Hooray for Parallels
11/03/07 15:20 Filed in: Personal
I'm not telling you anything you already know. But Parallels is THE best product to get for your Intel Mac.
At first it might seem like its something of a gimmick, after all BootCamp is free and works very well. It's not even that Parallels allows you to run Windows under the control of a Virtual Machine because VMWare have released BETA (and not very stable) versions of its virtualisation product for free.
No. Because Parallels DOES have a super smart feature under its belt and its something that sounds 'ok' but is in fact such a useful feature you'll find yourself being happy to have paid the £40 or so.
It's the mode called Coherence and its awesome. It's not exactly unprecedented. If you can cast your mind back to when Apple switched from OS 9 (don't get me started on that... OS 8 version 4 more like) to OS X they provided a funny little trick called 'Classic' mode. This allowed you to run old Pre-OS X software under OS X using a virtual Mac. To cut a long story short the system loaded a version of OS 9 into a virtual machine and the software ran within that.
Now, years later PowerPC is a memory and this technology is gone. But the idea of running applications from one OS inside the desktop of another is the pure idea behind Coherence mode. So you get a Windows task bar at the bottom of the screen and the rest is pure Mac Desktop. Click Start on the Fisher Price control and up pops the Windows applications and hey presto your developing new software under Visual Studio or creating charts and diagrams with Visio. In fact the only thing you really can't do with MUCH gusto is play games. Mainly because the graphics are run under emulation which is then connected to the Mac hardware.
After all, MacBook's have Intel graphics, MacBook Pro's have ATI etc. etc. However, what is interesting is that Parallels does have direct hardware support for internal CD/DVD drives, USB devices etc. What's more interesting is that in forums they are suggesting that in the future, direct graphical interfaces will be available.
But I digress from the point because the software is most useful as a business tool first and foremost. The sheer fact that I'm doubling up writing this blog and developing in VS 2005 without having to bootcamp between the two is impressive. But given I can now test how Mac browsers will see my work without having a second machine available. It's FANTASTIC!
If there is a catch it's memory. You can get away with using 1GB of ram in your Intel powered Mac and running XP. But you'll really, really hanker after 2GB. Given the recent and seemingly unrepentant drops in memory prices. Is this such a hardship.
Parallels can be bought from Parellels.com and costs just $79.99. For UK buyers, if your after memory for your MacBook or MacBook Pro can I suggest the SHOCKINGLY cheap Crucial. They offer a 2GB kit for your MacBook (Pro) that's actually cheaper than most Ebay sellers. See the site for the latest prices and offers.
Well, that's about it for now.... back to the grind stone as they say.
At first it might seem like its something of a gimmick, after all BootCamp is free and works very well. It's not even that Parallels allows you to run Windows under the control of a Virtual Machine because VMWare have released BETA (and not very stable) versions of its virtualisation product for free.
No. Because Parallels DOES have a super smart feature under its belt and its something that sounds 'ok' but is in fact such a useful feature you'll find yourself being happy to have paid the £40 or so.
It's the mode called Coherence and its awesome. It's not exactly unprecedented. If you can cast your mind back to when Apple switched from OS 9 (don't get me started on that... OS 8 version 4 more like) to OS X they provided a funny little trick called 'Classic' mode. This allowed you to run old Pre-OS X software under OS X using a virtual Mac. To cut a long story short the system loaded a version of OS 9 into a virtual machine and the software ran within that.
Now, years later PowerPC is a memory and this technology is gone. But the idea of running applications from one OS inside the desktop of another is the pure idea behind Coherence mode. So you get a Windows task bar at the bottom of the screen and the rest is pure Mac Desktop. Click Start on the Fisher Price control and up pops the Windows applications and hey presto your developing new software under Visual Studio or creating charts and diagrams with Visio. In fact the only thing you really can't do with MUCH gusto is play games. Mainly because the graphics are run under emulation which is then connected to the Mac hardware.
After all, MacBook's have Intel graphics, MacBook Pro's have ATI etc. etc. However, what is interesting is that Parallels does have direct hardware support for internal CD/DVD drives, USB devices etc. What's more interesting is that in forums they are suggesting that in the future, direct graphical interfaces will be available.
But I digress from the point because the software is most useful as a business tool first and foremost. The sheer fact that I'm doubling up writing this blog and developing in VS 2005 without having to bootcamp between the two is impressive. But given I can now test how Mac browsers will see my work without having a second machine available. It's FANTASTIC!
If there is a catch it's memory. You can get away with using 1GB of ram in your Intel powered Mac and running XP. But you'll really, really hanker after 2GB. Given the recent and seemingly unrepentant drops in memory prices. Is this such a hardship.
Parallels can be bought from Parellels.com and costs just $79.99. For UK buyers, if your after memory for your MacBook or MacBook Pro can I suggest the SHOCKINGLY cheap Crucial. They offer a 2GB kit for your MacBook (Pro) that's actually cheaper than most Ebay sellers. See the site for the latest prices and offers.
Well, that's about it for now.... back to the grind stone as they say.