Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac

      by Dusty Schnabel

Parallels recently released the newest version of it’s Mac Desktop virtualization product, version 4.0. After a couple days of ‘hands-on’ with the product, I have to say nice job!  It is ‘world changing’?  I’ll leave that up to you.  My thoughts, after the jump! 

In the past I have struggled running Windows Vista (Businesss) on my MacBook Pro (2 GB of RAM on a Core Duo) along side of Mac OS X Leopard.  To the point that I would not recommend it to clients and friends.  The safe bet, to this point, has been running Windows XP.  With Windows XP fading into the sunset in the next 6 months, I am happy to report that with version 4.0, I am able run Vista while still having a functioning laptop. The claim of a 50% performance increase seems to hold true from my non-scientific tests.

I was also happy to see that Parallels Desktop for Mac also supports up to 8 GB of RAM and 64-bit guest operating systems for those with 64-bit processors in their box.  Coherence has also been improved to provide a more integrated experience, especially with the Windows’s notifications.  On the more technical side of things Parallels has added support for Mac OS X Server along with command line utilities and scripting support. 

The upgrade (from version 3) was quite simple, but you will have to upgrade each of your VM’s.  Start the process and go for coffee. This process does take quite a while but does not take much user interaction. Upgrading my Windows XP installation took approximately 30 minutes.  Note that this is a ‘one-way’ upgrade, so if you are trying out version 4.0, backup your VM’s, which Parallels will prompt you to do. 

Over all, I am very happy with the upgrade thus far. Performance is improved and has ensured a continued spot for Parallels Desktop in my Applications folder.

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Filed under News : Comments (0) : Nov 13th, 2008

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