CNet’s Unrealistic Parallels/VMware Fusion Benchmarks
I was very interested to find CNet's comparison of Parallels Desktop for Mac and VMware Fusion...
Inside CNET Labs: Windows virtual machine performance on the Mac
Then, I read what they used for testing: An 8-core MacPro. Ok, everyone out there using an 8-core MacPro, raise your hand. Ok, now everyone else raise your hand. I'm guessing the "everyone else" outnumbered the 8-core users by about 10-to-1 (if not much much more). It would be more interesting and much more useful if CNet had used a more typical user setup like an iMac or MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo with 2GB RAM.
The results are interesting if unsurprising. VMware's ability to use multiple processors should outperform Parallels by what we see in CNet's tests. It was interesting to read that CNet could not run the Quake 4 test using Fusion while it did run under Parallels.
I'll try to provide a more realistic test scenario when I am able to unbury myself from writing projects (due at the end of August). I also have VMware Workstation 6 with ACE 2 for Windows. So, I may be able to test that and provide some comments (although not direct performance comparions) there too.
Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.0 Didn’t Like Vista’s ISO Files
I installed a beta release of Windows Vista using Parallels Desktop for Mac 1.0 last year using a Microsoft provided DVD ISO file. So, I thought that installing the production version of Windows Vista using 5 CD ISO files would be a more-or-less similar experience. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Vista's installer apparently got lost in trying to work with the WIM (Windows Image) file format (introduced along with Vista) when used from inside an ISO file (just a guess, btw). So, next up... Installing from real physical CD discs.
Windows Vista for Intel Macs
I wrote a little PDF book for O'Reilly Media last summer (2006) titled Windows for Intel Macs. This Short Cuts series book was written with a focus on Mac users who also need to or want to run Microsoft Windows on an Intel based Mac running either Apple Boot Camp (dual boot) or Parallels Desktop for Mac (virtualization).
It is amazing how much has changed since the book was released last August. Microsoft released Windows Vista to replace XP. Parallels went from version 1 to version 3 (which was released just this week). Apple released a couple of minor point releases of Boot Camp (1.3 is the current release). But, I'm not going to talk much about that since I prefer virtualized platforms vs. dual-boot.
The old book (10 months is apparently forever in computer time) is still in the Short Cuts Best Selling list. But, with all the changes in both Parallels Desktop for Mac and Windows Vista, I thought I'd provide some updates to the book's topic area in this blog. I don't know how regularly I'll post Parallels/Vista information here. But, I'll try to post at least a couple of items per week for the next month or two.