Parallels Desktop for Mac 5

Here came the long-awaited release of the fifth version Parallels Desktop for Mac. The long-awaited because the previous version was bad enough that I chose to stay at the "three", rather than upgrade to the horror that was to release...

The miracle did not happen. Even the beta version, it was clear that the new Parallels Desktop - the evolutionary continuation of the "quartet", albeit fairly modified file.

Let's start with the most significant, interface.

Manage the virtual machine, you can now use the toolbar, located at the bottom of the application window. In contrast to the standard toolbar (refuse from which, unfortunately, did not dare) it is much more compact, has a standard design for Leopard and can solve all the same tasks.

Dialogue virtual machine settings are also undergone significant changes. For example, to change the volume of the selected "virtualke" Memory no longer have to climb in a jungle setting, and besides, the list of devices shown in the order.

A bunch of Windows-style dialogues with kilobytes of text anywhere, unfortunately, does not go away, but there was a lot of interesting details, significantly affecting the perception of the product. For example, to exit full-screen mode, just move the mouse to the edge of the screen and click on "Turning the corner", which is much easier to memorize keyboard shortcuts heap. Stopped virtual machine pleases cute animation, control group of virtual machines is easily done using a separate window ...

Part of the innovation appeared on the contrary, quite stupid. Take, for example, the possibility of "oshkurki» Windows applications to make them more like the Mac windows. Entertainment is, it seems to me, is like trying to tune Kalina at BMW: despite the seeming resemblance will remain inside the machine is too different.

The new display mode, the Crystal, apparently, should please only marketing company Parallels. Adding to the current zoo modes of another (here can say offhand what Modality than or different from the Coherence Crystal?) Is unlikely to make a better product for the end user, but it will add another tick in the checklist when compared with VMWare Fusion.

One of the most interesting for me was the innovation support Windows Aero, so that, for example, Windows 7 works fine Parallels Vesktop 5 with all the effects, with absolutely no complaints about the speed (Mac Mini with a card NVidia, 4Gb) I not.

By the way, about the speed... It turns out, for example, that can be quite easy to work with Mac OS X at the time, as in "parallel» Windows DVD drive clamped in AVC format means Nero Encode, the presence of a running virtual machine is not in many cases interfere with everyday tasks.

Fifth version of Parallels Desktop I can in good conscience recommend to all makovodov who do not wish to part with the baggage Windows-based applications. With all the shortcomings of the new "parallel" significantly outperform both its previous version, and available analogues: VMWare this round of the arms race seems to have lost.