VMFusion or Parallels?

spenceh · Feb 5, 2009

Hi all - I am new to mac ownership and so have lots of windows software and currently no mac software. I tend to use Windows MS Office 2007 and Photoshop quite a bit, and can't really afford to buy both of them at the mo.

As a possible solution, I am considering buying either Parallels or VM Fusion...

Which is the best to go for? Also, what are the virus implications? I don't intend to browse the web through a Windows window.

Your help would be much appreciated.

chscag · Feb 5, 2009

Both Fusion and Parallels offer a trial download which you can try out and make your own decision as to which you prefer. Both work well but like buying a new car, everyone has his\her own opinion of what they like.

As for virus and nasty ware, if you run Windows in a VM or from a Boot Camp partition natively (which you might also consider doing), you need a good firewall, AV software, and anti spy ware and\or ad ware protection.

Regards.

leopard-user1 · Feb 5, 2009

A FREEWARE Virtual Machine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

spenceh said:
Hi all - I am new to mac ownership and so have lots of windows software and currently no mac software. I tend to use Windows MS Office 2007 and Photoshop quite a bit, and can't really afford to buy both of them at the mo.

As a possible solution, I am considering buying either Parallels or VM Fusion...

Which is the best to go for? Also, what are the virus implications? I don't intend to browse the web through a Windows window.

Your help would be much appreciated.

You don't have to buy a virtual machine. You can just download VirtualBox, a freeware virtual machine that can run multiple virtual machines and can run almost any operating system as a virtual machine, as long as you have the install disks (or ISO images, for something like Linux, which is freeware). I myself downloaded VirtualBox but I have no install disks so I haven't really used it yet. But the reviews on its website say that it works fine!

spenceh · Feb 8, 2009

Thanks for the advice - I will probably go for VMFusion... as my mac is so new, I am a little wary of freeware - especially after being a windows user for so long

theonegod · Feb 10, 2009

I would be wary as well. People should not be recommending software they have not even used...

razultull · Feb 10, 2009

Hey guys, can you help me with a little problem? i need to install vista on my macbook pro, i have the partition ready and all, but my superdrive is effed.
Its gonna take another month for the part to come, and noone i know has a mac compatible external cd drive.
Do you think parallels or VM would be a solutio? Can i somehow mount the ISo in VMWare and then boot from it? or am i completely going the worng way
? coz this is what some guy said to do in another thread.

RamblinMan · Feb 11, 2009

Well, I have been a VirtualBox user for several months and it works just fine. I have used Parallels as well - not enough of a difference for me to vote one over the other, except for VirtualBox being open source. In fact, I am responding to you via an openSUSE VM.

I also have VMs with Windows 7 and Vista.

RamblinMan · Feb 11, 2009

See my other post. Yes, it would work, as would VirtualBox. There are some limitations with 3D support, though, so some of the "nifty" interactions may not function like you expect.

razultull · Feb 11, 2009

see, thats what i dont want, i want full directx 10 support as it was before my superdrive went down the drain. Is there some way to boot off a virtual image?

RamblinMan · Feb 11, 2009

Sorry about that - I don't think any of the VM options will work for you, then (based on my limited knowledge anyway, maybe someone else knows otherwise).

VMFusion or Parallels?

spenceh

chscag

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leopard-user1

spenceh

theonegod

razultull

RamblinMan

RamblinMan

razultull

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