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Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac
In technical terms, good stuff gets better
Unless you've been living under a rock for the last year or so, chances are that you've at least heard that you can run non-Apple operating systems on Intel Macs using a number of methods. The one we're going to concern ourselves today is virtualization, focusing on a product that, to the outside observer, seemed to come out of nowhere in the last year: Parallels Desktop for Mac. Version 3 has just been loosed upon the Mac universe, so let's see what's doing in the latest rev of the virtualization solution for Intel Macs.
Overview and caveat
In this first section, which I'll attempt to keep brief, I'll once again directly address the apparent rock-dwellers among us who may not have heard of Parallels Desktop (hereafter referred to as either PDM or PDM3, depending on context). In a nutshell, PDM is a virtualization solution for Intel-based Macs that allows you to run Windows, Linux, or just about any other x86-based OS "on top of" Mac OS X at near-native speeds. In other words, you can enjoy all the good stuff in OS X and still, for example, have access to that Windows-only specialized application you need for work, and have it run just about as fast as it would on a "real" PC. For example, Web designers may need to check their sites in Internet Explorer, programmers may need to test their applications on other OSes, and so on. PDM makes that possible, and it is generally quite seamless and fast, provided you have sufficient resources on your host machine (RAM, hard disk space, etc.).
Now, keep in mind that virtualization products such as PDM don't work the same way emulation products (such as Virtual PC) used to work on PowerPC machines—an emulated OS translates calls from one CPU type to another, and as a result was often excruciatingly slow. Virtualization works much better, since a big part of Intel Macs is (as one might expect) the inclusion of Intel chips, which Windows (and other x86-based OSes) is already designed for. So a very simplified way of thinking of it would be that products like PDM simply pass along "messages" in the same language, rather than needing to take the time to translate from one language to another, and the end result as far as speed is concerned is night and day.
Also, let me preface things by placing one of the largest "your mileage may vary" disclaimers I've ever felt the need to include right up front. Folks use PDM for many things, and as a result what may be an awesome experience for some might be a horrid one for others. There are just too many variables (hardware setup, OS version, use case, etc.) to arrive at a blanket recommendation which will satisfy everyone, so I'm going to cover things as they applied to me and let the rest take care of itself. It goes without saying (which is another way of telling you that I'm going to say it anyway) that you should definitely download and test out the 15-day trial version for yourself before plunking down your hard-earned dough. Here endeth the caveat—let's get to the goods.
What's not new
Since this is a review of Parallels Desktop 3, in the interest of getting you all out of here before too long it might be best to list some of the features of note that have been around for a while. Usually, I'll focus on new product features in a piece like this, but in the case of PDM, it may be useful to have a bit more context in order to paint a somewhat complete picture of the full product. In general, one big philosophical note to mention is that most of the advanced integration functions present in PDM are for Windows guest OSes only, so while PDM does support the installation and running of alternate OSes, folks who need Windows are going to get more bang for the buck. Anyway, here are some of the previously alluded-to highlights:
Slick Windows integration. Let's say you need to run Windows XP, which I'm guessing is a reasonably safe assumption for many of you. So, just insert your (bought at retail and perfectly legitimate) Windows XP installation disc, use PDM's Windows Express feature to create a new VM (virtual machine), enter in your name, rank and serial number (fig. 1), and off you go. Depending on the speed of your machine, you should be ready to rock with Windows in less than an hour (typically a Windows VM was up and running in 25-30 minutes for me). From there, install the Parallels Tools inside of your Windows VM, which will enable graphics acceleration, networking, shared folders, and the excellently awesome Coherence mode, which we'll discuss in a minute. From there, it's just a matter of getting to work: files and folders are easy to access from either OS, drag and drop is supported, and even your clipboard is shared between environments.
Figure 1: No, that's not a real product key.
Coherence mode. The addition of Coherence mode, for many, was the Big Bang that made PDM a seamless and supremely workable solution. While you also have your choice of "Windows in a window" or full screen presentation modes, Coherence mode ups the ante by relegating the Windows desktop to the background and allowing program windows to intermingle with native Mac programs in the host OS X environment (fig. 2).
Figure 2
Peripheral support. While somewhat spotty, Parallels Desktop nonetheless offers support for USB-based peripherals, such as printers and thumb drives and the like. Not everything will work, and there is the matter of tracking down appropriate drivers (depending on the peripheral), but I had success with the few things I needed to have Windows recognize (such as hardware dongles).
Transporter. Need to migrate a VM from Virtual PC or VMWare, or even move an actual physical PC into a Parallels VM? The standalone Transporter app can help you do that.
Boot Camp support. If you happen to have a Boot Camp partition on your Mac, PDM can use that instead of making you waste space on another virtual hard drive.
So that's the gist of Parallels Desktop up to this point. Let's take a look at the new features that make PDM3 rocket ahead.
New Features
We're seeing the makings of an epic smackdown in the Mac virtualization space, with VMWare Fusion (still in beta as of this writing) spurring Parallels on and vice versa. So it's not surprising that some of the new features in PDM3 are to simply keep pace with the VMWare product (just as features such as Unity in VMWare Fusion were added to keep pace with Parallels). It's a game of leapfrog that should keep users of both products satisfied. But I digress—we're here to talk about new features in Parallels Desktop 3, so discuss them we shall. In order of importance (to me, anyway, since I'm the reviewer so ha ha), here's the rundown:
Even slicker Windows integration. PDM3 takes Windows integration to a whole new level with SmartSelect, which allows you to open Mac files with Windows apps and Windows files with Mac apps (fig. 3). You can even set what file types open with which Windows applications through a handy menu (fig. 4). PDM3 even mounts the file system of your Windows VM onto your Mac desktop (fig. 5), so you have access to either file system from both environments. Of course, the more security conscious among us will end up shunning this solution, but at least major league integration is available for those willing to take the risk.
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Snapshots. This was one of the big holes in the feature set, so it's a welcome improvement in PDM3. In a nutshell, PDM3 allows you to freeze a VM in a desired state (fig. 6), which you can then roll back to if things go horribly amiss (intentionally or otherwise). So, you're free to install whatever you wish in the knowledge that you can always rewind to a simpler or more stable state, and then proceed to mess everything up again.
Figure 6
Graphics Acceleration. I'm not a big PC gamer, and my MacBook's 64 MB of shared VRAM perhaps isn't the best testbed for this long asked-for feature, so suffice it to say it was hit and miss. OpenGL demos I downloaded ran just fine (albeit with some noticeable frame dropping, which is to be expected given the nature of the integrated Intel GMA graphics), but the single DirectX game I was able to fish out of my box 'o old stuff (Alien vs. Predator) was a disaster—crashes, wonky rendering, the whole enchilada. I'll reiterate that your mileage may vary. Big time.
Linux tools. PDM3 introduces a (somewhat rudimentary) version of Parallels Tools for Linux, and while only the mouse, graphics and networking seem to be implemented, it's a lot better than nothing. I was able to install the Tools easily enough on a Ubuntu Linux VM (fig. 7), and while it's not the double-click simplicity of the Windows version, if you're able to get Linux up and running then adding the tools shouldn't be too big a deal. However, if you're a newbie, you'll likely have issues. More on that a bit later.
Figure 7
Parallels Explorer. Just so Parallels Transporter won't feel lonely as the sole standalone app outside of PDM, there's a new one to play with. Explorer lets you crack open virtual hard drives so you can move files in and out of them (fig. 8). It works very well, and I, for one, am glad to have a way to get at the data in a virtual drive without necessarily having to launch the entire VM.
Figure 8
Simple security. Not into manually tweaking how restrictive or permissive the integration is between your host Mac OS and your client VM? Just use the security slider to strike a balance between how open and how locked down your VM is (fig. 9). What this slider does is tweak Coherence mode and SmartSelect settings to either ramp up or lock down the Windows integration. On the most secure end, you have drag and drop only between environments, and on the swiss cheese side, you can go whole hog with all the integration bells and whistles.
Figure 9
Boot Camp now does Vista. Not much to say about that, other than stating the obvious: if you have Vista on your Boot Camp partition, you can use that partition as a PDM3 VM. I wasn't able to test this, so take this statement as nothing more than a straight parroting of marketing information.
Oh, no!
We've got the rundown on what's new, and generally, things work pretty well... except when they don't. And that's what this part is for. So let's go through a few things (issues, annoyances, etc.) I came across that fall into the "not so much" category. While I had very few problems overall, I'll once again reiterate that Parallels Desktop can behave very differently depending on both your host and guest OS setups, so what I found may not apply to you; conversely, things I didn't have issues with could present themselves as such on your machine. In any event, on with the complaining, such as it is:
Security Beware. I touched on this earlier, but one of the things that may get lost in the exuberance over seamless cross-OS sharing is that doing so isn't terribly secure. Giving Windows unfettered access to Mac OS X may make for an easier working environment, but it potentially means opening up your pretty secure Mac environment to Windows viruses and crapware. Not that this would happen, and I very much laud the inclusion of Kaspersky Internet Security for XP and Vista guests (fig. 10), as well as the various locking down mechanisms (global and local sharing options, security slider). But if I had one complaint, it's that security takes something of a back seat when it comes to pushing all the integrated features, so I wish that a few more warnings along the way were presented.
Figure 10
Installing Linux is not for the faint of heart. Parallels Desktop will run just about any x86-based OS under the sun, but that doesn't mean it's easy to do. PDM is a product clearly focused on providing a seamless Windows experience because—let's face it—that's the OS most folks need compatibility with. And while PDM3 does provide Linux tools, as I mentioned earlier, the end-to-end experience of installing Linux wasn't exactly dead simple. Not only did I have to manually set the resolution of the virtual machine to avoid the screen being completely frazzled, but installing the Tools program itself required a trip to the Ubuntu terminal. So unless you're already familiar with the ins and outs of getting Linux up and running, you may be disappointed in the experience.
Hardware gotchas. Since upgrading to PDM3, I've experienced occasional host OS freezes while the guest OS un-suspends itself and mounts its file system on the OS X desktop. While the host system always seems to revive itself, suffice it to say that this is new behavior for version 3 (earlier versions didn't do that). I've also had the PDM equivalent of the Blue Screen of Death happen as PDM attempts to restart a suspended OS, which, again, is new behavior. However, both issues seem intermittent, and are hard to reproduce. I suppose if you're going to have those types of problems, "intermittent" and "hard to reproduce" are the best way to have them.
Laptop loudness. My system is a 1st generation MacBook, which sports a 2 gHz Core Duo processor, 2 GB of RAM, and a 100 GB 7200 RPM hard disk. Parallels Desktop has always run fine on it, version 3 included. I can't speak for newer MacBooks or the MacBook Pro line, but if you intend to use PDM a lot on a portable Mac, be prepared to have the fans running full blast. I'm not surprised at this behavior, nor am I really counting this as a true issue, since performance is just peachy considering your single machine is doing the work of two machines. Just be warned that you likely won't be sitting in blissful silence if you start to tax your virtual machine in any significant way.
Vista is a pig. This isn't a knock on PDM3 at all—it is, however, a knock on Vista, which is an unbelievable resource hog in general, and especially so inside a virtual machine. Simply put, 512 MB isn't enough to do much of anything in Vista, so be prepared to assign a lot of RAM (at least 1 GB) to your Vista VM. While PDM3 makes installing Vista a snap (just like XP), Aero Glass isn't yet supported, despite the graphics acceleration inherent in PDM3.
Graphics acceleration. I went into this earlier, but let me just add that it's nice to see it, but it seems incomplete. I'm very much looking forward to big improvements in this area in what will hopefully be maintenance releases.
The Bottom Line
Parallels Desktop 3, at least for me, is something of a small miracle. And it's not a stretch to say that for some, it's the difference between being able to work on a Mac as an everyday platform and being simply a wannabe Mac user. However, that's me. I use PDM3 to test out Web sites, compatibility checks for multimedia apps, stuff like that. If you're a gamer, or really need to tax your hardware, it might not be such a great solution (where Boot Camp might be the way to go). But for folks like me, despite some of the problems one is apt to have when working with PDM3, it nonetheless earns a very Strong Buy recommendation. PDM3 has a ton of thoughtful new features, and coupled with the already excellent ones that carry over from earlier versions, there's a lot to like. And at $79.99 ($49.99 upgrade from PD2.5), PDM3 is a veritable steal. What's also nice to know is that with VMWare Fusion for Mac nipping at Parallels' heels, the virtualization arms race on Intel Macs will clearly benefit the end user, and PDM3 is an excellent example of the rapid innovation that is the order of the day in the Mac virtualization space.
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