Parallels 4 a good upgrade?

[DaveF]

What's the word on upgrading from Parallels 3 to Parallels 4? Is it a solid upgrade?

I've used Parallales 3 for the past year with good success -- it has its issues but has been largely stable since the revisions earlier this year. And Parallels 4 seems like it would run faster on my C2D MBP and the multi-monitor features would be a step up.

I've seen some of the negative reports on the Parallels forum, but every software release has some problems. Do these seem isolated, or the norm?

Thanks!

 

[Sp0ng3B0b]

Your mileage may vary

Some people are satisfied, some people experienced nightmare (and are forced to downgrade back to v3 or switch to VMWare Fusion)

example:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/604804/

I would like to suggest to wait for 3-6 months (when a significant number of major bugs hopefuly have been solved), 10 dollar upgrade discount for early birds is not enough as a compensation for being a 'beta tester' for this rushed release...

 

[aveda6]

i just finished installing Parallels 4 on a macbook air (the original version). I wasn't even aware that 4 was a new release, I just needed something that could run a program called Registax that is not available for macs. I've run bootcamp in the past but after installing Parallels, the difference is amazing. Parallels has really just integrated into OS X seamlessly. It is running very quickly and I'm still able to access all files from the OS X hard drive. I downloaded the program I needed and it is running very well. Overall I am very impressed (so far) and look forward to seeing how well this functions.

jim

 

[brkirch]

What you may want to do is make a backup of your Parallels 3 VM and try the trial of Parallels 4. If you are able to get Parallels Tools installed and everything seems to work correctly, it is probably safe for you to upgrade. Most of the problems that people seem to have with Parallels 4 are related to Parallels Tools not installing properly. So if performance seems subpar and/or the clipboard doesn't work chances are that Parallels Tools didn't upgrade properly. (if you have problems like that, you may want to stay with Parallels 3 a while longer)

 

[DaveF]

Thanks for the tips. I use Parallels with BootCamp so I can't backup my VM specifically; but I do have a WinClone copy of BootCamp.

Since the upgrade pricing ends in a few days, I'm tempted to buy now and hope there are no problems.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

There was an update a few days ago, and Parallels is as stable as ever. I use it with Windows XP and it's much better than Fusion, I must say. Buy it before the upgrade promotion ends, you won't regret.

 

[dancormier]

Parallels 3 has an option to remove all Parallels files from the boot camp partition. If you are using Parallels with boot camp I would recommend removing the Parallels 3 files from Windows before proceeding. Otherwise Parallels 4 has been a major upgrade for me. Much faster, more stable and Modality is really a very nice feature.

 

[MacDawg]

...it's much better than Fusion, I must say.

I would be interested to hear your reasons

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[Enigmafan420]

Parallels 3 has an option to remove all Parallels files from the boot camp partition. If you are using Parallels with boot camp I would recommend removing the Parallels 3 files from Windows before proceeding. Otherwise Parallels 4 has been a major upgrade for me. Much faster, more stable and Modality is really a very nice feature.

How do you do this? I just downloaded 4.0 (the demo) to try out before I commit. I do like 3.0 seems very stable-just sort of SLOW.

I appreciate you brining this point up! Please tell me how to do it

Thanks!

 

[DaveF]

I upgraded. Flawless upgrade. Parallels 4 works fine. No problems. No conflicts with BootCamp. No reactivation woes from Windows. So far, a good upgrade.

 

[Enigmafan420]

I upgraded. Flawless upgrade. Parallels 4 works fine. No problems. No conflicts with BootCamp. No reactivation woes from Windows. So far, a good upgrade.

Did you uninstall parallels tools? How did you do it? Do you just use the Windows control panel to add/remove software?

 

[DaveF]

I just ran the Parallels 4 installer, and it did what it did. P3 was removed, P4 installed, and my BootCamp VM upgraded. Stuff was done with the Parallels Tools. It all works now. I didn't specifically add or remove Parallels Tools, but I think it was installed into the VM and into my BootCamp configuration.

 

[SimonMW]

I just upgraded to Parallels 4 yesterday. The upgrade went without a hitch. Seems pretty stable so far.

 

[AppleMatt]

I'm surprised so many are extolling the virtues of the upgrade. I'm not at all impressed; for me, the speed improvements are minor at best and the massive leap back in usability makes me irritated I bought it.

I also understand that a lot of the 'new' features compelling people to buy this release were promised in an upgrade to 3.0 - Parallels have been remarkably quiet about that. Aside from being really shady (who wants to deal with a software company who does that), it's illegal.

1) The Dock start menu sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, I just have to keep hammering the icon until it does.
2) If a drop-down menu item covers part of Windows Media Player, it crashes. Clearly this makes using Windows Media Player very difficult.
3) Now instead of starting Windows in the background, Parallels insists on opening a massive window covering everything I'm doing.
4) When I discovered a bug and reported it, I got a bizarrely constructed response. I re-wrote it as plainly as possible. When the reply came I realised English was this guys 9th language. Despite three attempts and four screenshots with big red circles on them, he doesn't understand the problem.

I wish I'd stayed with 3.0.

AppleMatt

 

[synagence]

I'm surprised so many are extolling the virtues of the upgrade. I'm not at all impressed; for me, the speed improvements are minor at best and the massive leap back in usability makes me irritated I bought it.

I also understand that a lot of the 'new' features compelling people to buy this release were promised in an upgrade to 3.0 - Parallels have been remarkably quiet about that. Aside from being really shady (who wants to deal with a software company who does that), it's illegal.

1) The Dock start menu sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, I just have to keep hammering the icon until it does.
2) If a drop-down menu item covers part of Windows Media Player. Clearly this makes using Windows Media Player very difficult.
3) Now instead of starting Windows in the background, Parallels insists on opening a massive window covering everything I'm doing.
4) When I discovered a bug and reported it, I got a bizarrely constructed response. I re-wrote it as plainly as possible. When the reply came I realised English was this guys 9th language. Despite three attempts and four screenshots with big red circles on them, he doesn't understand the problem.

I wish I'd stayed with 3.0.

AppleMatt

I've had very similar experience to yours .... i've taken advantage of the Cyber-Monday promotion on VMWare to purchase that instead.... i didn't like v3 of parallels that much but v4 is a bad step ... feels still very much like a release candidate or a final beta rather than a finished article.

 

[DaveF]

I'm surprised so many are extolling the virtues of the upgrade.

I'm not extolling the value of the upgrade itself, but the ease of the upgrade process, which is much maligned on the Parallels forums.

So far, I don't regret upgrading but I haven't yet determined if I really got $40 worth of better features. But my expectations are: improved use of dual core CPU, multi-monitor support, and better overall stability.