Features
| Feature | Product | |
|---|---|---|
VMware Fusion 4.0 |
Parallels Desktop 8 |
|
| Installing Windows on Mac | ||
| Easy Install with Automatic Windows Setup | Yes | Yes |
| Run off existing Boot Camp partition | Windows XP (32-bit), Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit), Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit) | Windows XP (32-bit), Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit), Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit) |
| Allows suspending of VM running off the Boot Camp partition | Yes | Yes |
| Import Physical Windows PC to VM | Yes | Yes |
| Import Boot Camp partition to VM | Yes | Yes |
| Full Support for Windows 7 | Yes | Yes |
| Full Support for Windows 8 | Yes | Yes |
| Import Third Party VMs (Parallels, VMware, VirtualPC for Mac) | Yes | Yes |
| Mac | ||
| Automatically adjust Windows for best look on Mac Book Pro Retina | No | Yes |
| Support Higher Synthetic screen resolutions in Full-Screen mode without scrolling (e.g. Run Windows in 1920x1200 mode on a 1440x900 monitor) | Yes | Yes |
| Migrate Windows 2000 PC to Mac | Yes | Yes |
| Migrate Windows XP to Mac | Yes | Yes |
| Migrate Windows 7 to Mac | Yes | Yes |
| Migrate Linux to Mac | No | Yes |
| Migrate PC over wireless network | Yes | Yes |
| Migrate PC over Ethernet | Yes | Yes |
| Migrate PC over FireWire | Yes | Yes |
| Migrate PC over USB | No | Yes |
| Migrate PC over External disk | No | Yes |
| Windows documents migration to appropriate folders to Mac | No | Yes |
| Migration of the Internet bookmarks and settings from Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Chrome on PC to the default browser on the Mac. | No | Yes |
| Comes with Video Tutorials to help Windows Switchers on Mac | No | Switch to Mac Edition |
| Open in Internet Explorer plugin for Safari | No | Yes |
| Running Windows Apps on Mac | ||
| Run Windows apps like Mac apps (Unity/Coherence) | Yes | Yes |
| Run Windows apps in Retina resolution (Unity/Coherence) | No | Yes |
| Support Mountain Lion Dictation in Windows 7/8 | No | Yes |
| Exclude Dock in Unity/Coherence | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Start Menu in Dock | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Start Menu in menu | Yes | Yes |
| Windows application folder in Dock | No | Yes |
| Windows application folder in menu bar | Yes | No |
| Always On Application Menu available to launch Windows apps at any time | Yes | Yes |
| Quit Individual Window applications | Yes | Yes |
| Use Command ` to switch between open windows in a Windows app | Yes | Yes |
| Assign Windows applications to a Mac OS X Space | Yes | Doesn't keep windows from app together |
| Shared Folders to access Mac files/folders from Windows | Yes | Yes |
| Access Windows tray icons in Unity/Coherence | Yes | Yes |
| Arrow icon in the Mac menu bar for customizing Windows tray icons in Coherence. | No | Yes |
| Progress for downloads and other operations is displayed on the Windows 7 applications icons in the Dock. | No | Yes |
| Windows 7 Jump Lists are supported for Windows applications in the Dock: view your recent documents by right-clicking the application icon in the Dock. | No | Yes |
| Grouping of all windows of a single Windows application under the same application icon in the Dock. | No | Yes |
| Active screen corners | No | Yes |
| Launch Windows or Mac internet applications from hyperlinks | Yes | Yes |
| Windows applications can be set as the default applications for handling CDs and DVDs inserted into the Mac. | No | Yes |
| Enable Apple Gestures to work with Windows applications | No | Yes |
| Enable Apple Magic Mouse Gesture support with Windows applications | No | Yes |
| Enable Apple Remote to work with Windows applications | No | Yes |
| Launch Mac applications from any Windows file (Shared Applications/SmartSelect) | Yes | Yes |
| Automatically mount storage and network devices to guest OS | Yes | Yes |
| Suspend/Resume To Where You Last Left Off | Yes | Yes |
| Pause VM if no application running to reduce Mac OS load. | No | Yes |
| Mirrored/Remapped Desktop, Music, Documents, and Pictures Folders | Yes | Yes |
| Contextual menu items "Run on Mac" and "Show in Finder" for Shared Folders | No | Yes |
| Remapping Windows Keyboard Shortcuts to Mac Shortcuts | Yes, completely customizable | Yes, completely customizable |
| Keyboard shortcut (F6 or Fn + F6) for hiding/showing Parallels Desktop and all its windows. | No | Yes |
| Virtual Links - aliases to Mac OS files from Windows virtual machines | Yes | Yes |
| Copy/Paste Text between Windows / Mac | Yes, Plain and Rich (RTF) Text up to 4 MB | Yes, Plain and Rich (RTF) Text |
| Drag and Drop Text between Windows / Mac | Yes, Plain and Rich (RTF) Text up to 4 MB | No |
| Drag and Drop Files Between Windows / Mac | Yes | Yes |
| Copy/Paste Graphics between Windows / Mac | Yes | Yes |
| Passthrough "Driverless" Printing to Mac Printers | Yes | Yes |
| Mouse adaptation to work with Windows 8 UI in window view mode | No | Yes |
| Making Windows Safer on Mac | ||
| Single Snapshot support | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple Snapshot support | Yes | Yes |
| AutoProtect Automatic Snapshots | Yes | Yes |
| TimeMachine backups can be synced with SmartGuard snapshots, to reduce the space required for backups. | No | Yes |
| Automatically revert VM to start state upon termination | No | Yes |
| Virtual machine encryption with AES algorithm for better security of your data (empowered by AES-NI hardware support on i5 and i7 CPUs) | No | Yes |
| Mac OS Parental Controls are automatically applied to the virtual machine for managing children’s computer usage | No | Yes |
| Windows AntiVirus & AntiSpyware Included | 12-month subscription to McAfee VirusScan Plus. User Prompted to Install | 1-month subscription to Norton Internet Security or Kaspersky Internet Security. User Prompted to Install |
| Mac OS AntiVirus Included | No | 1-month subscription to Norton Internet Security for Mac or Kaspersky Security for Mac. User Prompted to Install |
| Lock down application and virtual machine settings to prevent changes | No | Yes |
| Isolated Virtual Machines | No | Yes |
| Designed for Mac (Fit and Finish) | ||
| Optimized for Mountain Lion | Yes | Yes |
| Optimized for Lion | Yes | Yes |
| Optimized for Snow Leopard | Runs on 64-bit kernel, 64-bit VMM, 64-bit helper application, 32-bit GUI | Runs on 64-bit kernel, 64-bit VMM, 64-bit helper application, 64-bit GUI |
| UI Built from Ground Up for Mac | Cocoa and GTK+ frameworks | Nokia Qt library with Carbon and Cocoa frameworks. |
| Welcome Screen to Simplify Initial Setup | Yes | Yes |
| Mac-like Settings and Preferences Windows | Yes | Yes |
| Apply different colors to virtual machines to find them in Finder or in the virtual machines list | No | Yes |
| Customizable Toolbars | Yes | Yes |
| Default virtual machine to launch on application startup | Yes | Yes |
| Virtual Machine Library | Yes | Yes |
| Live View of Running Virtual Machines in Library/Settings | Yes | Yes |
| Live View of Running Virtual Machine in Dock | No | Yes |
| Startup in Last View Format | Yes | Yes |
| Reduce the virtual hard disk size as its unused space grows | Yes | Yes |
| Apple Help (Searchable with Mac Design) | Yes | Yes |
| Single File Virtual Machine Packages | Yes | Yes |
| QuickLook/Cover Flow Integration | Yes | Yes |
| Mount Running Virtual Machines in Finder | No | Yes |
| Mount Stopped Virtual Machines in Finder | Yes | Yes |
| Use iSight in OS X and Windows | No | Yes |
| Advanced Platform | ||
| 32-bit Guest Operating Systems | Yes | Yes |
| 64-bit Guest Operating Systems | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-CPU virtual machines | Up to 8 processors per VM & Multi Core (as of VMWare Fusion 3.1) | Up to 8 processors per VM & Multi Core |
| Virtual CPU supports AES-NI when running on i5 and i7 CPUs | No | Yes |
| Maximum RAM per virtual machine | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Support for IPv6, the next-generation version of the Internet Protocol, in shared, bridged and host-only networking. | No | Yes |
| Windows Aero (WDDM for Windows Vista and Windows 7) | Yes | Yes |
| DirectX 9 Graphics Support | Yes | Yes |
| DirectX 10 Graphics Support | No | Yes |
| OpenGL 3D Graphics Support for Windows Vista & Windows 7 guest OS | OpenGL 2.1 (as of VMWare Fusion 3.1) | OpenGL 2.1 |
| OpenGL 3D Graphics Support for Windows XP guest OS | OpenGL 2.1 | OpenGL 2.1 |
| OpenGL 3D Graphics Support for Linux guest OS | No | OpenGL 2.1 |
| Multiple monitor/display support | Up to 10, each display is separate unique display to Windows | Up to 10, each display is separate unique display to Windows |
| Hardware Assisted Video/Movie Playback | Yes | Yes |
| Maximum video RAM per VM | 288 MB | 1 GB |
| USB 2.0 passthrough support | Yes | Yes |
| Support for external surround sound 5.1 USB or FireWire devices work simultaneously in Mac and the virtual machine. | No | Yes |
| 64-bit Native Engine | 64-bit VMM, 64-bit kernel extensions, 64-bit helper application, 32 GUI | 64-bit VMM, 64-bit kernel extensions, 64-bit helper application, 32 GUI |
| Power Management/Battery Passthrough | Yes | Yes |
| Bluetooth support (as USB device) | Yes | Yes |
| Firewire passthrough support | No | No |
| Virtual IDE Controller | Yes | Yes |
| Virtual SCSI Controller | Yes | Yes |
| Virtual SAS Controller | Yes | Yes, using software emulation in guest OS |
| Shared Smart Card | Yes | Yes |
| Low Level Access to Network Interfaces (promiscuous mode / WiFi monitor mode etc.) | Yes | promiscuous mode |
| Advanced Tools | ||
| Virtual Disk Management | Yes, Integrated in Settings Editor | Yes, Standalone tool |
| Resize Virtual Disks | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced Network Management | Requires modifying networking scripts | Yes |
| Control VMs with Scripting option | Yes | Yes |
| Supports Intel VT-x hardware virtualization engine | Yes | Yes |
| Network (PXE) Boot | Yes | Yes |
| Support switching graphics card on Mac Book Pro for longer battery live | No | Yes |
| Run More Operating Systems on Mac | ||
| Run Multiple Operating Systems at One Time | Yes, run up to 20 with available memory | Yes |
| Supported x86 Operating Systems | Over 140 operating systems | Over 60 operating systems |
| Run Linux virtual machines | Yes | Yes |
| Linux Easy Install with Automatic Setup | Yes | Yes |
| Linux virtual machine support | Window resize, time sync, shared folders, drag and drop | Window resize, time sync, shared folders, drag and drop |
| Run Linux virtual machine in Unity/Coherence | Yes (Ubuntu and Red Hat with Gnome) | Yes |
| Run Mac OS X Server virtual machines | Yes | Yes |
| Run Mac OS X virtual machine in Unity/Coherence | No | Yes |
| Import VHD Test Drives | Yes | Yes |
| Run Virtual Appliances | Over 1200 available | Fewer than 100 available |
| iPhone/iPad mobile client | ||
| Allows to work with remote VM on iPhone/iPad | No | Yes |
| Allows user to connect over internet | No | Yes |
Read more about this topic: Comparison Of VMware Fusion And Parallels Desktop
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