“Take an underpowered, limited-capacity Mac. Load it up with full versions of Microsoft’s Windows and Office software. Now try running everything at the same time, including the Mac’s operating system, without crashing or slowing things to the speed of the Long Island Expressway on a summer weekend,” Rich Jaroslovsky reports for Bloomberg.
“Parallels Desktop 7, the latest version of Parallels Inc.’s Windows-in-a-Mac software, successfully navigated my little torture test with nary a hiccup,” Jaroslovsky reports. “There’s no better solution for Mac users who want Windows compatibility and don’t mind spending $80 extra (plus the cost of Windows itself) to get it.”
Jaroslovsky reports, “Parallels Desktop‘s value comes in the meshing of the Windows applications we may need for business with the pleasures of the Mac hardware and operating system.”
Read more in the full review here.
More info about Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac here.
Related articles:
Mossberg reviews Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac: Runs Windows quickly and smoothly – September 6, 2011
Upgrading from Windows to Mac even easier with Parallels Desktop 7 – September 2, 2011
New Parallels Mobile app for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch controls Macs, PCs, plays Flash and more – September 1, 2011
Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac makes Windows programs roar with Mac OS X Lion features – September 1, 2011
All they need to do is add air play to parallels mobile and you can watch amazon instant video on your apple tv.
He could have mentioned Parallels 7 is on sale for $30 for people switching from Fusion software. That is an incredible online deal IMHO.
Go Parallels 7, I have both and P7 is by far the better product.
I am curious if anyone has tried to virtualize Windows 8 using P7? I wouldn’t want to waste the hardware to install a copy of Microsoft’s latest but I don’t mind checking it out in a disposable window on my Mac Book Pro running the most powerful OS for a laptop on the planet, OS X 10.7, Lion.
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Yes, I installed Windows 8 this morning in Parallels. Parallels runs it fine – and Windows 8 is bizarre and not very intuitive.
Yeah, I agree about the windows 8 comment. It’s really really bizarre. As a mac user, it’s only a victory… It just means more people will switch to OS X Lion when the time comes…. 🙂
But I feel sorry for windows users now. 8 is ridiculously disorganized and messy… The new interface adds a cumbersome, disorganized layer on top of the windows 7 interface. It’s like another vista….
Isn’t it true that there will be a mode in Windows 8 (if you don’t use a touch screen computing device) that basically looks and acts like Windows 7? Or is this “Metro” thing being forced on all users?
If you put W8 on Parallels, don’t upgrade your W7 VM. Create a new VM, point it to the downloaded iOS file and start. Parallels will fail OS auto detect, tell it it’s Win7 and don’t enter a registration number when parallels ask for it. It’s not needed because W8 doesn’t activate. Quite easy actually.
VMware looks pretty good. Full Lion integration. 50 bucks.
MDN now selling software… What’s with the buy now button… This is no news item… It’s an advertisement…. I guess everyone sells out
Tell me, Alcancun, what do you pay to visit this site and gather all of the information it contains? Please think and be accurate. What? Really? NOTHING????? So it’s FREE to you?
Well, dear socialist/communist/utopian sir, it’s not FREE to the administrators of MDN! And you begrudge them the right and ability to recoup the costs this site incurs with a couple of “commercial” (OH, GOD! NOT COMMERCIAL!) inserts and references?
And YOU’RE not a sell out? Got a job, Alcancun? I doubt it, but if so, then YOU, sir or madam, are a sell-out TOO! You economic whore. You’re the lowest of the low. Taking money for nothing more than your time and skills. Gawd, what a cheap loser you are. You should work for nothing, you trust fund baby.
Calm down. I guess Alcancun’s post doesn’t go against ads, probably his problem is another one: Articles that are not articles but ads. This Parallels-thing goes on for weeks, you could call the website “ParallelsDailyNews”. This is a newssite about Apple, so software can be a topic of course, but the focus on this single app and then all the made up articles… Well I don’t really expect MDN to be a great example of free journalism, however they are so often pointing at hit-whores of Microsoft-paid/affiliated-tech-sites, well, so that seems a bit… hmm, maybe you get the point?
WHY – for the amount of useful Windows applications left – why make this purchase?
Your Windows 7 OS is tied to the machine – one license per machine – so you need to buy it again – then Parallels on top.
WHY there are alternatives – work around softwares – simpler and free applications – what is the real reason here… ONLY BECAUSE you can?
LOL – pass – thx ANTI-WNDOWS – no virtualization required.
Oh wait, you BOUGHT Windows? ;^)
Yes, I own 3 actual WINDOW 7 copies. Crazy huh! Sucker Yeah.
My first copy – I installed on my Mac with Bootcamp. That was a while back BUT the day I installed was the day I also removed it. No need – just curious.
The week later I decided to pass that copy on to my daughter – finding out that the license policy forced me to purchase a second license.
My third copy was bought to maintain my fathers machine.
Ahhhh – Lion Roars baby !!!!
I agree with your point about the need to buy a new Windows license, and how that might make it NOT worthwhile.
However, VMware Fusion has a feature that allows the user to take an existing Windows installation and convert it into a virtual machine that runs under Fusion. So although you cannot use the original OEM discs that came with a PC to install Windows on a VM, you CAN create a VM out of an existing Windows installation.
It even let me take an existing Connectix (Microsoft) Virtual PC virtual machine (with Windows XP) that I used on a Power Mac G5, and “import” it into Fusion on my Intel iMac. It runs just like it did using Virtual PC emulation, but MUCH faster now that its no longer doing any hardware “emulation.”
That’s one key reason I bought VMware Fusion instead of Parallels Desktop a few years ago, when I bought my first Intel Mac. There was no way I was going to pay for a new Windows XP license, when I only used it for a few things.
Commercial?…
My complaint is with the anti-piracy schema in parallels 6. My system would lose its serial on occasion and I would have to re-enter it and revalidate. It was a pain in the butt and I was a legit user. It sent me flying over to vmware. Additionally I have vmware appliances that I replicate at our datacenter so it was an easy transition. I hope they got rid of those issues but I’ll have a hard time switching back, with our dc running vmware.
Question: does Parallels “hog” hard drive space when you use it like Fusion does? Hate that I have 8GB of space left on my MBPro and if I dont restart the laptop to free up the gobbled-up hard drive space, I quickly end up with 1/2 GB
Dude! Delete some of that porn!
This is very funny, but also a choice.
Vmware fusion 4 was just released today and I have to say it is smooth and runs just fine with no problems, I have Parallels also and have used it for a few days after the upgrade and have to say both are good, but Vmware Fussions 4 runs faster and has less problems with USB external drivers, Parallels 6 has a problem with transfer speed staying at top level.
So each is own, it’s preference but for me at least for now Vmware Fussions 4 is better.
sorry I ment to say the new version 7 instead of 6 has the issue with USB transfer speeds. It’s all just choice, either one is well suited.
I’ve had both VM and Parallels and by far and away Parallels is faster and more stable. The voice of experience talking here.
BUT for what — what are you EXPERIENCED users requiring VIRTUALIZED Windows for?
No thanks… NO WINDOWS anything on my MAC not even ROXIO TOAST who is owned by Microsoft. Not even the FIREFOX browser whom Microsoft funds.
Doing your best to stay completely away !
I left the Parallels jokers several years ago and moved on to a product from a professional company – VMWare Fusion.
I grew tired of the laughable way in which Parallels treats their customers.
Updates? Well, let me see… Hm. None here, none over heeere… I KNOW I heard about a new version somewhere…
Lewsers.
Well thanks for the comments.
After seeing others had done it I too found it almost a no brainer to install Windows 8 Preview on the world’s best Windows Touch Capable Laptop, a 2011 MBP.
What is nice is that while Parallels 7 was doing its thing I was able to go do more interesting things like read my email including a fascinating bit about a Drunken Moose Hung in an Apple Tree.
P& seemed to not want of fully finish so I clicked I would finish the installation manually. Then it dawned on me that I didn’t have an ether net cable plugged in and it may not have like my wireless connection.
Fixed that and we were off to the races.
Bottom line, all the touch stuff works using my pad as intended. I can resize the window and see that Win 8 resizes its desktop in an infinite way to fit the allowed screen size.
Win 8 is interesting but obviously Mac OS Lion is better.
Thanks Mr Ballmer for all you have done for Microsoft and Apple.
MDK