Review: Parallels Desktop 9
I’ve been a long time Parallels Desktop user. But I have to admit that I have been running version 7 for a long time now. I skipped version 8 but I figured that I should update to the latest version which is Parallels Desktop 9 as the the main motivation is that version 7 won’t work under OS X Mavericks according to Parallels.
For starters, I was able to buy it using PayPal unlike the last couple times that I tried (but to be fair, VMWare had issues on this front as well). That means this review starts off on a positive note. The upgrade process from 7 was painless. It uninstalled the previous version and installed the new version with minimal interaction from me. Once installed, I simply had to start each of my VMs which allowed the drivers that they needed to run to update. Again that was painless and automatic.
The key new features in this release are:
- Parallels Desktop 9 has support for cloud storage services like iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft’s SkyDrive, and more. This way you can sync files between your Mac and your Windows virtual machines without having the files duplicated. That will save you disk space. I tried it and it worked well.
- There’s a single security center that allows you to install security software for your Mac and for your VMs. In my case, I prefer to stick with the software that I’m using right now, but those who don’t have security software for the Mac or the VMs, this will be useful.
- There’s support for Mountain Lion’s Power Nap feature on MacBook Pro Retina and MacBook Air. This lets you keep your Windows virtual machine’s apps up-to-date when your computer is sleeping. I couldn’t test this as I don’t own either MacBook.
- There’s support for Windows 8 and 8.1.
- LINUX VMs have better support.
- Mountain Lion Dictionary gesture works in Windows applications.
- Thunderbolt and Firewire devices are supported in VMs. Simply plug and play like a USB device. Nice!
As usual, the biggest feature is speed. Here’s what they promise:
- 40% better disk performance
- Virtual machines shut down up to 25% faster
- Virtual machines suspend up to 20% faster
- 3D graphics and web browsing is 15% faster
Do they deliver on that? Let me give you my Windows Experience Index scores from my Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows 7 VMs:
- Microsoft Windows Vista: Before the upgrade it was 4.5. After it was 4.5. No change there.
- Microsoft Windows 7: Before the upgrade it was 5.1. After it was 5.1. No change there.
But that doesn’t tell the whole story. The VMs did feel like they started up and shut down faster. Ditto for suspending them as well. They also felt slightly faster overall. The other thing that I did notice is that the overall feel of my computer while running a VM has improved. I can only conclude that the speed increases won’t show up on a benchmark like Windows Experience Index, but in the product overall. That’s good as far as I am concerned.
So would I recommend this upgrade? If you’ve been running version 7 or earlier, upgrading to Parallels Desktop 9 is a no brainer. I did not run version 8 so I can’t say how it compares to version 9. But there’s enough that’s new here to make it worth your while to look at it. If you’re upgrading from version 7 or 8, expect to pay $50. New users can expect to pay $80. Either way, it’s a great way to run Windows on your Mac.
Leave a Reply