Comparison of VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop
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Represented by their respective products, VMware and Parallels are the two major commercial competitors in the Mac consumer virtualization market. The similarity in features and functionality between VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop for Mac has given occasion for much comparison.
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[edit] Overview
Both products are based on hypervisor technology and allow users to run an additional x86 operating system in a virtual machine alongside Mac OS X on an Intel-powered Mac. Both are their respective company's second consumer-focused product.
Built on the company's existing enterprise-focused virtualization technology, Fusion focuses on performance features (such as 64-bit and SMP hardware support) while Parallels Desktop includes more end-user features (such as SmartSelect and a more comprehensive Share Folders function)[1]. Each product allows users to drag-and-drop files between OS X and Windows. Fusion's Unity and Parallels Desktop's Coherence each allows users to view open Windows applications on the Mac desktop. VMware Fusion is currently a first-generation product, which was released August 06, 2007[2]. Parallels Desktop is currently a second generation product. It was first officially released as version 2.5 on February 27, 2007, and version 3.0 was released June 7, 2007[3].
[edit] Features
| Feature | Product | |
|---|---|---|
| VMware Fusion 2.0 beta 1 | Parallels Desktop 3.0 | |
| 64-bit support | Yes1 | No |
| 32-bit support | Yes | Yes |
| SMP support | Yes | No |
| Max RAM per VM | 16 GB | 2 GB |
| DirectX support | DirectX 8 & 9 (experimental shaders) | DirectX 8 (experimental shaders) |
| OpenGL support | No | Yes |
| Bluetooth support | Yes2 | Available separately |
| Spaces support | Yes | Yes |
| USB 2.0 support | Yes | Yes |
| Power management function | Yes | Yes3 |
| Integrated window function | Yes | Yes |
| Boot Camp support | Yes | Yes |
| VM conversion function | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple display support | Yes | Yes4 |
| File integration function | Yes | Comprehensive5 |
| Snapshot support | Single | Multiple |
| VM explorer function | No | Yes |
| Smart selection function | No | Yes |
| Security Manager | No | Yes |
| Pause/Resume function | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-language support | Yes | Yes |
1An Intel-based Mac with a Core 2 Duo or Xeon processor is required to run the 64-bit guest operating system[4]
2Must install Apple Boot Camp drivers.[5]
3Not enabled by default.
4Up to 10 multiple displays supported.
5Shared folders and virtual mirroring of Document folders.[6]
[edit] Performance
In August, 2007, Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal observed that while Parallels Desktop 3.0 has more features, Fusion 1.0 had a smaller impact on overall system performance.[7] Since then, MacTech and CNET have each compared the performance of Parallels and Fusion side-by-side in a series of virtualization benchmark tests, each with different results.
[edit] MacTech
In Volume 24, Issue 02 of MacTech, the editors published the results of one-step and task tests between VMware Fusion, Parallels Desktop and Boot Camp and used a PC running Windows XP as a baseline comparison in a native PC environment.[8]
- One-step Test: After clicking the mouse or pressing a key, this test requires no further human action.
- Task Test: This tests the interaction between Mac OS X and the virtual environment and requires multiple tests throughout the process.
MacTech found that the faster the physical host computer, the more similarly Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion performed. MacTech did not test multiple processor performance. The following graphs displays the results in seconds. Shorter bars indicate faster performance.
Each test was run on a MacBook (2 GB RAM; 1.83 GHz Core Duo processor), a MacBook Pro (4GB RAM; 2.16 GHz Core 2 Duo processor) and a MacPro (4GB RAM; Quad Core configuration with two 2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors). MacTech tested Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac Build 5160 and VMware Fusion 1.0 Build 51348. All tests were done on clean host systems with new installations of Mac OS X 10.4.10 and Office installations and included all of the most up-to-date patches. No third party software was installed other than Mac OS X, VMware Fusion, Parallels Desktop, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Adobe Reader and Microsoft Office.
[edit] Cross-platform task tests
MacTech’s cross platform tests timed how long it took users to perform multi-step tasks that moved data between Mac OS X and Windows. VMware Fusion, which is designed for increased isolation from the host, requires more manual steps to move data between the host and the virtual environment. Parallels Desktop, which is designed to run transparently with the Mac OS X host, requires fewer steps to perform the same tasks. Therefore, Parallels Desktop was faster.
[edit] Networking and file I/O tests
Parallels Desktop occasionally displayed lag anomalies while VMware Fusion's virtual drive performance was very close to that of a physical drive. VMware Fusion preferred a bridged connection for reliable performance, and Parallels Desktop was consistent regardless of the type of virtual network adaptor used.
[edit] CNET
On August 16, 2007, CNET published the results of several benchmarks[9] in which Fusion demonstrated better performance than Parallels Desktop for Mac in SMP-aware applications, which Fusion supports while Parallels does not. It should also be noted that Boot Camp is a tool for natively booting Windows XP on Intel Macintosh, and is not a virtualization product.
This comparison was tested on an eight-core, 2.66GHz MacPro running Mac OS X 10.4.10, Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac (build 4560) and VMware Fusion 1.0 (build 51348). Fusion and Parallels were both set to 1,024 MB of system memory and a 32 GB hard disk. Fusion was set to 128 MB of graphics memory, and Parallels Desktop for Mac was set to 64 MB of graphics memory (the maximum for each)[9].
[edit] Minimum System Requirements
| Requirement | Product | |
|---|---|---|
| VMware Fusion 1.1.1 | Parallels Desktop 3.0 | |
| Host OS | Mac OS X 10.4.9 or later | Mac OS X 10.4.9 or later |
| RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Disk space for product | 275 MB | 70 MB |
| Recommended disk space for virtual machine | 10 GB | 15 GB |
[edit] See also
- Comparison of virtual machines for a list of related virtualization software products
- Virtualization
- x86 virtualization
[edit] References
- ^ VMware Fusion- MacLife
- ^ WWDC: VMware brings virtual machines to Mac OS X. Macworld (2006-08-06).
- ^ Breaking Down the Walls Between Mac OS X and Windows - New York Times
- ^ Fusion System Requirements: Run Windows on Mac and Get Two Operating Systems - VMware
- ^ VMware: New Kid on the Block.
- ^ Rudolph, Ben (2007-08-24). Parallels blog on automatically sharing of Documents between Windows and Mac OS X. Retrieved on 2007-09-28.
- ^ Mossberg, Walt (2007-08-02). Fusion Is Latest Way For Macs to Operate Windows, PC Software. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on 2007-10-01.
- ^ Ticktin, Neil. Virtualization Benchmarking How do Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop, and VMware Fusion stack up?. MacTech. Retrieved on February, 2008.
- ^ a b Begun, Daniel (2007-08-17). Inside CNET Labs: Windows virtual machine performance on the Mac. CNET. Retrieved on 2007-10-04.
