A community to talk about macOS, the operating system powering Apple's Macintosh computers.
VM Ware Fusion Pro or Parallels?
I’m currently using parallels and my signature will due in about 3 months and I’m seriously thinking switching to VM Ware fusion pro. They announced to be free for all users recently:
Anyone with experience in both? I have a MacBook Pro M3 pro with 18 GB ram and 1 TB SSD
My uses in Parallels are for windows 11. I use a lot of excel, power BI and outlook. With some VBA, macros and a bit of R to power Bi. I also tend to use it with VPN connection for internet when traveling abroad, specially on some countries with WhatsApp/FaceTime restrictions. So connection and reliability on sharing between Mac and VM is also a deal.
I also do light gaming but I usually tend to game on only native Mac ones. Latest update on engines fo DX on parallels were just worthy on Mac Intel based.
So, what are pros and cons of each? What do you prefer or recommend and why?
I've had better luck with VMWare Fusion, personally. And on Intel Macs, I had the best luck with VirtualBox. But with my M3 Air, I like Fusion.
Parallels is better, better integrated and faster. You can launch Windows apps right from macOS, they integrate into your dock etc etc.
Pricing is absurd though.
Parallels really is better, but u/Patutula is right, it comes at a cost. I ran it for 4 years and paid the annual premium until this past year. I could no longer justify the ever increasing cost for what I was doing (which kept decreasing)
PSA for Parallels: you don't have to buy the subscription. Buy the one time purchase. My Parallels version is 4 years old. It still works just fine, even after MacOS and Win11 latest updates. The software occasionally asks if I want to upgrade, and when I look at the Parallels changelog there's practically nothing that changes from year to year, only vague claims that it's magically "improved" or "best for current OS version". Software as a service needs to die.
Hence piracy.
Seconding this. I used to use Parallels a lot, and I don’t agree with their pricing structure, but it’s easily the better product.
Use VMware if you just wanna fuck around, use Parallels if you have work to do and or know you’ll need dedicated support now and then.
Fusion is now free for both personal and commercial use so it’s free. You may have a bit of a battle getting it downloaded though as Broadcom is not really setup for freebies. In the Fusion community there is a user created guide on how to resolve the issues with ARM.
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I wouldn't make your final decision until you give UTM a try: https://mac.getutm.app
Broadcom is going to minimal commitment to Fusion, and Parallels was really clunky for me when I tried it a year or two ago, plus the cost. I've only been UTM a few days but seems very stable, and I got macOS, Ubuntu and Windows 11 working as guests with no problems. A virtualized macOS instance is extremely performant, almost to the point where I can't tell I'm working on a VM.
Parallels any day of the week ..