Parallels just announced that it has released a release candidate of Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.0. The release candidate is in the final stages of a Parallels private Beta testing program that has been going on for the last several months. The final release is expected within the next few weeks.
Parallels will rarely be as fast as natively booting Windows via Bootcamp, especially when you're gaming. You're much better off ditching parallels and going back to bootcamp for gaming. By running the VM, you're limiting the amount of resources that are available to OS X and your VM environment; thereby, making each run slower.
The latest version of the product includes over 50 new features and enhancements as well as over 100 bug fixes. The three new features that stand out the most to me include 3-D graphic support, Snapshots and SmartSelect.
One thing I have personally been waiting for these past 8 years has been the ability to truly run a 3-D game or application in a virtual machine. And today's announcement should be welcomed news for any gamer who has tried to install, run and successfully play such a game. The 3.0 version will offer support for both DirectX and OpenGL graphics within a virtual machine. And as expected, it didn't take long for people to start trying out Half-Life 2 in a VM.
Another important feature within any good virtualization platform these days and one that has been missing in Parallels Desktop for Mac until now is a good snapshot manager. Being able to save a virtual machine's state at different intervals or having the ability to rollback to a previous state in case something bombs or corrupts within the virtual machine is one of the things that sold me on virtualization early on in life. The 3.0 version finally brings this functionality to Desktop for Mac users.
And finally, 3.0 offers a feature called SmartSelect. This is a new built-in integration tool that allows users to open any file from Windows or OS X with any program from either OS. SmartSelect's total application and file integration adds tremendous value to the seamless multi-OS interface introduced by Coherence. Together, Coherence and SmartSelect give users the easiest, most fluid way to run multiple OSes and their applications simultaneously, without rebooting or switching desktop environments.
Other features mentioned by the company include:
Parallel For Mac
- Offline access to virtual machine files with Paralles Explorer
- Coherence 2.0, including shared folders and UI enhancements
- Linux Tools for seamless integration betwen Mac OS X and Linux
- Expanded support for USB 2.0 devices
- USB connection assistant quickly connects you to your OS of choice
- Shared printers for cross OS printing
- Significantly enhancements performance and audio quality
- Control the levels of integration and isolation with Security Manager
Ben Rudolph, Director of Corporate Communications at Parallels, said, 'The release of Desktop for Mac 3.0 represents another opportunity to help computer users get the best of all operating systems on a single, seamless desktop'. He continued, 'We look forward to feedback on the important new features like SmartSelect, 3D graphics, and Snapshots as we prepare for the full launch very soon.'
And if these features alone don't sell you on the upgrade to the 3.0 version, Parallels is offering a discount upgrade price of $39.99 until June 6 to convince you. After that, the product will be $49.99 to upgrade and $79.99 for a new copy. Find out more information by going to the Web site, here.
As much as we don’t want to admit it, sometimes we need to use software that (gulp) isn’t available for the Mac. To keep you on the cutting edge of virtualization, Parallels on Thursday announced Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac, with support for the forthcoming macOS Sierra.
Plus, the company’s brand-new Parallels Toolbox app is a set of 20-plus tools and utilities for performing tasks like password-protecting files, recording a screencast, and downloading online videos. These tools, which are easily accessed from the menu bar, are available in all editions of Parallels Desktop 12, but if you don’t need the virtualization, you can get Parallels Toolbox on its own for $10 per year, with a 14-day free trial available starting August 23. The company says that it plans to add more tools to the toolbox every few months.
Parallels Desktop 12 focuses on removing some of the pain points of running a virtual machine—backing up, for example. It includes one year of Acronis True Image cloud backup with 500GB of storage, letting you back up just the incremental changes to your VM, instead of having to back up the whole thing every time. Gamers get support for the Windows 10 Xbox app for streaming and playing Xbox games, and they can even play Blizzard’s hit game Overwatch. And you have Safari or another Mac browser, you can open Microsoft Office documents from SharePoint or Office 365’s websites directly in the Windows versions of Office, instead of in Office for Mac.
Parallels Desktop Gaming
Parallels Desktop 12 is $80 retail. Existing customers of Parallels Desktop 10 and 11 for Mac can upgrade for $50, and can optionally upgrade to the subscription-based Parallels Desktop Pro Edition for $50 per year for life. New subscribers to Parallels Desktop Pro Edition and Parallels Desktop Business Edition pay $100 per year. The Pro and Business editions get some additional features (explained in this chart), plus Parallels Access to remotely access up to five Macs or PCs from anywhere.
Parallels Desktop 12 is available today for subscribers and upgraders, and August 23 for anyone. We’ll follow up with a thorough review shortly.
Is Parallels Good For Gaming
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