Reviews power_boz on 11 Jul 2007 02:01 am
Parallels 3.0
Recently I reviewed Parallels Virtual Machine software but with the introduction of Parallels 3.0 the review has to be done again. As stated before Parallels comes with support for 3D gaming and better support for USB 2.0 devices. It also has a feature called “SmartSelect” which allows you to open any file from either OS X or Windows by binding that file to a specific program in either operating systems. Another feature allows you to browse the virtual machine files without even starting the virtual machine it self with an application called Parallels Explorer. Other features include better Linux support as well as shared printers for cross platform printing. Parallels is offering this upgrade at a price of $49.99. If you have purchased Parallels sometime after May 1st then you are eligible for a free upgrade.
Features:
• Easy Installation
• Allows you to run Windows in OS X
• Easy Drag and Drop between OS X and Windows
• Coherence Mode
• Full USB 2.0 support
• Full Networking support
• Boot Camp support
With Windows XP, Parallels runs flawlessly. It is very responsive and fast. So far I have tried to connect my N95 Nokia phone to it but with no luck. I will try other USB devices to see if there is actually a difference. What I liked so far is the fact the Parallels mounts the virtual drive in Finder which makes it quite easy to transfer large files to and from OSX.
The most notable new feature is 3D gaming and directX. Parallels 3.0 has support for 3D games and yours truly tried some of them. I was not able to get the latest Command & Conquer to run but I was able to run all the previous Command & Conquer games up to Generals. The game play was simply amazing. You choose the resolution you want and play in the Parallels window just as if it is a native Mac game. Overall the graphics and the game response was that of a typical Windows PC. I didn’t try an intensive 3D game like quake to gauge performance but for simple games like C&C and WOW it is perfect.
Parallels 3.0 is an excellent choice if you are into simple 3D games. If you are buying Parallels for the first time then 3.0 is what you want. If you have Parallels 2.0 and you are happy with it then I don’t see the need to upgrade to the newer version just yet. Performance is the same for both versions but the USB support is a lot better in 3.0.
One thing that I was looking for in Parallels was the ability to run Windows Vista from a Boot Camp partition and 3.0 delivers. The option is not grayed out anymore but I was not able to install the Parallels drivers and Windows Vista would crash. This in it self is a good reason to upgrade. If you are still using XP on Boot Camp then the reasons are not sufficient.
You can download a 15 day license to try Parallels but it requires that you do an upgrade to your virtual machines and so you would have backup them up just in case you decide not to go with 3.0 later on. This is because Parallels 3.0 does something to the virtual machine that won’t let it run on the older Parallels so just make sure your backup your current virtual machine before going ahead with the trial.
Parallels.com