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Represented by their respective products, VMware and Parallels are the two major commercial competitors in the Mac consumer virtualization market. Both products are based on hypervisor technology and allow users to run an additional 32- or 64-bit x86 operating system in a virtual machine alongside Mac OS X on an Intel-powered Mac. The similarity in features and functionality between VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop for Mac has given occasion for much comparison.
Contents |
Overview
VMware Fusion is currently a second generation product. It was first officially released on August 06, 2007[1], and version 2.0 was released on September 16, 2008 [1].
Parallels Desktop is currently a fourth generation product. It was first officially released as version 2.5 on February 27, 2007, while version 3.0 was released June 7, 2007[2] and version 4.0 was released November 11, 2008[3]. VMware Fusion initially focused on performance and platform features while Parallels Desktop initially focused on more end-user features. However, as shown in the features table below, each product has made additions in both areas with each of its succeeding versions.
Features
| Feature | Product | |
|---|---|---|
| VMware Fusion 2 | Parallels Desktop 4.0 | |
| 64-bit support | Yes1 | Yes1 |
| 32-bit support | Yes | Yes |
| SMP support | Up to 4 processors per VM | Up to 8 processors per VM |
| Adaptive Hypervisor resource optimizer | No | Yes |
| Max RAM per VM | 16 GB | 8 GB |
| DirectX support | DirectX 9.0c with Shader Model 2 | DirectX 9.0 with DirectX Pixel Shader 2.0 |
| OpenGL support | No | OpenGL 2 |
| Video memory | 128 | 256 |
| High-definition support | Yes | Yes |
| Bluetooth support | Yes2 | Yes2 |
| Spaces support | Yes | Yes |
| USB 2.0 support | Yes | Yes |
| Power management function | Yes | Yes |
| Easy Install with Automatic Windows Setup | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone remote access | No | Yes |
| Scalable VM window function | No | Modality |
| Integrated window function | Unity | Coherence |
| Windows Start Menu integration with Mac Dock | yes (no icons) | Yes |
| Smart selection function | Yes | Yes |
| File integration function | Yes4 | Yes4 |
| Shared screenshot utility | Yes | Clips |
| Speech Recognition | No | Yes |
| Boot Camp support | Windows XP (32-bit), Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit) | Windows XP (32-bit), Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit) |
| VM conversion function | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple display support | Up to 10, unique separate display | Up to 2, single logical display |
| Multiple snapshot support | Yes | Yes |
| Snapshot manager | linear display | tree display |
| AutoProtect Automatic Snapshots | Yes | Yes |
| Mount Virtual Machines in Finder (VM explorer function) | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Security Software Included | 12-month subscription to McAfee VirusScan Plus | 12-month subscription to Kaspersky Internet Security |
| Windows Backup Software Included | No | Acronis True Image Home |
| Windows Disk Management Software Included | No | Acronis Disk Director Suite |
| Security Manager | Yes | Yes |
| Pause/Resume function | Yes | Yes |
| Run Linux virtual machines | Yes | Yes |
| Automated Linux Install and Setup | Yes | No |
| Linux virtual machine support | Window resize, time sync, shared folders, drag and drop | Window resize, time sync, shared folders |
| Run Linux apps like Mac apps (Integrated window function) | Yes | No |
| Run Mac OS X Server virtual machines | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-language support | Yes | Yes |
| Firewire support | No | No |
1An Intel-based Mac with a Core 2 Duo or Xeon processor is required to run the 64-bit guest operating system[4]
2Must install Apple Boot Camp drivers.[5][6]
3Not enabled by default.
4Shared folders and virtual mirroring of Document folders.[7]
Minimum System Requirements
| Requirement | Product | |
|---|---|---|
| VMware Fusion 2 | Parallels Desktop 3.0 | |
| Host OS | Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later | Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later |
| RAM | 1 GB (2 GB Recommended) | 1 GB (2 GB Recommended) |
| Disk space for product | 400 MB | 100 MB |
| Recommended disk space for virtual machine | 10 GB | 15 GB |
Performance
In August, 2007, Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal observed that while Parallels Desktop 3.0 has more features, Fusion 1.0 had a smaller impact on overall system performance.[8] Since then, MacTech and CNET have each compared the performance of Parallels and Fusion side-by-side in a series of virtualization benchmark tests, each with different results.
MacTech
In Volume 24, Issue 02 of MacTech, the editors published the results of one-step and task tests between VMware Fusion, Parallels Desktop and Boot Camp and used a PC running Windows XP as a baseline comparison in a native PC environment.[9]
- One-step Test: After clicking the mouse or pressing a key, this test requires no further human action.
- Task Test: This tests the interaction between Mac OS X and the virtual environment and requires multiple tests throughout the process.
MacTech found that the faster the physical host computer, the more similarly Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion performed. MacTech did not test multiple processor performance. The following graphs displays the results in seconds. Shorter bars indicate faster performance.
Each test was run on a MacBook (2 GB RAM; 1.83 GHz Core Duo processor), a MacBook Pro (4GB RAM; 2.16 GHz Core 2 Duo processor) and a MacPro (4GB RAM; Quad Core configuration with two 2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors). MacTech tested Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac Build 5160 and VMware Fusion 1.0 Build 51348. All tests were done on clean host systems with new installations of Mac OS X 10.4.10 and Office installations and included all of the most up-to-date patches. No third party software was installed other than Mac OS X, VMware Fusion, Parallels Desktop, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Adobe Reader and Microsoft Office.
Cross-platform task tests
MacTech’s cross platform tests timed how long it took users to perform multi-step tasks that moved data between Mac OS X and Windows. VMware Fusion, which is designed for increased isolation from the host, requires more manual steps to move data between the host and the virtual environment. Parallels Desktop, which is designed to run transparently with the Mac OS X host, requires fewer steps to perform the same tasks. Therefore, Parallels Desktop was faster.
Networking and file I/O tests
Parallels Desktop occasionally displayed lag anomalies while VMware Fusion's virtual drive performance was very close to that of a physical drive. VMware Fusion preferred a bridged connection for reliable performance, and Parallels Desktop was consistent regardless of the type of virtual network adaptor used.
CNET
On August 16, 2007, CNET published the results of several benchmarks[10] in which Fusion demonstrated better performance than Parallels Desktop for Mac in SMP-aware applications, which Fusion supports while Parallels does not. It should also be noted that Boot Camp is a tool for natively booting Windows XP on Intel Macintosh, and is not a virtualization product.
This comparison was tested on an eight-core, 2.66GHz MacPro running Mac OS X 10.4.10, Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac (build 4560) and VMware Fusion 1.0 (build 51348). Fusion and Parallels were both set to 1,024 MB of system memory and a 32 GB hard disk. Fusion was set to 128 MB of graphics memory, and Parallels Desktop for Mac was set to 64 MB of graphics memory (the maximum for each)[10].
See also
- Comparison of virtual machines for a list of related virtualization software products
- Desktop virtualization
- Virtualization
- Virtual machine
- x86 virtualization
References
- ^ "WWDC: VMware brings virtual machines to Mac OS X". Macworld (2006-08-06).
- ^ Breaking Down the Walls Between Mac OS X and Windows - New York Times
- ^ http://www.macworld.com/article/136717/2008/11/parallels.html
- ^ Fusion System Requirements: Run Windows on Mac and Get Two Operating Systems - VMware
- ^ "VMware: New Kid on the Block".
- ^ http://forum.parallels.com/thread8813.html
- ^ Rudolph, Ben (2007-08-24). "Parallels blog on automatically sharing of Documents between Windows and Mac OS X". Retrieved on 2007-09-28.
- ^ Mossberg, Walt (2007-08-02). "Fusion Is Latest Way For Macs to Operate Windows, PC Software". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on 2007-10-01.
- ^ Ticktin, Neil. "Virtualization Benchmarking How do Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop, and VMware Fusion stack up?". MacTech. Retrieved on February 2008.
- ^ a b Begun, Daniel (2007-08-17). "Inside CNET Labs: Windows virtual machine performance on the Mac". CNET. Retrieved on 2007-10-04.
