running in Coherence mode
- An improved version of the Image tool
- An enhanced version of the Explorer application, allowing browsing of virtual machines which are suspended
- iPhone support for Windows XP and Windows Vista
You can read more about the 3.0 beta on the official Parallels Virtualization blog as well as get the link to the features update information page and download.
Even before my testing started, I did have one thought: Please tell me this is a free upgrade for existing customers. After spending the initial $79, then $49 for an upgrade soon after, I’m not intending to spend more money on a Parallels update. I hope the smart folks over at Parallels aren’t expecting us to either.
Tags: Apple, Applications, Beta, Boot Camp, Free, Hardware, MacBook Pro, Macintosh, Microsoft, microsoft office, Operating Systems, os x, Parallels Coherence, Parallels Desktop, Vista, WindowsShare This
March 27, 2007 at 1:16 pm · Filed under Beta, Applications
I’ve been running Parallels Desktop for Mac for about a month now; how’s it been? Great.
First off, why Parallels? My setup is so I can run Mac OS X and all of its applications as my primary OS, but to still have the ability to run the following Windows applications: Internet Explorer (for viewing web pages on projects our company is working on), and Microsoft Office. My last setup used Mac Office 2004, but I always had issues here and there, not with Word and Excel, but with Entourage. Boot Camp is nice, but I don’t want to access one OS at a time; it’s simply not realistic for my work habits.
The Setup:
- Build: Parallels Desktop build 3188
- Hardware: MacBookPro with a 2 GHz Intel Core Duo and 2 GB of Ram
- Parallels OS: Microsoft Windows XP
- Installed PC Software: Office 2007, Internet Explorer, Firefox
I run Parallels in Coherence mode, which allows you to have one desktop with both a “Start” menu for Windows and the standard OS X dock. Windows for either OS just sit atop one another as they would if you were just using OS X.
I’m thoroughly impressed with Parallels. My only gripe would be that when in Coherence mode I do get some occasional lag with the graphics card repainting underneath where a window has just moved from (when minimized or dragged). To minimize the effect (when what is below during the rendering is the Mac desktop), I set both the OS X and the XP desktops to run a background color only (no image). Insofar as performance, I was expecting the Office Applications to lack responsiveness, but they seem fine.
Side note: I had to get in touch with Parallels Support to get my Authorization Key resent to our office. It was slightly more complicated than that as we were ‘deauthorizing’ one Mac, and ‘authorizing’ another. The wait to talk to someone was about 10 minutes, at which point I got a motivated, positive Tech Support Representative who solved our problem and stayed on the line until it was all sorted out. Kudos to the Parallels support team-great customer service like this is awesome, and further impressed my take on Parallels as a company.
Tags: Apple, Applications, Beta, Boot Camp, Internet Explorer, MacBook Pro, Macintosh, Microsoft, microsoft office, Operating Systems, os x, Parallels Coherence, Parallels Desktop, PC, Windows, XPShare This
