Like Fusion, Parallels supports OpenGL 2.1 and DirectX 9 Shader Model 3.0 for the full Aero 3D interface and 7x better graphics performance than before. It also has a migration tool to move a PC's info to your virtual machine. Overall performance-wise, it's three times faster than before, supports 8 virtual CPUs and automatically pauses the virtual machine whenever no Windows apps are running. Update: The Parallels guys point out that Fusion supports OpenGL 2.1 just in XP, but only 1.4 in Vista and Windows 7, while Parallels supports 2.1 in every version, which they say means games will run better in Parallels. We'll definitely be checking that out.

The new Crystal mode promises to make "Windows completely disappear" so apps run feel completely native, with full support for multitouch trackpad gestures and the Apple Remote, with a persistent Windows apps folder in the Dock. Parallels 5 is out today for $80 for the full version or $50 for the upgrade, though we don't blame you if you can't tell it apart from Fusion 3, so we'll be checking them out head to head soon. [Parallels]

That's pretty slick if it really means you don't have to install your favorite Windows programs all over again. It also looks a lot easier to use than VMWare's converter tool.

So the $100 Switch Edition is clearly aimed at newbies: good to throw-in if you're buying a Mac for a long-time Windows user. They're the ones who may benefit from the included two hours of flash-based Mac tutorials.

More: VMWare Fusion vs. Parallels Desktop for Mac: Which Is Faster? [Parallels]

The short story is that in most cases, Parallels runs a solid 14-20 percent faster than Fusion, except in the rather limited scenario of running Windows XP 32-bit on two virtual processors.

Overall, running 32-bit Windows OSes with a single virtual processor, Parallels is 14 percent faster; with two virtual processors, Parallels is 20 percent faster with Vista, while Fusion is 10 percent faster with XP; and for 64-bit Vista, Parallels is 15 percent speedier. Depending on the task, the numbers vary—like transcoding MP3s can be up to 30 percent faster on Parallels.

MacTech's tests are ridiculously comprehensive, spanning multiple machines with tons of different applications—the whole them took a couple months—so if you want the full, chart-heavy breakdown, head over there: [MacTech]

Through December 31st, you can snag Parallels 4 ($80) alongside an extra license at no additional charge. Just hit this linkno special codes or rebates required. Then load two versions of Parallels onto your computer and operate three OSs at the same time...or something. [Parallels]

The virtualization engine itself promises to use 15-30% fewer resources as well, while adding the option to run a Leopard Server in a virtual machine and including support for DirectX 9, DirectX Pixel Shader 2.0 and OpenGL 2.0. There are 50 new features and enhancements in all.

Parallels 4 is available now for $80, existing Parallels customers can pick it up for $40 and if you bought Paralells 3 on or after September 1st, you actually qualify for a free upgrade. Two months of lead time on free software upgrades? Not bad! [Parallels via MacWorld]

Microsoft's relaxed their ruling, which was previously justified by saying that virtualization wasn't mature enough for consumer adoption, which allowed them to clamp down on only the supposedly more pro or business SKUs of Vista. Combine this with the news of 64-bit Vista support yesterday and this is a good week for people who want to run Windows on Macs. [Ars Technica]

Boot Camp won out for overall speed, where Parallels won for virtualization (running Windows at the same time as Macs) performance. VMWare Fusion, on the other hand, "wins" by keeping your OS X and Window environments separate, which isn't really a feature but more of a lack of a featureParallels does a much better and faster job cross-integrating applications and documents. But if you're into keeping up the wall between the two operating systems, there's an option for you. [MacTech]

Parallels has more features than Fusion...But I found Fusion puts less strain on the computer overall.

Coexist With Parallels [The Official Parallels Virtualization Blog via MacSlash]

Product Page [via Gizmodo Australia]

We went over some of the stuff we covered yesterday, but there's lots of new stuff and even one major feature we didn't mention: Snapshots.

First off, the three major features are 3D graphics support, SmartSelect, and Snapshots.

3D graphics support is the shiniest feature everyone's talking about now. Yes, it will support 3D games like Quake and Half Life, but no, right now it doesn't support Vista Aerothat's coming in a later release.

Parallels couldn't give me an exact number when I asked for how much of a performance gap there'd be between running a game in Parallels and running it in native Boot Camp, but they did say that it's very close to native and you wouldn't really notice any gameplay problems. That, of course, depends on the game, but Half Life 2 ran fine on his machine.

One thing to note is that not all games will be supported by default. They'll have a list of games they support, and the list will be updated whenever there's a new build available. Hopefully your game will be supported at launch, but Parallels has a reputation for releasing frequent, and top-notch, updates.

The second major feature is SmartSelect, which allows you to set a preference for opening any file in any application, no matter which OS it's in. Example: You can set text files to open up in Windows Notepad, so even if you double-click it in OS X, it'll still pop open Notepad. Think of it as an extension of Coherence, which lets you run Windows apps in its own window on OS X.

On a side note, if you're in Windows and you look in your start menu, you'll be able to see all of the OS X apps listed under a Parallels folder, and have a similar option for opening Windows apps in OS X. Neato.

The third major feature is Snapshots, which lets you take a snapshot of your virtual machine so you can revert to it if something's wrong. Do this before you install apps or make any major changes, and you'll have something to fall back on in case anything goes wrong.

It's super useful for software testers or people who make modifications to their OS, and only takes up minimal room on your hard drive per snapshot.

All in all, the guys tell us that besides the new features, everything else is more robust than even version 2.5, which just came out recently. With their track record, we believe them.  Jason Chen

Product Page [Parallels]

The other major feature is "SmartSelect," which allows users to open a file in either a OS X or Windows program directly from OS X. You won't have to fire up the Windows program first and open it the long way. New versions cost $79 and upgrade versions are $39 if you buy before June 6.  Jason Chen

Product Page [Parallels via MacWorld]

Let's all get the hell out of these mainstream operating systems and get into the real stuff. How about we dig into that latest Ubuntu Feisty Fawn, easy as pie to use, and let's slather on a heaping helping of the 3D Beryl desktop compositing engine on top to keep things all prettied up?

But, but ...

There's even a way to run Windows on Linux using Parallels, so the excuses are getting thinner and thinner for staying with your white-bread religion. Sure, there's plenty of help on the Interwebs for Linux and Ubuntu installation, but none as to-the-point as this.

And hey, there's Firefox on Linux, too, so the Giz will still look just about the same. Get thee hence, all we like sheep who have gone astray. Every one to his own way. Live your own life! Get down to it.  Charlie White

You Can Switch to Linux! [Maximum PC]

Among them are full USB 2.0 support, which means you can use your Zune on your Mac with abandon, iSight support, so you can video-chat it up in XP, improved memory usage, sharing a Boot Camp partition, and better Coherence support.

That last part means you can actually add Windows apps to your dock, and if Parallels isn't running when you launch the app, it'll start up automagically for you. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Parallels]

But wait. If you have one of the Home editions of Vista, you can still run it on Parallels on the Mac, but you'll be doing that illegally, violating your End User License Agreement (EULA). Anyway, you can still legally run any Windows Vista edition in Boot Camp on Mac OS X, but that will require a reboot, and you can't use both Vista and OS X at the same time.

This is getting pretty tangled up, making us wish for the good old days when there were only a dozen versions of Windows on the market.  Charlie White

Vista Home license forbids virtualization [MacCentral]

It slows down my system a tiny bit, but not very much. I can still have Vista up and running, while doing much needlessly complicated calculus using Maple in Mac OSX. It's beautiful. I'm running the Vista Ultimate edition. According to istatpro, while all of these things are running, I still have over 70% of my processor power available as well as about 35% of my RAM idle.

Update: We contacted Justin, and he said he ran into the same problems mentioned before, where the network doesn't run and neither does the Windows Experience Index. So this Vista on OSX/Parallels thing isn't quite perfect yet. Plus, you'll need a copy of the more-expensive Enterprise or Ultimate Editions to run it on Parallels legallythe Home Edition EULA doesn't allow virtualization.

Thanks, Justin!

The good news is it did work, but the bad news is it didn't work very well.

Compared to Windows XP support, Vista support in Parallels is still quite developmental. It installed fine, sure, but you didn't get the fancy Aero graphics even in Vista Ultimate thanks to Parallel's lacking support in the graphics card area.

We also wanted to compare the Windows Experience Index score to our not-quite-as-expensive desktop. Unfortunately the scorer never completed and gave us an error message that said something about the driver. Darn.

Also, we couldn't get the networking up. That's kind of an important piece. However, the rest of the stuff was working just fine, just without networking or Aero.

When Parallels updates their Beta, we'll be sure to report back on their progress.  Jason Chen

Product Page [Parallels]