I have been using Parallels 5, and have been very happy with the stability. They release periodic upgrades which seem to have made the system run faster.

I installed Windows 7 Home Premium, and as usual the installation process under Parallels was very fast. I was literally up and running in minutes. Parallels gave me the choice of Windows XP and Windows 7. After I validated that Windows 7 was working ok, I removed XP. The only downside to this was that I had to install all the applications for Windows 7 (principally Microsoft Office 2007).

Everything worked well out of the box. However, I noticed the larger memory footprint of Windows 7 compared to XP once I opened up a big spreadsheet – everything started to slow down under Windows 7. While I could have resized the memory allocation under Parallels, I decided to upgrade my RAM to improve performance. I ordered 4 Gb (2 x 2 Gb), and removed the existing 2 Gb (2 x 1 Gb) that was factory installed.

Once that was finished, I allocated part of the memory to Windows 7. There was an immediate improvement. I would recommend having 4 Gb before running virtual machines, especially Windows 7. Performance is quite satisfactory. I believe that when running Excel macros, I would be getting similar performance to a dedicated Windows 7 machine.

Windows 7 is a massive improvement over past versions of Windows. It is still not as good as OS X, but it makes running Windows only applications less painful than in the past.

Running Excel 2007 under Windows 7 is a far better experience than Excel for Mac (this is very slow and does not support macros). The memory upgrade makes all the difference, although I still use OS X for most tasks. Running Windows 7 gives me access to any software that is not available for the Mac, and really is the best of both worlds.

But those days are over now. Today you enjoy the features that attracted you to the Mac AND can easily run almost all of your favorite Windows applications without even needing to reboot your computer to switch your operating system from Mac OS X to Windows.

Advantages of using Mac OS

The Apple Macintosh offers the following benefits to current Windows users:

• Macintosh computers are stable.  They do not slow down over time like Windows systems do.   There is no need to constantly repair your system.
• The operating system is intuitive and consistent.
• Whilst there is less software, it is generally well designed and simple to use.
• Mac OS is Unix compliant, and Unix offers rock solid reliability.  Unix also gives you access to some useful command line tools not found in Windows.
• Mac OS is far less vulnerable to viruses and malware.
• Macs offer stylish, well designed hardware

On the other side, there is a huge range of Windows applications, and Windows offers excellent integration with corporate email systems, use of mobile devices such as Blackberry and mobile telephones and lots of games.

Running Windows applications on a Mac

With the help of Parallels 5.0 software, and a genuine copy of Windows you can easily use Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 on your Mac and can run your favorite games, smart phone or even important business applications.  The whole installation process is fast and simple, and you can be up and running in minutes.

When Windows is installed in your system, it runs in a virtual machine.  You can launch Windows using an icon and run both Mac and Windows simultaneously.  You can even copy and paste between the two operating systems.  When Windows crashes, it will not crash the rest of your Mac.

System requirements

To properly use your favorite Windows applications on your Mac, your Mac should meet the following requirements:

• Mac operating system should be version OS X 10.4.6 later.
• Minimum 768 MB of RAM (the more, the better).
• Intel CPU (not PowerPC)
• Sufficient hard drive for the swap file, Windows and applications. The virtual machine that will run the Windows applications will require 15 GB disc space.  You will need more to install Windows application and data.
• At least 200 MB free in the boot volume in order to install the Parallels software.
• A copy of Windows XP or Vista (for Vista, the license agreement does not allow Vista Home Basic or Home Premium to be run in a virtual machine, so you’ll need a higher version) or Windows 7

When your machine meets these requirements, running Windows programs on your Mac simply involves installing the Parallels software and the Windows operating system.

Remember, that once you install Windows, it will be vulnerable to viruses and malware (even if your Mac is not).  You need to ensure that your firewall is properly secured and that you have anti-virus software installed.

Also, running two operating systems can be resource intensive.  Your computer will slow down a bit when you have both Windows and OS X running at the same time, especially if you are running CPU intensive tasks on both. The latest version of Parallels offers much better performance than previous versions.

Conclusion

The good thing is that you can download the trial version of Parallels software to help you can make up your mind about using it on your Mac before buying the full version.

Using Parallels together with Windows will definitely increase the flexibility of your Mac and you can run all your favorite Windows games and other applications which you couldn’t do before, all on your Mac desktop.

The least preferred approach is to dual boot your machine.  The Intel based Macs (the more recent ones) can run Windows (in fact they can run Windows faster than many PCs).  The software is called Bootcamp (which comes on the Leopard CD).  You’ll also need a copy of Windows.  The advantage of this approach is that you won’t need any new application software, and everything will be on the one machine.  The disadvantage is that you will be cut off from your preferred Mac platform, and won’t be able to run applications from it at the same time.

Another approach is to retain a Windows PC with your software on it, and use a program such as VNC to access it through your preferred desktop.  You should be able to run everything on your Windows PC, but in a separate window.  There may be a slight lag because you will be accessing it though a network connection.  You will not have everything on the one machine either.

You can get the equivalent functionality for many Windows applications in native Mac applications.  Also, there are direct equivalents for many leading Windows applications such as Mathematica, Dreamweaver, Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft Office.  This is a worthwhile option if you are prepared to reinvest in the new licenses.  The advantage is that the applications are designed from scratch to work on the Mac, and use all the Mac features.

If you are running Excel in Office 2008 for Mac, you should remember that this doesn’t support VBA.  So if you are using someone’s macro driven trading spreadsheet, you will certainly be able to open it and see formulas and cell details, but you won’t be able to run any macros.  If you rely on macros, you may have to continue to use the Windows version of Office.  But how can you do this with a Mac?

The preferred approach is to be able to run Windows in a window on your Mac.  For example, if you are running Mac OS X, you can have your Mac applications running, and see your Windows application in a window, running under Windows. The Windows applications will look and behave exactly the same as before.  Of course, you will also need a copy of Windows.  To do this on a Mac, you’ll need one that has an Intel CPU (a recent Mac), special software from Parallels, and a copy of Windows.

For a Mac, you can use Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.0 for around $79.  This is very fast, and you can even run Windows games through it.  There’s another version which includes some extra value applications (including Acronis Disk Director – partition management, Acronis True Image Home – backup Windows system, Kaspersky Internet Security – protecting your Windows VM from viruses and spyware) called Parallels Desktop for Mac Premium.

So you can run the Windows applications you want, and any viruses or spyware will be constrained to the Windows instance on your machine (within a Virtual Machine), without compromising your main system.  Another benefit is Parallels Transporter, which allows you to easily migrate your data from your old Windows PC to your Mac.

In conclusion, using a Mac does not constrain your choices of software.  As well as being able to access the great range of Mac software, you can simultaneously run any Windows software you like, with Parallels Desktop for Mac software, without compromising the integrity of your system of choice.

Overview

Parallels Desktop for Mac Premium software makes it possible to run Windows, Linux, and more side-by-side with Mac OS X on any Intel-powered Mac, without rebooting.

This software has all the benefits of Parallels Desktop for Mac but is also bundled with 3 additional bonus software packages to make the users’ experience even safer and more secure, providing excellent value for money.

Designed specifically to give users greater control and security, it enables users to backup the entire PC system with greater flexibility and control, protect the Windows virtual machine from malware, spyware and viruses and help users easily manage their PC disk system.

Features

• The one-click installation is simple, intuitive, and automatically installs and configures your Windows hardware drivers
• Coherence shows Windows applications as if they were running natively on your Mac
• Smart Select allows users to open Windows files with Mac apps and Mac files with Windows applications
• 3D Graphics allows users to run selected Windows-only 3D games and graphic applications.
• Snapshots enables users to erase mistakes and recover the virtual machine from system crashes and viruses with the click of a button
• Allows users to to access Windows folders  and files without launching Windows
• Transporter is a powerful new built-in tool that quickly helps to migrate the existing Windows PC to a
• Parallels Virtual Machine and to convert VMware and Virtual PC virtual hard disks to Parallels virtual machines
• Parallels Desktop for Mac now supports USB 2.0 devices at their full speed
• Boot Camp software allows users to re-partition your Intel-Mac’s hard drive to dual-boot Windows and Mac OS X
• “Drag and Drop” functionality allows users to seamlessly drag and drop files and folders fromWindows to Mac OS X and vice versa
• Installation Assistant completely automates the virtual machine setup and installation of Windows – with almost no user interaction
• Explorer allows users to access Windows files and folders directly from your Mac desktop, without even launching Windows.

In addition to these advanced features, Parallels Desktop for Mac Premium also comes with the following bonus applications:

• Acronis Disk Director Suite – Ability for users to modify, move and merge partitions without losing data. Recover lost or deleted partitions and easily perform advanced operations such as boot record restoration.
• Acronis True Image Home – Back up your entire Windows VM, including OS, software, settings and all. Users can choose to keep or discard any changes made to your VM.
• Kaspersky Internet Security – Ability to protect users’ Windows virtual machine from virus, spyware and malware with Kaspersky’s new Triple Threat Protection.

System Requirements

Software Requirements

• Primary Operating System: Mac OS® X Tiger 10.4 or higher running on an Intel® Mac

Hardware Requirements

• Mac Computer
  Support for any 32- or 64-bit Intel®-based Mac:
• iMac
• Mac mini
• MacBook
• MacBook Pro
• MacPro Tower
• MacBook Air

Processors
Support for any 32- or 64-bit any Intel® Core Duo processor featured in new Intel® Macs:

• Intel® Core Solo
• Intel® Core Duo
• Intel® Core 2 Duo
• Intel® Dual-Core Xeon

Includes full support for Intel Virtualization Technology (VT)

Memory Requirements

• 512 MB minimum available memory (1 GB recommended). Support for any memory configuration (up to 16 GB), without modifying your host system

Disk Space

• Software Installation – 70 MB of available hard drive space for Parallels Desktop for Mac installation. (Does not include hard drive space for guest virtual machine.)

• Virtual Machine Installation – Hard drive space allocation for virtual machines is dependent upon the guest operating system. 15 GB of available hard drive space is recommended per virtual machine for Windows and Linux

CD_ROM

• CD-ROM drive for installation (if applicable)

Networking

• Internet connection is required to receive online Parallels Desktop for Mac product updates

Display

• 16-bit or 32-bit display adapter recommended

Software Requirements

• Virtual machine operating systems – such as Windows, Linux, and Solaris – are not included.

Guest OS Windows:

• 3.1
• 3.11
• 95
• 98
• NT
• 2000
• XP
• 2003
• Vista Business, Ultimate, Enterprise,
• Home and Home Premium

Linux:

• SUSE
• Red Hat
• Debian
• Fedora Core
• Mandriva
• Xandros
• Other:
• FreeBSD
• OS/2
• eComStation
• Solaris
• MS-DOS
• OpenBSD 3.8

Hardware Requirements

• Processor: Virtualized Processor of the Host computer
• Motherboard: Generic motherboard compatible with Intel i815 chipset
• Memory: Up to 1500 MB RAM available for guest virtual machines
• Keyboard: 104-key Windows enhanced keyboard
• Mouse: PS/2 wheel mouse
• Display:
• VGA and SVGA with VESA 3.0 support
• 3D Graphics Support
• IDE Drives
• Up to 4 IDE Devices; CD/DVD-ROM Drives, Virtual Hard drives or any combination of the two.
• Virtual Hard Drive from 20 MB up to 120 GB each
• Floppy Drives: 1.44 Floppy drive mapped to FDD image file
• CD Drives
• CD/DVD-ROM drives mapped to physical drive or ISO image file
• Burn CDs and DVDs directly in virtual machines, play audio CDs, and read data from copy-protected
• CDs and DVDs.
• Sound Card AC’97-compatible sound card. Sound recording is supported
• Serial Ports Up to four Serial (COM) Port mapped to a socket or to an output file
• Parallels Ports Up to three bi-directional parallel (LPT) ports mapped to output file
• Ethernet© Cards
• Up to 5 Virtual NIC’-s
• Ethernet virtual network card compatible with RTL8029 bridged to Apple Ethernet or Apple Airport
• adapter, connected to host-only or shared networking
• USB Ports USB 2.0 Support; 8 USB 2.0 ports and 2 USB 1.1 ports

Download Now

Parallels Desktop for Mac Premium Edition – Run Windows on your Mac: Click Here

Run Windows on your Mac – Up to 3 times faster

Overview

Now supports Snow Leopard and Windows 7.

With more than 70 new, exciting features and enhancements, Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac is faster, smarter and more powerful than ever — helping you run Windows programs and devices seamlessly on your Mac.Now optimised for Snow Leopard, Parallels offers $175 worth of bonus software, including Parallels Internet Security by Kaspersky to protect from virus and spyware threats, plus Acronis True Image and Acronis Disk Director.  Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac allows users run dual operating systems and operate all the applications needed without switching between Windows and Mac OS X.

Features

• Install Windows 7, Vista or XP in just three clicks
• Faster than ever.  Three times faster than the previous version.
• Enhanced! Optimized for speed — Run it on Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, including 64-bit Snow Leopard
• Enhanced! Parallels Transporter — Quickly and easily migrate your entire Windows or Linux system (or 3rd-party VM) to your Mac
• Instant access — Get instant access to your files, folders and data across Windows and Mac OS X with SmartX technologies
• New! Next-gen virtualization — Enjoy maximum performance that the latest Intel VT-x2 virtualization technologies provide
• Unmatched performance — Fully utilize Mac hardware to maximize Windows speed and virtual machine performance
• New! Parallels Compressor — Automatically reclaims hard disk space when not being used, keeping your virtual machine optimized
• Enhanced! Enjoy up to 20% faster USB transfer speeds
• Enhanced! Best-in-class integration — Quickly find all of your Windows apps in the new Windows applications folder in the Dock
• New! Full support for Aero and Flip 3D — the premium desktop graphics experience in Window 7 and Vista with OpenGL 2.1 support
• On-demand Power — Adaptive Hypervisor automatically optimizes performance as you move between operating systems
• Smart Auto Start — Define specific VMs to automatically boot during startup for faster access
• Smart Shared Folders — Over a network or on your desktop, share data, files, and folders between Windows and Mac OS X
• New! Windows 3D Graphics — Run games and 3D graphics applications with DirectX 9Ex with Shader Model 3 and OpenGL 2.1 support for optimal performance
• New! OpenGL 2.1 support for Linux guest Oss — Parallels Desktop is the first virtualization product for the Mac to provide the full Linux 3D experience, side-by-side with your Mac, complete with Compiz.
• Maximum Video Performance — 256 MB video RAM support drives faster, smoother video output
• QuickClick — Enjoy faster, smooth response to user interaction

Smarter

• New! MacLook Theme — Transform Windows applications by making them look like native Mac applications
• New! Crystal Mode — Pull the shades on Windows altogether. Access Windows and Mac apps from the Mac Dock
• Coherence — Run Windows and Mac apps side-by-side as if both operating systems have melted together into one.
• Window — Choose to run your Virtual Machine as a separate window alongside your Mac apps.
• Modality — View all your Virtual Machines and programs running in transparent windows working in Mac OS X.
• Full Screen — Don’t give up the familiarity of Windows. Replace your Mac desktop with Windows 7, Vista, or XP
• New! Apple Gestures — Support for Multi-Touch trackpad gestures in Windows applications (yes, even 4-finger ones)
• New! Remote Control — Use Apple remote to control Windows applications or download our free iPhone app to manage virtual machines remotely
• Exposé — Easily organize and view all open windows in stunning style with a single keystroke
• Spaces — Group our windows and reduce clutter by switching between views of open applications and windows
• Easy to use — Start, stop and configure your virtual machines more easily with our new interface
• SmartSelect™ — Open Windows files with Mac apps and Mac files with Windows apps. Set on the fly or as your default.
• Enhanced! Drag and drop — Move files, folders, images and data seamlessly back and forth between Windows and Mac OS X
• New! Smart Copy & Paste — Move formatted text and graphics between Windows, Linux and Mac apps without losing formatting
• New! Start menu integration — Launch Windows and Mac apps right from the Dock. Easy access to all of your Windows applications from the Windows applications file.
• Speech Recognition — Use select voice commands to talk to Parallels Desktop and just tell it what you want
• Clips — Share screenshots across Windows and Mac OS X with this easy-to-use, one-click tool
• Enhanced! USB Compatibility — Improved USB device compatibility with printers, cameras, mobile phones, scanners, GPS and more
• Enhanced! Multiple Monitors — Run Mac and Windows applications on more than one monitor for more flexibility
• SmartMount — Mount removable devices to Windows and Mac OS X simultaneously for instant access across both systems

More Powerful

System Requirements

Software Requirements
Primary Operating System: Mac OS® X Tiger 10.4.11 or higher running on an Intel® Mac
Mac OS® X 10.5.2 or higher
Mac OS® X 10.6.x (32 bit and 64 bit) or higher running on an Intel® Mac.

Hardware Requirements

• Mac Computer
  Support for any 32- or 64-bit Intel®-based Mac:
• iMac
• Mac mini
• MacBook
• MacBook Pro
• MacPro Tower
• MacBook Air

Processors
Support for any 32- or 64-bit any Intel® Core Duo processor featured in new Intel® Macs:

• Intel® Core Solo
• Intel® Core Duo
• Intel® Core 2 Duo
• Intel® Dual-Core Xeon

Includes full support for Intel Virtualization Technology (VT)

Memory Requirements

• 1 GB minimum available memory (2 GB recommended for Vista or Windows 7).
• Support for any memory configuration (up to 16 GB), without modifying your host system

Disk Space

• Software Installation – 450 MB of available hard drive space for Parallels Desktop for Mac installation. (Does not include hard drive space for guest virtual machine.)
• Virtual Machine Installation – Hard drive space allocation for virtual machines is dependent upon the guest operating system. 15 GB of available hard drive space is recommended per virtual machine for Windows and Linux

CD-ROM

• CD-ROM drive for installation (if applicable)

Networking

• Internet connection is required to receive online Parallels Desktop for Mac 5 product updates

Display

• 16-bit or 32-bit display adapter recommended

Software Requirements
Virtual machine operating systems – such as Windows, Linux, and Solaris – are not included.

Guest OS Windows:

• 3.1
• 3.11
• 95
• 98
• NT
• 2000
• XP
• Vista Business, Ultimate, Enterprise,
• Home and Home Premium
• Windows 7

Linux:

• SUSE
• Red Hat
• Debian
• Fedora Core
• Mandriva
• Xandros
• Other:
• FreeBSD
• OS/2
• eComStation
• Solaris
• MS-DOS
• OpenBSD 3.8

Hardware Requirements

• Processor: Virtualized Processor of the Host computer
• Motherboard: Generic motherboard compatible with Intel i815 chipset
• Memory: Up to 1500 MB RAM available for guest virtual machines
• Keyboard: 104-key Windows enhanced keyboard
• Mouse: PS/2 wheel mouse
• Display:
• VGA and SVGA with VESA 3.0 support
• 3D Graphics Support
• IDE Drives
• Up to 4 IDE Devices; CD/DVD-ROM Drives, Virtual Hard drives or any combination of the two.
• Virtual Hard Drive from 20 MB up to 120 GB each
• Floppy Drives: 1.44 Floppy drive mapped to FDD image file
• CD Drives
• CD/DVD-ROM drives mapped to physical drive or ISO image file
• Burn CDs and DVDs directly in virtual machines, play audio CDs, and read data from copy-protected
• CDs and DVDs.
• Sound Card AC’97-compatible sound card. Sound recording is supported
• Serial Ports Up to four Serial (COM) Port mapped to a socket or to an output file
• Parallels Ports Up to three bi-directional parallel (LPT) ports mapped to output file
• Ethernet© Cards
• Up to 5 Virtual NIC’-s
• Ethernet virtual network card compatible with RTL8029 bridged to Apple Ethernet or Apple Airport
• adapter, connected to host-only or shared networking
• USB Ports USB 2.0 Support; 8 USB 2.0 ports and 2 USB 1.1 ports

Download Now

Parallels Desktop 5.0 for Mac: Click Here