Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1995 in Software
• Brand: Parallels
• Model: TK057Z/A
• Released on: 2006-09-07
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Platform: Mac
• Format: CD-ROM
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Computer Shopper
It's well designed and allows Macs to run Windows applications conveniently and quickly.

Manufacturer's Description:

When Apple introduced its first generation of Intel-powered Macs, the "Are you a Mac or a PC person" question suddenly became moot. With the new Intel Mac machines, you can have the best of both Macintosh and PC worlds. Unfortunately, switching between operating systems on the new Intel Macs can be a time-consuming process. You must completely shut down OS X and endure a full start-up cycle in order to run Windows. That's where Parallels Desktop for Mac comes in. With Parallels Desktop, you can run Windows applications along with your Macintosh programs -- right on your Mac, side-by-side -- so you never have to suffer through frustrating shut-downs and re-boots just to run a program you want.

Windows XP Professional guest virtual machine running alongside a Mac OS X primary OS.

The Parallels desktop. View larger

Another view of the Parallels desktop. View larger.

A Single-Keystroke Solution
Parallels Desktop offers the unparalleled option of letting you switch between Mac OS X and Windows XP with a single keystroke. So while you're running a graphics program that only OS X can run, and you need to use an important application that is only available in Windows, you simply hit a keystroke, and Windows (or OS X) is literally at your fingertips. The same holds true for Linux or any other operating system; with Parallels Desktop, you're always a single keystroke away from switching out of OS X into the operating system of your choice, and back into it again.

Creating a Virtual PC
With Parallels Desktop, you can run any version of Windows (3.1, 3.11, 95, 98, Me, 2000, NT, XP, 2003), any Linux distribution, FreeBSD, Solaris, OS/2, eComStation, or MS-DOS alongside Mac OSX. The program installs with just a few clicks and steps through a simple interface. You don't have to be a software engineer to install Parallels Desktop; there's no need to partition your drive, and no networking or complicated set-up required. It's really that simple.

Once you're up and running, Parallels Desktop virtualizes a full set of all the standard PC hardware, including virtualized processor of the host computer, a generic motherboard compatible with Intel i815 chipset; up to 1500 MB of RAM; VGA and SVGA with VESA 3.0 support; up to four IDE devices that may be either virtual hard drives (from 20 MB up to 128 GB each, mapped to image file), CD/DVD-ROM drives (mapped to physical drive or to image file), or any combination of the two; Ethernet virtual Network card compatible with RTL8029 (bridged to Apple Ethernet or Apple Airport adapter), host-only Networking or Mac Internet sharing; up to four serial (COM) ports (mapped to pipe or to Output file); up to three bi-directional parallel (LPT) ports (mapped to output file); and 2-port USB controller 1.1 (USB 2.0 devices supported) at speed close to native. In other words, you can operate as if you were actually on a fully-loaded PC.

SUSE Linux 10.0 guest virtual machine running alongside a Mac OS X primary OS. View larger.

The main page shows preferences and virtual hardware configs for a virtual PC. View larger.

The Config Editor is used to access and change all the parameters of a virtual machine. View larger.

You also have the ability to transfer files and folders between OS X and Windows. This means that you can safely and securely "copy and paste" data between Windows XP and Mac OS X programs without a glitch. And if you think that this will add a huge drain on your computing resources, think again! Included free with Parallels Desktop is Parallels Compressor technology, a tool that reduces Windows 2000, 2003 and XP virtual machine hard drive size by 50 percent or more. This easy-to-use disk management tool helps save storage costs, maximizes hard disk resources and improves the performance of any Windows-powered virtual machines.

Product Description
Now it’s easy to run Windows on your Intel Mac - right alongside MacOS X. Parallels Desktop for Mac lets you switch back and forth between Mac OS X and full screen Windows XP with a simple keystroke. Or run Windows inside a window right on your Macintosh desktop. Now Mac users can run important applications available only for Windows – programs like Microsoft Project, Access, Money, Act!, Goldmine, Internet Explorer and more. Unlike Boot Camp, which requires the user to restart his Mac, Parallels Desktop for Mac runs Windows simultaneously with Mac OS X.

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

Cracking product - if you've enough memory
Initial reaction to this software was not good. I tried running it on my Intel Mac Mini with 512Mb Ram and performance was woeful. The OS (windows XP) would not install cleanly on the first few attempts. Finally it loaded but performace was not very good.

Having upgraded my RAM to 2Gb, I can honestly say the Parallels Virtual PC is the fastest XP machine I have ever used. Performance is absolutely stunning. If you want to run Windows on your Mac - and have enough memory - this has got to be the way to do it.

Amazing: converts a top end Intel Mac into one of the best PCs out there...
If you've got a top end Intel Core 2 Duo processor Mac (desktop or laptop) then this is possibly the most impressive thing you'll ever see or use because "Parallels" will convert your machine into a fast and incredibly high resolution Windows machine. Set the screen resolution in the Windows "window" to its maximum level (1538 x 921 pixels), make sure that the Parallels Tools are installed correctly, select "Full Screen" mode and there it is... quite amazing... looks better than the any PC you've ever seen, works just like a PC, lets you seamlessly transfer files between the Mac window and the PC window, and transforms your Windows versions of Word, Excel, Publisher and even Photoshop into the most beautiful experiences. And, when you get bored with them you're only a keystroke away from watching the screen flip round to reveal your Mac.

Good enough? Well there's more to come because it also, even more amazingly, lets you run any Windows application program as a window right within the Mac screen (at equally high resolutions) just as though it was one of your Mac applications... seamlessly, stable and fast.

The downsides? You need a fully spec'd Mac with a reasonable amount of memory to get the best out of it (this review is based on 2.33ghz MacBook Pro with 3 gigabytes of memory) but then you're getting, in effect, two top end machines in one. You need to spend some time configuring Parallels correctly, particularly in integrating the Windows side into any wireless network, but the installation instructions are clear and they work. It's no good for processor intensive 3D games (you need Apple's Boot Camp for that, athough this requires a lengthy reboot between the Mac & Windows environments). Oh yes, and you need a copy of Windows XP... a fairly small additional price to pay for such a brilliant piece of software innovation.

Apple "geeks" may continue to argue that OSX is better than Windows but the truth is that a top end Intel Mac with Parallels running on it is the perfect solution... a PC that runs OSX at its highest levels and Windows at a level that's pretty close to any dedicated, top-end PC out there, with instant switching between the two in a single, fully integrated environment. Incredible.

Brilliant
This piece of software is briiliant! I managed to get everything installed without a single hiccup. It did it in less than 30 minutes. Amazing! The only downside is it doesn't tell you how to install USB printers. You need to set your printer to sharing in the Printer/Fax options in OS X. And then download Bonjour from the Apple website. Easy as 1.. 2.. 3.

All my apps work. Although if you are thinking of using it for 3D games. Don't bother. It doesn't work. If you want to run PC games on your Mac you need Windows XP service pack 2 and download a free copy of bootcamp. But apart from that it good for just about every windows app.