“VMWare may have pipped them to the post by releasing Fusion 5 a few days earlier, but Parallels have arguably done a more thorough job with Parallels Desktop 8,” Cliff Joseph reports for Macworld UK.
“Like Fusion 5, Parallels Desktop 8 works with Launchpad so that you can quickly launch the Windows programs that you need. It also uses the Notification Centre to provide status updates for your virtual machines, and provides high-res graphics for the Retina display on the new MacBook Pro,” Joseph reports. “However, Parallels Desktop does go a little further than Fusion in supporting Mountain Lion and integrating the Mac and Windows environments even more tightly.”
Joseph reports, “You can also use Apple trackpad gestures, such as pinch-to-zoom, within Windows programs too. That attention to detail makes the Windows side of things feel more Mac-like, and when you take into account existing features such as the MacLook option – which tweaks the interface of Windows programs to make them look more like native Mac apps – then Parallels does a slicker job of merging the Mac and Windows environments together… Although it’s more expensive than Fusion 5, Parallels Desktop 8 has an edge in 3D performance and in the way that it integrates Windows programs into the Mac operating system, so people who need to use Windows software on a regular basis will find that it’s well worth that little bit extra.”
Much more in the full review here.
Related articles:
Mossberg reviews Parallels Desktop 8: Works well; superior to VMWare Fusion – September 13, 2012
CNET reviews Parallels Desktop 8: New features put it above competitors – September 6, 2012
Parallels Desktop 8 for Mac now available – September 4, 2012
“pipped them to the post”
Horse racing Britishisms, gotta love it.