The Bottom Line
Parallels Desktop for Mac is a bit slower than Boot Camp, and it's not the best choice running for graphics-intensive applications or games. But if you need to run a Windows business or productivity application that doesn't have a Mac equivalent, Parallels is a good solution. It does a good job of integrating the Windows environment with OS X, and makes it easy to share data between the two OSes.
- Can run Windows and OS X concurrently
- Lets you drag and drop files between Windows and OS X
- Runs multiple guest OSes
- Runs Windows applications from the Mac desktop
- Weak video performance
- Doesn’t support the latest DirectX technology for gaming
- Doesn't use all of the processors in a Mac
- Slower than Apple's Boot Camp
Description
- Requires an Intel-based Mac
- Performs best when lots of memory is available
- Can run multiple OSes simultaneously, if your Mac has enough memory
- Supports Windows, Linux, DOS, and other OSes
- Easily integrates with a network
- Has built-in backup capabilities for the virtual machines
Guide Review - Parallels Desktop for Mac
I’ve been running Parallels Desktop for Mac since its early beta days. It doesn't do everything I want a virtualization product to do, and like almost every product, it has its strengths and weaknesses, but I've generally been impressed with it.
One of Parallels' strengths is its ability to share data between OS X and the virtual machine. (A virtual machine is an operating system, usually Windows, that runs within an environment that makes the OS think it's on a PC.) This capability differentiates Parallels from Apple's Boot Camp, which is an all-or-nothing approach; you can run Windows or you can run OS X, but not both at the same time.
Parallels pioneered data sharing to include sharing applications. With Parallels running, you can select a Mac file and open it in Windows, or vice versa. This seamless approach comes in handy when you need to exchange files with Windows-based colleagues.
One major flaw in the current version of Parallels is that it can't support the multiple processors common to newer Macs. Its graphics capabilities are also weak, mainly because it uses a special video driver rather than the Mac's native graphics card. This makes Parallels a less-than-ideal choice for graphics-intensive applications, such as CAD programs and video editors, as well as fast-action games.
