ParallelsDesktop 5

Impressiveupgrademakes it eveneasier to runWindowsprogramson a

Mac

Virtualisation software

Company : Parallels,

www.parallels.com

Pros : Improved performance ;

slick

interface thatmakesWindowsapplications feelmore

likeMacapplications

Cons : Needs a fastMacwithplenty of memory to run

Windows

Minspecs : Intelprocessor ,

1GBRAM,

15GBharddisk

space (

26Hzprocessor and2GBRAMrecommended)

Price :£59.99

; upgrade £34 ,99

Starrating :

* * * **

Theleap-froggingcompetitionbetweenVMware

FusionandParallels Desktop is greatnewsfor

peoplewhoneed to runWindowssoftwareon

theirMac.Nosooner hadVMware released Fusion 3

thanParallels struckbackwithParallels Desktop 5 .And

eachupdate to thesevirtualisation programsmakes

iteasierandmoreefficient to runthetwooperating

systemssidebyside.

Parallelssaystherearemorethan70newfeatures

andenhancements in thisupgrade ,

butthekey

improvements focusontheprogram' s performancewhen

runningWindowsandoninterfacerefinements thathelp

Windowsprogramsmergemoresmoothly intotheMac

environment . We' re notentirelyconvinced bytheclaim

thatParallelsDesktop 5runsthree timesfaster than

before,

but it certainly feels a bitsmootherandmore

responsive thanversion 4.

Makingthemost of processorpowerOneimportantchangehere is

thatyounowhavethe

ability to assignmultipleprocessorcores to eachvirtual

machine .So,

if youhave a MacPro or a new

quadcoreiMac, youcouldassign twoprocessorcores to a

Windowsvirtualmachine to providebetterperformance

forrunningWindowsprograms ,

whilestillhavingtwo or

moreprocessorcoresleft to keeptheMacside of things

tickingovernicelyaswell.

" ThenewMaclookoptionactuallychangesthe

appearance ofWindows

programssothattheylookmorelikeMacprograms

"

Anotherusefulrefinement is thefactthatParallels

automaticallypausesitself if you' re notcurrentlyrunning

anyprogramswithin a virtualmachine, allowingmost

of yourMac's processorpower to switch back to the

MacOSitself .WetestedthisusingtheMac' s ActivityMonitorandParallels wentfromusingmorethan50

percent of ourMac' s processorpowerwhenwewere

browsing thewebwithInternetExplorer toless than 1

percentwhenweshutExplorerdownbutleftthevirtual

machinerunningonourdesktop .Thiswillbehandyfor

MacworldEditors'Choice

WerantheMac( top )

andWindows(

bottom)

versions of Firefoxalongside each

otherusingtheMacLook optionand it reallywashard totellthetwoapart

peoplewhoneed to dipintoWindowsprograms on a

regularbasisas it meansyoucan leave a virtualmachine

sittingonyourdesktopwithoutslowingyourMacdown

atall

,

MacmakeoverTheotherbigimprovement in ParallelsDesktop 5 is the

waythat it mergesWindowsprogramsintotheMac

desktop . Thepreviousversion of Parallelsalreadyhad

a CoherencemodethathidtheWindowsdesktopand

allowedyou to runWindowsprograms ontheMac

desktop . ThenewCrystalmodegoesonestepfurther.

It completelyhidestheParallels menubarthatnormally

runsacrossthetopof thescreen andreplaces it with

a smallpull-downmenuthatsitsup in theright-hand

corner of thescreen . Sonowtherearefewervisual

remindersthatyou' re actuallyrunningyourWindows

programswithin a virtualmachine.

Evenbetter is thenewMacLookoptionthatactually

changes theappearance ofWindows programssothat

theylookmore likeMacprograms . Whenyouselect

thisoptionthebluetitlebarrunning acrossthetop of

eachprogramwindowchangescolour to thesilvery-grey

style of theMac . Therectangular control buttons that

normallyappearontheright-hand side of thetitle

baralsochange , miraculously movingacross to the

left-handsideandturningintothecircularred,

amber

andgreenbuttons usedontheMac.WerantheMac

andWindowsversions ofFirefox alongsideeachother

usingtheMacLook optionand it reallywashard to tell

thetwoapart.

Finally ,

Parallels claimsthat3Dgraphics

performance is much betterseven timesbetter,

in

fact . It certainly does a goodjob of handling3Deffects

suchastheFlip3Dfeature in Windows 7 andVista.

Wewerealsopleasantly surprised at itsperformance

whenrunning Windowsgames ,

suchastherecently

released DragonAge .However

,

aswithFusion 3

, gamingin general is stillhitandmiss : youmightfindthatother

gamesdisplayoddgraphicsglitches or simplywon' trun

atall .

Seriousgamersarestillbetteroffstickingwith

BootCamp fortheirgamingaction.

Macworld'

s buyingadviceImproved performance is always welcomewhen

attempting torunWindowssoftwareontheMac .

In

addition,

newfeaturessuchastheCrystalandMacLook

modeshelp to makeWindowsprogramslookand feel

somuch likenativeMacapplicationsthatyou' ll almost

forgetyou' re usingWindows atall.

CliffJoseph

HardwareintegrationAswellasbringingMacandWindowssoftware closertogether ,

ParallelsDesktop5 is

alsodesigned tomakeyourWindows

virtualmachineworkmoresmoothlywithMachardware.

If youhave a MacBook or MacBookProwith a Multi-Touchtrackpadyoucanusegestures ,

suchasthetwo-fingerscrollinggesture to controlWindowsprograms justasyoucanwithordinaryMacprograms.ParallelsalsoworkswithApple' s

newMagicMouse

, allowingyou to usesimilar

gesturesondesktopMacsaswell . If youhavemorethanonemonitorconnected to

yourMacthenParallels 5 willallowyou to

runyourvirtualmachineononemonitorwhiletheMacOSrunsontheother.

N° and issue date : 100101 - 01/01/2010Circulation : 23366Frequency : MonthlyMacWorldUK_100101_33_313.pdfWeb Site: http://www.macworld.co.uk

Page : 33Size : 90 %481 cm2

Copyright (MacWorld UK)No reproduction without authorisation

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