I suddenly find myself with a need to use some Windows apps on my MacBook Pro (2.4GHz) and I’m trying to decide between Parallels and Fusion. I kind of need the flexibility to run both OS X and Windows at the same time, so Boot Camp isn’t really an option.
I need to run Office 2003, including Visio. I would like to run either Photoshop 7 or CS2. I don’t need to run any games.
Any suggestions or are they pretty much the same? My Mac advocate friend got ill at the thought of running XP on a Mac, so he wasn’t any help.
I use Parallels to run AutoCAD Architecture 2009, Revit Architecture 2009, and Viz. I don’t really notice a drop off in performance whatsoever when doing 2D drawings in the virtual machine, and see only a slight drop off when doing 3D modeling. That said, I usually boot into Windows from Boot Camp when I need to do intensive 3D modeling or renderings (I’m actually posting this from the Windows side using Boot Camp). The beauty of Parallels is that you can use the Boot Camp partition to run the Virtual Machine as well; I’m sure you can do the same thing with Fusion. I’ve never used Fusion before, but the reviews I’ve read are excellent. I just happened to get a really good deal on Parallels from my previous employer.
ETA: I can’t comment on how it works with Photoshop because I have CS3 running on the Mac side. I would assume Parallels would be able to handle it easily if I’m able to do CAD stuff without any problems. I’m running all this on a MacBook Pro (2.6 GHz) with 4 GB RAM.
I would love to have a CS3 license for my Mac, but that’s not something I can afford right now. Since I have licenses for the Windows versions 7 and CS2, it makes more sense for me just to spend $80 for a virtual machine.
I’ve done some reading on various mac user forums and I don’t think I could go wrong with either. That said, I think I’m going to go with Fusion.
Just thought I’d mention Virtual Box in case you hadn’t run across it. I use it to run Windows XP on my Mac, mostly for web testing in IE 7 but I also have Office 2003 and some Windows-specific programs I need occasionally (software to program a remote control for example). I gave Virtual Box a shot since it’s free and so far it’s working well.
I have Parallels and it works fine. Apps always seems to be a bit slower than in OSX but that could just be because I’m so used to how mac native apps load and run.
I use a version of Parallels that’s a few years old. It works fine for my purposes, which are playing a few old Windows games and running a few non-resource intensive Windows apps. I’ve never seen any compelling reason to upgrade… One of these days I’m going to try out VirtualBox, 'cause I figure the free software is probably about caught up to my 3-year-old Parallels, and it’ll only get better from here.
I use Fusion to run Windows XP SP3. I chose Fusion mostly because a a friend who deals with server versions of this stuff recommended it over Parallels; otherwise I had no strong preferences.
I prefer VMWare Fusion, since it has better drivers for some things. Parallels is generally OK, though.
You could also try VirtualBox. It’s free. And you may get what you pay for.
I bought an electronic copy of Fusion earlier and I’m happy with it so far. It runs XP SP3 faster than I thought it would. I do notice a bit of slowdown when things load, but I assume that’s because I didn’t make a Boot Camp partition.
