Compare Parallels Desktop for Mac vs QEMU vs VirtualBox vs VMWare workstation vs Windows Virtual PC (System virtual machines software comparison matrix) Please update any mistake or add any missing criteria or virtualization software. Yes, VMware Fusion includes a simple Migration Assistant for Windows that allows you to quickly and easily move your entire PC to your Mac as a virtual machine. Install a simple application on your PC, connect it to your Mac, and VMware Fusion will detect your PC and take care of the rest.
Speed tests for Adobe Photoshop under Windows Vista on VMware and Parallels. Which is the fastest?
Testing the speed of Photoshop CS3 running on Windows Vista under Parallels and VMware Fusion for Mac OS X.
The following are the results of several speed tests that we ran using common Photoshop tasks. Firstly we tested the speed of launching Adobe Photoshop in each virtual PC environment.
Virtual Pc For Mac Vs Parallels
We then ran a series of common tasks, plugins and filters using Photoshop Actions to test the speed in a wide variety of possible applications. These included simple sharpening and blurring filters, converting color spaces, creating new layers and numerous applications of special effects from the Filter Gallery.
We ran these tests using two images, the first was 23mb and the second a 65mb graphic – a size not unlike one that might be used for the front page of a magazine or brochure.
As well as running the tests under Parallels and VMware Fusion, we ran the same series of tests natively in OS X, for comparison.
Photoshop speed test results
| Launch Test | 6.38 | 5 | 2.8 |
| 23 mb File Actions Test | 35.47 | 35.51 | 22.1 |
| 65 mb File Actions Test | 167.57 | 246 | 57.1 |
All times are in seconds | |||
| Adobe Photoshop launch | Photoshop Actions test with 23 mb file |
| Adobe Photoshop Actions test with 65 mb file | |
The first two tests leave little between the two programs and whether this will make a huge difference in a real world scenario is debatable. But the Actions test with the larger Photoshop file are much more clear cut, with VMware emerging as the clear winner.
Some conclusions
It is easy to forget that designers used to run Photoshop on far slower computers than the virtual ones simulated in these tests. Both Parallels and VMware ran our performance tests at perfectly usable speeds, if simply using Adobe Photoshop to create web graphics. The speeds might even be acceptable for occasional use with high resolution graphics files. We suspect that this would unlikely to have been the case with Virtual PC on a PowerPC enabled Mac.
I'll be getting a new Macbook Pro this week and will be retiring my iBook G4. On my iBook, I had to run Virtual PC for college. Now, going back to school, I'll need a program to run Windows-based programs. I really didn't like the speed of Virtual PC but but I'm thinking it was because of the memory of the iBook. I'm debating buying Parallels Desktop 5.0 for the new Macbook Pro but if Virtual PC will do the job and not be a pain, I don't want to spend the money. Any suggestions? Thanks 🙂
Pc Emulator For Mac
iBook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.11), Parallels Desktop 5.0 for Mac
Virtual Pc For Mac 10.4
Posted on