VMware Fusion 3: Review of Fusion 3 From VMware

VMware Fusion 3 offers three different ways to run a virtual machine: in a window, full screen, and in a special viewing mode called Unity, which integrates the guest OS with your Mac's desktop.

Window

In this viewing option the virtual machine and its guest OS are contained within a window on your Mac. Fusion 3 provides a customizable toolbar along the top of the window that contains basic controls for the virtual machine, and a status bar at the bottom of the window to monitor the VM's hardware and settings. Window view treats the Fusion 3 virtual machine as just another OS X application.

Full Screen

As its name implies, in full screen mode the virtual machine takes over your entire desktop.

One nice feature of Fusion 3's implementation of full screen is a small title bar that contains the basic Fusion virtual machine controls and viewing options. This lets you easily control the VM or change viewing options without having to remember keyboard shortcuts. The title bar can be hidden or placed on any of the display's four sides.

Full-screen viewing is ideal when you want the look and feel of a true PC environment.

Unity

Unity performs a sleight of hand to give the illusion that the guest OS is fully integrated with your Mac's desktop. Essentially, the guest OS's desktop is stripped away and individual guest OS windows and applications appear on your Mac's desktop. The VM's controls and the guest OS's Start menu can be moved to your Mac's menu bar for easy access.

Unity is a great way to run a few guest applications you may need on your Mac.

VMware Fusion 3's performance has improved in many areas. Perhaps the best improvement is in memory use. One problem I have noticed with Fusion's competitors is poor memory management. They tend to suck up memory while a VM is in use, and then fail to release all of the VM memory when shut down. Fusion 3's memory management helps insure a snappier performance for both the VM and your Mac, as it sips at resources instead of gobbling them up.

Fusion 3 also has a new 64-bit virtualization engine that, when paired with a Mac running Snow Leopard and a 64-bit compatible Intel processor, provides better performance than earlier versions of Fusion. But the improvements many users are looking for is in Fusion's graphics capabilities. Previous versions of Fusion were no slouch, but Fusion 3 has improved on graphics performance with improved DirectX support that allows Windows Vista and Windows 7's Aero 3D features to work seamlessly. Its 3D capabilities have also improved, allowing even more Windows games to work, and to work with decent frame rates.

To get an overall sense of performance, I ran GeekBench, which measures Fusion 3's processor and memory performance, and CineBench, which measures graphics performance. Overall, Fusion 3's benchmark results were impressive, and topped the list in many categories.

Putting benchmark numbers aside, I found Fusion 3's overall performance to be excellent. More important, most of my favorite Windows games ran well.

VMware has done a great job of bringing new features to Fusion 3. Its improved Unity mode presents an almost seamless integration with the Mac that is highly useful when you have a couple of specific guest OS applications you need to run.

The Migration Assistant can copy an existing PC's OS and data and transform them into a VM running on a Mac, a great way to help Windows switchers move to the Mac.

The best changes were under the hood, including a 64-bit virtualization engine that, when paired with Snow Leopard and a 64-bit capable Intel processor, provides improved performance with a smaller resource footprint, and memory management that keeps more memory available to your Mac, while still allowing the VM to perform at its best.

Also noteworthy is an improved Virtual Machine List that incorporates all of the functions you need to start up an existing VM or create new ones.

VMware Fusion 3 is one of the best virtualization environments for the Mac. Its ease of use and the simplicity it offers in creating virtual machines are a big plus. Fusion 3 has also been optimized to run Windows 7. You can make your Mac a Windows powerhouse and astonish your Windows-using friends.

If you need to run any of the over 140 guest OSes that Fusion 3 supports, then Fusion 3 is a must-have.

VMware Fusion 3 requires the following minimum Mac configuration:

• An Intel Mac


• 1 GB of RAM


• 700 MB free disk space for the Fusion application


• 5 GB free space for each virtual machine


• OS X 10.5.8 or later

As tested for this review:

• Mac Pro (2006)


• 6 GB RAM (1 GB assigned to virtual machines)


• 2 processor cores assigned to virtual machines


• Dedicated 250 GB hard drive to store virtual machines


• OS X 10.6.2

Reviewer's Recommendation:

An Intel Mac with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor or better. This will insure that you can take advantage of the new 64-bit virtual engine in Fusion 3.

OS X 10.6.x (Snow Leopard) or better. This will ensure better performance by utilizing the 64-bit capabilities of both your Mac and Fusion 3. Snow Leopard also includes graphics improvements that Fusion 3 can use.

A minimum of 2 GB of RAM installed in your Mac; more is better, of course.

512 MB to 1 GB RAM assigned to a VM. This setting will need to be adjusted, depending on which and how many applications you will be using in the guest OS. Assigning excess RAM to a VM will not improve the VM's performance, and could decrease performance if your Mac ends up needing more RAM than is available.

VMware Fusion Information:

VMware Fusion web page

30-day demo

Disclosure: A review copy of Fusion 3 was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.