TAG | Parallels 4.0 promises 50% faster Mac virtualisation |
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| Core Dump - Apple and anything else | |
| by Stephen Withers | |
| Thursday, 13 November 2008 | |
  
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Parallels Desktop 4.0, released this week, pays particular attention to performance issues with company officials claiming it can be up to 50 percent faster. While Windows on Mac virtualisation has come a long way since the days of SoftWindows and Virtual PC that had to provide a software emulation of Intel hardware, faster is always better. These speed improvements are the result of several changes. Video performance is helped by Parallels Desktop 4.0's support for DirectX 9.0, DirectX Pixel Shader 2.0 and OpenGL 2.0, along with support for 256M of VRAM. Company officials say these changes allow the use of a wider selection of Windows 3D games and graphics application. The virtualisation engine itself has been revised with support for Intel VT-x2 and now consumes between 15 and 30 percent less resources, and Parallels Desktop 4.0 can take advantage of up to 8G of RAM and an 8-way CPU. Other new features include the ability to access removable storage devices from Windows and Mac OS X at the same time, support for 64-bit guest operating systems (including Snow Leopard), automated snapshot scheduling, and (for MacBook owners) a power-saving mode that improves battery life by up to 20 percent. Administrators may welcome the ability to boot Parallels VMs over a network, support for templates for the easy deployment of multiple virtual machines, and the control of virtual vachines via a command line interface or scripting languages. The $US79.95 price includes Parallels Internet Security powered by Kaspersky, Acronis True Image Home backup software, and the Acronis Disk Director Suite. Existing owners can upgrade for $US39.99 until 30 November ($US49.99 thereafter), and those who purchased version 3.0 on or after 1 September 2008 qualify for a free upgrade. |
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