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03-29-08
Duration of ownership:
Strengths: Ease of use
Weaknesses:Windows not included
Overall Evaluation: I know that Apple is included Boot Camp within Leopard (OS X 10.5), which is a great thing. However, Boot Camp needs you to reboot your Mac every time you wish to switch to Windows or Mac OS. Enter Parallels, which avoids the reboot requirement. Windows actually appears as a window (no pun intended) much like any other Finder window. You can literally switch back & forth between your Mac and Windows environments. This is important especially if you constantly need to refer between documents. It's a real time-saver. Very stable too!
01-19-08
Duration of ownership: 1 Days
Strengths: Runs windows systems within Mac OS, run both systems at once, share files between systems.
Weaknesses:No significant weaknesses for office use of Windows inside Mac OS.
Overall Evaluation: Parallels works right out of the box, or can be customized, to create a synthetic PC environment within Mac OS. Windows runs like any other Mac program, and its C: drive becomes a Mac file. Many windows systems can be created for testing software versions. They can be "booted" by clicking on their icons in the finder. Once started on an Intel Mac, the behavior is exactly like Windows 2000, XP, or Vista; plus, you can switch to and from Mac OS at any time. It has the major benefit that no boot camp is required, and no special disk partitions are needed. If Windows is not needed anymore, its file can be deleted. Viruses cannot propagate from Windows to Mac; the environment is sealed. Special Mac drivers supplied by Parallels allow Windows to operate in the Mac hardware; otherwise every aspect of Windows is the same. Very little system performance degradation was noticed on a 2GHz MacBook Pro. An excellent utility for those who need Office or other MS products to cooperate in a Mac environment. For network operation, including wireless, it is necessary to read the how-to guide closely. Recommended.
01-02-08
Duration of ownership:
Strengths: Easy install, works flawlessly once installed
Weaknesses:Heavy memory footprint
Overall Evaluation: I've been a Mac Boot Camp user since August 2006. When offered the chance to install Parallels on my machine, I initially thought it would be a hassle. What do I need run two OSs concurrently for? Since I only use Windows a few times a month, why should I bother installing a virtual machine?Well, just a few days with Parallels and my mind changed. No more waiting to boot into Windows or dealing with installing Boot Camp device drivers. I'm not gaming in Windows, there's just a few apps that I need to run in Windows from time to time that aren't available for Mac, as well as the occasional QA testing in Internet Explorer.You'll need a good chunk of disk space for Windows (and a license of Windows, I use XP Pro) and 2GB of memory for smooth operation. With 1GB Memory on a MacBook, the non-Windows portion WILL slow to a crawl (I upgraded to 2GB and everything is smooth.)If you have the occasional need for Windows (or perhaps a daily need) and don't plan on heavy 3D gaming, this is the product for you. I haven't used too many of the fancy coherence features as I don't work in Parallels often enough, but for some, I'm sure this works excellent.
11-30-07
Duration of ownership:
Strengths: Switching between Mac and Windows without rebooting; easy install; launch Windows programs from dock or desktop
Weaknesses:Windows
Overall Evaluation: Parallels 3.0 maintains the dominance of this software as the best solution for Mac owners who need to run programs written for Windows on their Macs. Seems to be faster than the 2.0 version on my Intel MacBook Pro.
09-02-07
Duration of ownership: 2 Days
Strengths: Availability to use multiple OSes
Weaknesses:No, muti processor support. A little tricky to use.
Overall Evaluation: I love this product because I can use multiple operating systems and don't have to re-purchase programs again that I already own. A must for any apple mac owner who wants multiple operating systems. Better than that other program that does the same thing.
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