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sushi

Moderator emeritus
Jul 19, 2002
15,639
3
キャンプスワ&#
I had my mind set on parallels before reading this thread, now im back to being undecided. I guess it all comes down to if you want coherance or not.
Isn't coherence available for both?

I know that it is for Parallels. Personally, I don't use it much and prefer to use Parallels in full screen mode on an external monitor.
 

katejones

macrumors regular
Feb 6, 2008
119
0
Australia
Isn't coherence available for both?

I know that it is for Parallels. Personally, I don't use it much and prefer to use Parallels in full screen mode on an external monitor.

I really don't know I guess I should go read about fusion. I was under the impression it wasnt in fusion. I just intend to mostly use 1 app from windows so coherence sounded nice.
 

GirthP

macrumors regular
Oct 1, 2007
121
0
I believe it's called Unity on Fusion...

I've been using VMWare's Fusion, and prefer to my limited experience with Parallels.

I installed Parallels on my girlfriends MacBook, and it works ok... but it crashes a lot.

I've never had a problem with my VMWare install.
 

Neil321

macrumors 68040
Sorry about the "he" bit.


From what I've seen, I would say neither one is dominate at this point in time. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.

Are you joking me,go back back threw and read this thread and do a count up,those who
prefer fusion to parallels.Someone even posted a pole its a fact

Yes they both have their advantages and disadvantages but fusion's advantages
far out way its disadvantages otherwise so many members of this site wouldnt
rate it above parallels

Coherence in fusion is called Unity
 

user13

macrumors regular
Dec 22, 2006
191
0
I've had great luck with Parallels, and the opposite with Fusion.

One of these days I may give Fusion another look since so many have favorable things to say about it. But for me, Parallels just works and works well for what I need.
I back Parallels, mostly because I never had problems with the app. I use it daily at the Office, running different office apps. I must say that it doesn't crash so often, as Fusion-backers here say. It also runs pretty fast with my 2 Gigs of RAM.
In fact, this is the only forum on the net, where Fusion dominates so much over Parallels. It is a good form here to speak high of Fusion and bring down Parallels - taking into account, that both apps really seem to be on par with each other (I mean they have identical goals and similar means of bringing them into life).
By the way, concerning the speed of Parallels and Fusion: activity monitor shows that they eat up almost the same amount of memory.
 

Flowero4ka

macrumors regular
Jan 24, 2008
178
0
Flower please please please read my posts more carefully im not saying other
members of different sites agree or disagree,but members of this site prefer fusion
You have only got to read carefully threw all the threads above this one
to see that for yourself its pretty obvious

Oh and Macrumors is probably one of the most popular Mac discussion
sites on this planet

I don't want to make an advertising of other sites, but I'm sure, that MR is NOT one of the most popular Mac discussion sites. I'm sure else that this is the ONLY site where fusion is more popular then parallels :)
 

nikopolidis

macrumors regular
Dec 21, 2007
200
0
Yes they both have their advantages and disadvantages but fusion's advantages far out way its disadvantages otherwise so many members of this site wouldnt rate it above parallels

What are those advantages? Could you please name them?? All we can hear from you is that you have many supporters!!! :) In fact, not so many as it appears to be and not so evident even if they are supporters... By the way if you want to prove us that you have many supporters here just post a poll! ;)

Please try to interpret me properly...
I just call upon those people who has an experience in using these 2 apps to post particular advantages and disadvantages of Parallels and Fusion!
Some posts above perfectly illustrates some of them.
I guess one of the main purpose of any forum is too help each other! I think the list of advantages and disadvantage will be the logical development (according to its title) of this thread which will help to make a correct choice for anyone who want to have Windows on his Mac!
As we can see some disadvantages are not really disadvantages for someone! The same about advantages! This list of adv & disadv is a good decision! And generally it is good idea. Maybe we should make a serious article about these 2 apps? :rolleyes: :D (not entirely a joke)

In fact, this is the only forum on the net, where Fusion dominates so much over Parallels.

Yeah, I've noticed either that this forum has more Fusion supporters than other forums I visit. And it seems to be the only one...
It is a good form here to speak high of Fusion and bring down Parallels - taking into account, that both apps really seem to be on par with each other (I mean they have identical goals and similar means of bringing them into life).

Brilliantly! :) Exactly! Nice conclusion for the article... ;) But... We all know that there are 2 different companies with 2 different know-hows and approaches... And moreover they are serious rivals who try to improve their products. And they do it differently and independently from each other. That's why they do have advantages and disadvantages among each other...
 

hodgjy

macrumors 6502
Apr 15, 2005
422
0
I'll attempt to add to this discussion.

I bought Parallels the same day I bought my Intel iMac. I it was version 1.something. I updated religiously every time they made new builds, including the beta builds.

There was one common theme to all builds:

KERNEL PANICS

The only kernel panics I've ever gotten during all my years of using Macs were from Parallels.

I recently downloaded Fusion and tried the free demo. Within 2 days, I took out my credit card and bought it. I sent Parallels to the trash, both metaphorically and physically.

So, the advantages of Fusion over Parallels? For me, it's simply stability. That's it. That's what matters the most to me.

They are similar in features and usability. But, I can't have kernel panics trying to boot Windows. I won't stand for it when it's a regular basis.

EDIT:

I also want to note, that I took the virtual machine I built under Parallels (that gave me kernel panics) and converted it to Fusion using their beta converter. It works flawlessly and never panics.

Great app.
 

sushi

Moderator emeritus
Jul 19, 2002
15,639
3
キャンプスワ&#
I'll attempt to add to this discussion.
Thanks for the story.

I had to chuckle a bit, as I had exactly the opposite experience.

As for the stability of both, I use Parallels to host Windows XP and to run typical office type applications such as Microsoft Office 2003 (haven't upgraded to 2007 yet). Parallels has been rock solid for me.

On the flip side, I had nothing but problems with Fusion when trying to run the same software.

I do like the idea the Fusion can take advantage of the multiple cores. Parallels is projected to do this in the future. We shall see.
 

Neil321

macrumors 68040
What are those advantages? Could you please name them?? All we can hear from you is that you have many supporters!!! :) In fact, not so many as it appears to be and not so evident even if they are supporters... By the way if you want to prove us that you have many supporters here just post a poll! ;)

Please try to interpret me properly...
I just call upon those people who has an experience in using these 2 apps to post particular advantages and disadvantages of Parallels and Fusion!
Some posts above perfectly illustrates some of them.
I guess one of the main purpose of any forum is too help each other! I think the list of advantages and disadvantage will be the logical development (according to its title) of this thread which will help to make a correct choice for anyone who want to have Windows on his Mac!
As we can see some disadvantages are not really disadvantages for someone! The same about advantages! This list of adv & disadv is a good decision! And generally it is good idea. Maybe we should make a serious article about these 2 apps? :rolleyes: :D (not entirely a joke)



Yeah, I've noticed either that this forum has more Fusion supporters than other forums I visit. And it seems to be the only one...


Brilliantly! :) Exactly! Nice conclusion for the article... ;) But... We all know that there are 2 different companies with 2 different know-hows and approaches... And moreover they are serious rivals who try to improve their products. And they do it differently and independently from each other. That's why they do have advantages and disadvantages among each other...

this has all been done before

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/421440/
 

hodgjy

macrumors 6502
Apr 15, 2005
422
0
I'm on Leopard. Parallels was buggy on Tiger for me, but after moving to Leopard, it was a nightmare. Fusion appears to me more "Leopard Ready."

YMMV.

Parallels works great.

Note, I am using Tiger as the host. Leopard may be another issue.
 

elmo151

Guest
Jul 3, 2007
550
0
NYC
Parallels is working just fine under 10.5.2
installation, on the other hand, was a nightmare. problems galore with microsoft serial numbers...had to call M$ to get them sorted out.
 

sweetie81

macrumors regular
Sep 13, 2007
103
0
Just a question.

If I create a backup of my windows machine and install a virtual machine on a MBP. Is it possible to restore my system in that virtual machine or do I have to install windows first?
 

subaqua

macrumors member
Jan 15, 2008
60
0
Minneapolis
Which is the better one? Is there a difference in speed?
I recently bought a base model Mac book for my wife, who also needs to run windows apps (not me, and am still on my trusty old PB G4), but like that to be a seem less and fast as possible.
Is the basic memory config of the macbook sufficient to run it well (no need for gaming, but business/accounting software should run without trouble).

Any thoughts?
:apple:

I'm using fusion on 10.5.1 and now 10.5.2. No problems. I chose fusion over parallels because I've used vmware products before. I use it to run Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris; very little windows. I like the fact that you can give your guest operating systems 2 virtual cpus. I'm not sure how it compares to the current version of parallels.
 

ElMaN25

macrumors newbie
Feb 20, 2008
4
0
Right now im running Fusion and I love it but the only problem im running into is that it does not use my dedicated graphics card and will not allow me to run PC games. Other than that it runs great!
 

Derwillie

macrumors newbie
Apr 23, 2007
4
0
some 'statistics'

I was thinking about which one to install on my wife's macbook so I looked up a Parallels vs Fusion thread. I felt compelled to calculate the number of "I prefer fusion over parallels" for the readers after the discussion of fact vs emotion got a little heated. Here are the numbers based on this (apparently abnormally pro-fusion thread):
1) Tried both & preferred fusion: 17 vs 4 (81% vs 19%)
2) Total (includes those who tried both & those who either tried only one or did not disclose whether they tried the other, e.g. "Fusion!"): 27 (Fusion) vs 7 (Parallels) (79% vs 21%).
3) If this does not support neil321 already, the point at which neil321 threw out the ballpark number that 95% of posters on this thread prefer Fusion (simply implying the large majority), it was actually 73% (8 vs 3) for those who had tried both.

The best thing that I got out of this thread is that I can try them out first. I started using my wife's macbook since my pc is in the shop. Now I can try running some of the statistical and graphing software I use regularly.
 

basqarl

macrumors regular
Oct 8, 2007
124
3
I am purchasing a new MBP and want to be able to run Windows parallel to OSX because I have some software that is Windows-based that I run on my [old] PC.

How/where do I get Windows for Mac?
 

Neil321

macrumors 68040
I am purchasing a new MBP and want to be able to run Windows parallel to OSX because I have some software that is Windows-based that I run on my [old] PC.

How/where do I get Windows for Mac?

Bootcamp comes with leopard,you then need a copy of windows( bootcamp will let you run windows at native speed),or you can run windows through a vm such as fusion ( still need a copy of windows )

or you can let your vm run of you bootcamp partition

if installing windows via bootcamp follows this guide

http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/
 

Pukey

macrumors 6502
Jan 7, 2008
424
1
Gekkostate
When running Bootcamp or Fusion, can I plug my Western Digital external hard drive into my Mac and get my PC files onto my Mac?
Can I also use my XP disc for my PC to boot Windows onto my Mac or do I have to buy it again?
 
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