Converting VMWare Fusion install of Windows to Parallels

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Hi all,

I was just wondering, right now I am running Windows XP on my imac at home with VMWare Fusion. A friend of mine said that Parallels might run a bit smoother. I am happy with Fusion, I just wanted to see if I would have better results with Parallels. The problem that I have encountered is that I do not have any more legit installations of Windows XP left. Is there a way to convert my 40gz Windows XP files for Fusion to work in Parallels? I have found a few sites that allow you to convert from Parallels to Fusion, but not the other way.

Any thoughts from anyone... is this worth it??? I have 20" imac, 4gz RAM, 2.66 gz processor. I mainly use Fusion just for AutoCAD.

Cheers,
Ryan
 

bobtomay

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Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
VMWare has typically been ahead of Parallels when it comes to any sort of 3D.
Neither one of them are going to be great at it. Highly unlikely that you would find any significant improvement vs the hassle and expense involved in the purchase of another piece of VM software.
 

cwa107


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VMWare has typically been ahead of Parallels when it comes to any sort of 3D.
Neither one of them are going to be great at it. Highly unlikely that you would find any significant improvement vs the hassle and expense involved in the purchase of another piece of VM software.

Agreed. If the performance is unacceptable, the next best solution is going to be Boot Camp, not switching over to another tool that essentially does the same thing and has the same weaknesses.

Also, make sure you've got Fusion 3.0 as 3D support is an order of magnitude better than older versions.
 
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I have not found any significant difference between the two, comparing the most current versions (Fusion 3 vs. Parallels 5). The differences are mainly stylistic in terms of the interface. Some claim slightly better 3D graphics performance on Parallels (ever so slightly) but to be honest, I don't notice any difference. You would be better served spending the $$ to upgrade Fusion to 3.0.

Cheers
 

bobtomay

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15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
Don't know if you can still get the cheap upgrade price, just upgraded mine last night to 3.0 for $28.
 

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