COMPARA
TIVE REVIEW
languishing in the shadow of Fusion for several years, Desktop has come back with a vengeance and this is particularly noticeable in terms of speed. With everyday business applications there is no noticeable difference but if you want to run an existing Windows version of Photoshop, for example, Desktop is noticeably faster. The latest upgrade to Fusion greatly closes the speed gap, making it a close call, but with Desktop holding onto its lead. When it comes to graphics quality, however, Fusion holds an edge in greater accuracy of color and in overall appearance.
For a more in-depth look at the competing solutions, you might want to take a look at the introductory videos on the vendors’ websites at and .
It should be noted that while my installation of Fusion went
smoothly, I did have issues with Desktop. During installation the progress bar did not display correctly. I also had to insert the Windows 7 installation disk twice for it to be recognized and after mistyping the product key I became stuck in a loop and
had to trash the virtual machine and start over. Once installed, however, everything ran smoothly.
Conclusions
Both provide an excellent means of running Windows or other PC operating systems. While we find Desktop’s cursor release issue annoying and we did discover a few rough edges beneath the surface, it does provide a faster environment and the crystal and coherence modes do a better job than Fusion’s unity mode. Fusion is a worthy adversary and has several clear advantages over its chief rival, Desktop has its own advantages of its own, which makes this competition a very close to a tie, with Desktop coming out ahead by a nose. Both are available in free trial versions so you are welcome to give them both a test drive and see which best suits your needs.
Product Desktop
From Parallels
Price $69.99
Pros More elegant integration modes
Cons A few rough edges beneath the polish
Rating ★★★★★ Product VMWare Fusion
From VMWare
Price $79.99
Pros Better control of multiple virtual machines
Cons Less appealing unity mode Rating ★★★★
102 MacDirectory
