I like VMware Fusion so far...

[MacVault]

Parallels is very nice, and I can't think of anything wrong with it really. But since my trial key expires today I thought I'd give VMware Fusion (Beta) a try (expires May 25). Parallels does have some things that Fusion does not have at this point. But what I like with Fusion is that the rest of my Mac seems to be much faster (same RAM settings on each). With Parallels I just about have to quit everything on the Mac side, and when switching between Mac and Windows my MacBooks drive sounds like it's doing a lot of swapping, etc. That doesn't seem to be the case with VMware - even though debugging is on.

Does VMware have better memory management or something? Why would my Mac environment seem faster when running Fusion, and slower when running Parallels?

 

[Shadow]

Fusion has DX9 built in.
I think.

 

[speakerwizard]

i thought that was an inhouse trial, not in the beta

 

[rdbarnes]

I have definitely noticed that Parallels can be a bit of a CPU & memory hog. However, the performance of the release candidates for the next version seem much improved. Anyway, the coherence mode was the selling factor for me.

VMware Fusion seemed OK and the 64-bit OS and virtual SMP sounded cool in theory, but it is way more buggy than Parallels. It is the only thing that has ever crashed my MacBook Pro, and they haven't released an update since the mid-December beta release.

I'll stick with Parallels. Hopefully its performance will continue to improve and I can wait for 64-bit/SMP/DX9 support.

 

[phuong]

is anyone else wishing the two programs "fuse" together? i am willing to pay double the price for it if that happens

 

[aristobrat]

Kinda.

I'd love to be able to take home the VMWare virtual machines I use on my XP box at work (which would require Fusion, at this point), but I really really love Coherence (which requires Parallels, at this point).

 

[AHDuke99]

Fusion has DX9 built in.
I think.

i dont think that's been released yet. it was a private internal beta that was in the video. the currect release is from back in december, so who knows what else they've added since then. to my knowledge, i dont know when the next beta will be released for fusion, but it will, most likely, have 3D acelleration. i hope it supports Aero.

 

[The Stig]

I like VMware too. I think it works better. I can even run some small games!! SWEET!

TS

 

[solvs]

VMWare is going to have everything Parallels has and then some. Including coherence, full USB 2 support, and DX capabilities. Plus it'll be faster, and more stable. I know the developers, and can't tell you much (NDA), but you're going to love it when it's out.

Parallels isn't all it's cracked up to be, trust me.

 

[72930]

VMWare is going to have everything Parallels has and then some. Including coherence, full USB 2 support, and DX capabilities. Plus it'll be faster, and more stable. I know the developers, and can't tell you much (NDA), but you're going to love it when it's out.

Parallels isn't all it's cracked up to be, trust me.

I' holding you to that...

 

[solvs]

I' holding you to that...

I've seen it, trust me.

 

[inmotion]

um.... i like parallels myself, just fully rounded in general and the latest beta release makes it even more pleasent to work with in terms of cpu power required.... i am running XP on a mbp 2.0 CD with 2 gigs of ram.
maybe when vmware comes out with a full product i'll give them another try but for now i am sold on parallels

(vista is running great too)

 

[AHDuke99]

i do believe VMWare Fusion will be wonderful once it's released. they have done this longer and have more money to throw at the project. i just hope it comes out soon. i'd love to see it.

 

[aristobrat]

I'd be cool if VMWare was as public (and frequent) with its beta updates as Parallel's was. But I guess it's now a competitive market and they might not want to show their hand before it's ready to be played.

 

[solvs]

I'd be cool if VMWare was as public (and frequent) with its beta updates as Parallel's was. But I guess it's now a competitive market and they might not want to show their hand before it's ready to be played.

That's kinda been the problem. The beta that's out now is crap compared to the real thing. And I haven't even seen the very latest apparently. I hope I'm not hyping it up too much, but Parallels really disappointed me, and what I've seen of VMWare's was really impressive.

 

[Glen Quagmire]

The first time I tried Parallels, it locked my Mac Pro up solid - nothing would respond and I had to power it off and on again. Not a good first impression.

I have been using the Fusion beta for a while and I'm pretty impressed so far. I trust VMWare, with their years of experience, to deliver a quality product at when it (eventually) comes out. It can be a bit slow at times (when resuming a saved virtual machine - lots of hard drive thrashing, even on a Mac Pro with 4GB of RAM) and some of the configuration settings for hardware and the like are lacking (due to the beta status).

I had a brief bout of weirdness when a VM wouldn't respond after waking up over the weekend, but other than that, I haven't had a single problem. It would be nice, however, to get a more recent beta release at some point. Fusion runs the RTM of Vista pretty nicely as well (I just use it to play mah jongg and chess), though it would be nice for it to simulate a video card with more video memory - 16MB is rather pathetic in the era of 512MB video cards.

Is there a release date for Fusion yet? I am hoping that it's not too expensive, as I would be (due to my past experiences with it) hesitant about splashing out on Parallels.

I have tried out the latest Parallels and it seems pretty nice, but there's something about it that doesn't make it that appealing to me. I'm not sure I trust the software not to stuff up my computer and/or my data.

 

[72930]

So I tried out Fusion.

My first impression (of course this is an old beta)...Parallels' automagic installation of XP and Vista is way beter than this, as I had to stay by the computer to 'OK' every option.

Mouse is a bit...mmm...rough

I want the release, or even an update to give my full opinion...but for now Parallels blows it out of the water...