First Look: Parallels Workstation

I’ve been using the recently released Parallels Workstation Virtual Machine emulator on my Macbook Pro, and I have to say that I am duly impressed. I downloaded the first beta last week, and immediately put it through it’s paces. Installation was a snap, and in less than 30 minutes I had Windows XP installed and running. Performance was very impressive. If you have ever used Virtual PC on a PowerPC Mac, you know how slow an experience it is. Windows on Parallels Workstation is a completely different experience. It’s fast, responsive, and very solid, especially for a beta release.

Beta 1 had some kernel panic issues. I experienced two panics myself, and sent the developers detailed notes on them. Within 24 hours I had a response from their development team asking for a log file to better help them diagnose the problem. 72 hours after it’s first release, Parallels released the second beta, which addressed the kernel panic problem. Very impressive. A mere week after it’s first release, Parallels has released their third beta fixing even more issues. Parallels obviously is working hard to deliver a quality product to market, and beat the likes of VMware and Apple, who are rumored to be developing virtualization tools of their own.

If you have an Intel Mac (and a copy of Windows or Linux lying around), I suggest you give Parallels Workstation a try. It’s a much more elegant solution than dual booting when the processing needs of Windows isn’t the main concern. Parallels will be $49 when it is released in 30 days. There is a current promotion for $10 off if you preorder.

Category: News