Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac Released

jsdc2005 said:
Good to know, thanks. Any idea if it works in 32-bit Windows 7 too?
Click to expand...
I had the 32-bit RC running just fine. The installer didn't complain about my machine not being supported either like it did under 64-bit.

To install Bootcamp64.msi, for Windows Vista/7 64-bit, I had to run it through an elevated prompt because there's no option to elevate it otherwise in the properties.
 
WARNING!

I was an original user of Parallels from the beta. I bought a copy as soon as it was released. It worked well. But, when I encountered a problem and tried to get support, it was the worst customer service experience I have ever had next to Digital River. It is that bad. In fact, it is so bad that I don't care if this new version is the most magnificent and incredible application in Mac history, I will not buy it. NO WAY. This company is like buying a watch from some guy off the street in a trench coat. You're stuck with what you get and don't expect any help.

It's great IF nothing goes wrong.
 
rwilliams said:
I'm recommending VMWare or Virtualbox to anyone who'll listen these days.
Click to expand...

The pricing is better too. Virtualbox is free on all platforms and VMWare has a free version for Windows and Linux hosts.

One of the best features of VMware is that it runs on Mac, Windows and Linux hosts. This means I can build a virtual Windows XP image on my iMac then run that image on my Linux system at work. The virtual images are portable. And As I said except for the Mac platform WMware is avaliable for free.
 
Features are looking very sweet!

I seriously need to buy myself an intel-based MacBook and soon before the year is up. So many things you guys get to enjoy that I cannot on the TiBook.

Are the features equal on both?
 
Just upgraded to 4.0

I just (9/11/09) upgraded to 4.0 for Snow Leopard compatibility. :mad: This kind of thing just sort of annoys you. I'll probably stay where I am for now. Trying to break the MS habit.
 
Originally Posted by lifeinhd:
$39 upgrade pricing, not $49.
Click to expand...

rwilliams said:
The Parallels website is showing $49.99 as the upgrade price.
Click to expand...

You're both right: I think the Parallels website WAS briefly showing $49.99 as the upgrade price, but all "registered" owners of Parallels received an email offering them "Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac for just $39.95." The small print says, "This special upgrade offer is available to registered users only and requires a previous installation of Parallels Desktop for Mac." And the email claims that the deal will end in 14 days, but I'm guessing it'll last for longer.

Here's the full offer that the email linked to:
http://parallelsupgrade.com/

But now the regular Nova store has the upgrade price listed at $39.99 too:
http://novadevelopment.com/software/parallels-desktop-128985

What I'm wondering is if we could ALSO get the $20 rebate -- bringing the price down to just $19.99? The Nova site says that you can purchase the program at the limited-time discount rate of $39.99 OR use the rebate . . . But the rebate form itself doesn't mention a restriction against getting a rebate on an already discounted upgrade price:

"Previous owners of Parallels Desktop are eligible for a one-time upgrade rebate of $20 when purchasing Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac. To get your rebate all you will need to do is to provide the following redemption code PAR5U20 and click http://usa.novadevelopment.com/support/rebate/Registration.aspx to begin the rebate process. . . . Get a $20 mail-in Upgrade Rebate if you own any prior version of Parallels Desktop for Mac or VMware Fusion and upgrade or switch to Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac."

Seems to be sending a mixed message there. But at $19.99 I might actually upgrade to Parallels 5. Although I HATE having to go through mail-in rebate processes, so maybe not.

I'm definitely not going to pay $49.99 or even $39.99 to upgrade . . . . I loved Parallels 3 and it was worth what I paid, but the upgrade to Parallels 4 was not impressive . . . It's still a good program, but the $39 upgrade fee didn't deliver much . . . Some improvements, some bugs . . . I'm guessing Parallels 5 will be more of the same: Improvements, but nothing to justify the cost. I mean, it was cheaper to upgrade from Leopard vs. Snow Leopard: These yearly upgrades to Parallels should cost like $10. Maybe $20 max.

I'd like to have Parallels 5, but at these prices I can wait until Parallels 6 or 7. Lucky for them I'm too lazy to switch to VMware at the moment.
 
Enough

Did you notice, they are offering a 90 day money back guarantee. You only get 30 days if you were suckered into buying ver 4. The 90 day deal was probably concocted to muzzle all of us who upgraded a couple of months ago. I sent an email to Nova complaining about the fee but doubt I'll hear back. And, to think I was the only angry user! I'm not upgrading to MS 7 and I think it's about time to dump the whole package and live with OS10.
 
Poonaka said:
lol Parallels release on the front page while VMware is on page 2.
Click to expand...

Some people are clueless. You realize stories are listed in the order they were published, right? The Fusion 3 story came out on October 27th.

Correction: The Fusion 3 story came out on October 6th, on the front page
 
OllyW said:
I bet the people who were forced to upgrade to Version 4 when Snow Leopard came out will be pleased. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...


I think I'll pass and just chuck the $80 towards a copy of Win 7 if I need to and just run boot camp for my gaming needs--))))
 
Yeah, I'm tired of upgrade fees as well. I too have been using both Parallels and VMWare from the get-go. Seems like every year there is a new upgrade fee. This time, $49 for Parallels is really a slap in the face to a long-time user. I DO appreciate the work they put into making it better, but that is really in the name of competition with VMWare.
What I need to do is settle on one, either Parallels or VMWare go from there. I've beta tested both. The VMWare upgrade price is $10 less than Parallels so that might be my tipping point.
 
ValSalva said:
Maybe this is because Fusion was released last week. So the release of Parallels is newer news and thus still on the front page.
Click to expand...

Nah, VMware Fusion 3 was on page 2 from the start. MacRumors is showing some exceptional favoritism and integrity.
 
Fusion Baby, Fusion!

I own Parallels 1, 2, and when 3 came around, I was very turned off by the high upgrade price. I took advantage of an offer to move to VMware for less than the upgrade cost to Parallels 3.

I've been very happy. Especially with Linux support. Parallels has always had issues with Ubuntu Linux. Each new release of Ubuntu proves troublesome for Parallels, and it usually takes a couple of point releases before they get the fix for it. VMware has no such issues. It has worked with every x86 OS I've thrown at it (WinXP, WinVista, Win7, Ubuntu, RedHat, SuSe, NeXTStep 3, and on and on).
 
Just tried it and uninstalled it


Reason :- my use for it was to enable me to upgrade my Inforad speed camera detector software ,while you can install the manager software windows XP bongs when the unit is plugged into the usb port, the software will not detect it


BTW it works fine in bootcamp
 
randyhudson said:
Some people are clueless. You realize stories are listed in the order they were published, right? The Fusion 3 story came out on October 27th, when it appeared on page 1.
Click to expand...

Except on Oct 27th it was on page 2.

Edit: page 2 is for stories that macrumors deem not as important. Have a look at https://www.macrumors.com/pages/ as it will show you the stories are only listed in order on the page they are published to. Front page stories don't make their way to page 2.
 
Anyone who's been using Parallels 5 and Fusion 3 want to to a comparison for us ?

the one feature I'd Love to have in either would be access to the ExpressCard slot.
 
Well I was a beta tester for both, and I can say truthfully that Parallels 5 ran SLIGHTLY faster than Fusion 3 on my black Macbook. I vastly prefer the way Fusion works though, including the interface and support. Parallels support is the bottom of the barrel, folks. :mad:
 
JonBean said:
Did you notice, they are offering a 90 day money back guarantee. You only get 30 days if you were suckered into buying ver 4. The 90 day deal was probably concocted to muzzle all of us who upgraded a couple of months ago. I sent an email to Nova complaining about the fee but doubt I'll hear back. And, to think I was the only angry user! I'm not upgrading to MS 7 and I think it's about time to dump the whole package and live with OS10.
Click to expand...
Followup:
Here's the message I sent to Nova:
"What makes you think that I would spend another 40 bucks less than 90 days after the last paid update? Trying to keep current with Parallels is a high priority but I'm getting tired of being hit up for yet another fantastic upgrade. Think I'll look elsewhere."
Here's their response!

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Nova Development Technical Support.
It has been a 2 years since our previous version was released. Have a great day

I give up!
 
Great, another version... will this one be as painful as it was to upgrade 3 to 4? I had to completely rebuild my VM last time because it got stuck during the upgrade process. I've been using since v1 also and I gotta say I'm not very impressed with the company. I will, however, echo what everyone else is saying: the product is good. When it works.
 
JonBean said:
Followup:
Here's the message I sent to Nova:
"What makes you think that I would spend another 40 bucks less than 90 days after the last paid update? Trying to keep current with Parallels is a high priority but I'm getting tired of being hit up for yet another fantastic upgrade. Think I'll look elsewhere."
Here's their response!

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Nova Development Technical Support.
It has been a 2 years since our previous version was released. Have a great day

I give up!
Click to expand...

They tried to sucker me into upgrading when my Parallels 3 ceased working after installing Snow Leopard. They even had a special promotion...

Screen shot 2009-11-04 at 19.22.00.png

See the note at the bottom stating that the offer ends on September 30th. The cut-off for free upgrades to Parallels 5 is October 1st.

Cute. :rolleyes:
 
Hemingray said:
Great, another version... will this one be as painful as it was to upgrade 3 to 4? I had to completely rebuild my VM last time because it got stuck during the upgrade process. I've been using since v1 also and I gotta say I'm not very impressed with the company. I will, however, echo what everyone else is saying: the product is good. When it works.
Click to expand...

From my "painful" experience going from 3 to 4 (had awful printer detection problems with 4), I suggest people wait to go from 4 to 5 for at least a few more iterations.
 
Lordedmond said:
Just tried it and uninstalled it


Reason :- my use for it was to enable me to upgrade my Inforad speed camera detector software ,while you can install the manager software windows XP bongs when the unit is plugged into the usb port, the software will not detect it


BTW it works fine in bootcamp
Click to expand...

It also works fine in WMware Fusion :)
I have a license for parallels 3 and 4, I just downloaded 5 and got a trial key but have since decided not to install it. I use Fusion for work and dont want to risk things messing up in parallels. I always remember they bring out flashy effects to entice but the core product for me isnt as stable as fusion.
My main issue is that it installs 2 virtual network ports that took me an absolute age to remove from my mac!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back