I upgraded my PC to Vista Premium for $120. But the ads tell me that it's easier to go with a Mac. So I buy...a Mac, with OSX on it, then $80 for Parallels, then whatever version of Vista I want, and I finally have a simple upgrade path to a computer as fully functional as the one I upgraded for $120. Thanks.

Uh, you got screwed. Parallels comes with new macs via resellers for $9.99, including XP.

As for functionality, yeah... ok. Good one. Anyway, why would you blame something other than yourself-- who buys a computer because "the ads tell me it's easier to go with a Mac"?

Geez, I can only imagine your attempts at "male enhancement."

So does this mean it will support Aero?

hey ricksbrain, the ads are true. Switched to a mac 3 months ago and will never look back...FUCK windows.

and you mentioning "male enhancement" just tells me you think about dicks all day long. I suppose since you ARE a dick that makes sense...

It's still going to run a lot slower that using windows natively. Why buy a nice video card if it's performance will stink?

@The Truthbearer

Not based on the Screenshot above, which shows that the Generic VGA driver is being used.

It's still going to run a lot slower that using windows natively. Why buy a nice video card if it's performance will stink?

Holy misreading, Batman!

I wish they would allow free upgrades. :(

The $9.99 Parallels does NOT include a Vista license. You can have the reseller install Vista for an additional expense, and also add Parallels for $9.99.

I like my Mac, but I wish Apple would support a new gfx card. Hopefully something new comes out at WWDC. Our current selection is rather stale.

Ugh. Reading good, fire bad.

If this will get me to play FFXI on my mac, I might finally disconnect my original PS2 (right now I cant be bothered switching to windows)

If you want to run Windows so much, why not just buy a good PC? It sounds much more easier then trying to run it around a computer like a dummy. Things were made for a reason.

Because you don't want to carry around 2 laptops?

@quikboy

If you don't comprehend why one would want this then it isn't for you I guess . . . but insulting people because your lack of abstract thought is silly . . .

@Lenroc: The screenshot above was from an old version of it, not the new 3.0.

hrm... 3.0... so it'll still lag and provide a modicum of problems when being installed? k. pass.

is it really that prohibitive to spend a few seconds booting into XP to use that one specific app that you keep the partition for - also receiving 100% XP stability (may seem a bit of a misnomer though I've found XP behaves -as it should - a million times better on a native install via bootcamp vs this parallels crap).

And come on, who's honestly going to game through parallels? i'd wager cnc3 still runs like crap even on an 8 way mac pro.

no dice, but thanks.

Parallels randomly crashes out on my MacPro. I'll get 3.0 from the Torrents and try it out first.

How ironic where people have to be told these days that if they want to run Windows really well to buy a good Windows PC. Wow. Are Macs that much dominant? Or at least in this site anyway? Dell is laying off 10% of it's workforce. My last computer purchases were a MBP, MB, and MP. How things have changed. Besides, you just can't beat (no pun intended) doing PR0n surfing in a Mac. No viruses man. It's like wearing a digital condom :)

lol@ apeguero :). My friend got a virus yesterday, it made me nostalgic for windows so I installed sophos and scanned my mac, still virus free after a few years... life's tough for a professional using a mac.

That said, I do check for updates to XP religiously and update sophos on the XP side every time i boot into it... then I feel less nostalgic and more annoyed at the crap the average windows user has to go through. But it couldn't be any other way really. When was the last time the 'greatest' product was that which achieved the largest market penetration? Windows? Ford F150? Ipod? Oh whoops :)

rickbrain - You don't need to respond seriously to a facetious comment.

"Uh, you got screwed. Parallels comes with new macs via resellers for $9.99, including XP.

As for functionality, yeah... ok. Good one. Anyway, why would you blame something other than yourself-- who buys a computer because "the ads tell me it's easier to go with a Mac"?"

Who? Apple's target market apparently. I don't follow the ads advice, I just notice how obnoxious and wrong it is.

I've been using Parallels since it was in pre-release and it's never crashed on me, never had a single problem, more than enough speed for what I do. It's pretty much the perfect solution for me. And this is running on a single core Mac Mini with 1 GB of RAM.

I purchased it for testing websites so rebooting into BootCamp is not an option (that would waste way too much time). And it works flawlessly for this purpose.

Actually, I think we need to wait until it is released and test it. The current speed of parallels is incredible, it is something that amazes everyone I show it to, and coherence is really nice to work with if you need only 1 or maybe 2 apps from the windows side, while STILL using your tools on the mac side. They may have done a good job at 3d acceleration, even more with the limited amount of hardware they need to support. I for one will give them the benefit of the doubt.

Would you need to install a virus checker and a firewall on the emulated operating system?

rohan1: Because running Windows in virtualization is still running Windows -- with all the security vulnerabilities and excess baggage that comes with it.

The only way I can make Parallels crash on my MacBook is by attempting to run a 16 bit Windows/DOS program under NT 4 (kills it dead every time). I wonder what causes the disparity in stability that some folks report - my setup is rock solid other than that negligible speed bump.

quite simply, db2, it's the independent aplications. My experience with parallels across a few hundred systems at my university has been that it is incredibly unforgiving and unstable when running anything that's not Word or Adobe sorts of applications, the applications large institutions, such as the largest university system in the world, use for their daily functions.

in this environment, one simply cannot buy an off the shelf application that meets the needs of their institution.

100% of the time, if we install bootcamp and xp we have Zero issues, as the OS is not being emulated, it is just the OS. 25% of the time with parallels we have zero issues, as the OS is being emulated and is not simply a clean install.

I'd wager you'd find similar results with anyone running custom applications and such experiences account directly for the disparity in responses.

as a long time wintel user I think I'll switch to mac next year. I've been die hard anti-mac for years, but I have a Hackintosh in the other room, on a 1.7ghz p4, and it runs better than xp on the same hardware. I can only imagine how well a dual core would operate. paraelles just means I could switch without having to give up 3ds max.

now, the only problem is serial and paraellel ports for programming microchips. looks liek I'll still need an old pentium one lying around ;)

Apple should seriously include Parallels functionality as a major feature of Leopard and sell Vista or XP pre-installed as a BTO option at OEM prices, not retail.

Can you imagine the ads? Can you imagine the jump in marketshare? Dell is screwed.

So many ways to make a Mac into a PC...
So few to make a PC into a Mac... hmmm... I gotta go with the obvious winner here.
(Yes, I am aware of PearPC ;)