By Dave Bailey 25 Nov 2011
Verdict:
A good software package allowing users to install just about any OS on their Mac system, as a virtual machine, and also the facility to migrate their Windows desktops to Mac OS X along with their applications and settings. The big problem is that at least 4GB of system memory is needed on the Mac system itself, otherwise everything runs slowly - Mac OS X and any operating system running as a virtual machine.
Pros:
Now supports Mac OS X Lion; can use Mac OS X Lion features when running Windows applications; allows allocation of graphics memory to individual applications;en running Windows apps.
Cons:
We had problems migrating Windows XP desktops when running Parallels DF7M under Mac OS X Snow Leopard; users need high memory spec Macs (4GB recommended) for Windows OS installs having large numbers of applications.
We did have problems, mainly with the Mac Mini test system we used to install virtual machines, since it had only 2GB of system memory and was painfully slow to use with some VMs, like the Windows 8 Developer Preview, for example.
Using the MacBook Air system we reviewed recently with its 4GB of system memory made virtualised operating systems run much faster.
In PD7FM we could now provision VMs with incremental amounts of graphics memory. On our test Mac Mini system we could provision the Windows 8 DP install with half of the available graphics memory (128MB from the nVidia GeForce 320M's total of 256MB) [see picture].
PD7FM now allows up to 1GB of video memory (if available) to be assigned to virtualised operating systems.
As well as being able to configure video memory, PD7FM now gives better graphics display through support for DirectX 9.0c/9Ex and Shader Model 3.
As before, Parallels also offers users access to Acronis cloud storage facility for backing up VMs, and also Kaspersky's anti-malware package for Mac OS X Lion.
Conclusions
If you need to check out new operating systems and their features using Apple computers, Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac is a good software package.
You'll need to have 4GB of system memory installed, though, since with 2GB virtualised operating systems run painfully slowly.
PD7FM also allow users the ability to migrate their Windows desktops to Mac OS X, along with their applications and settings.
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