
- #PARALLEL DESKTOP FOR MAC OS X MOUNTAIN LION MAC OS X#
- #PARALLEL DESKTOP FOR MAC OS X MOUNTAIN LION UPGRADE#
- #PARALLEL DESKTOP FOR MAC OS X MOUNTAIN LION PRO#
#PARALLEL DESKTOP FOR MAC OS X MOUNTAIN LION MAC OS X#
Many prepress pros concurrently keep multiple generations of these applications on their workstations so they can work with customer files in the specific version in which they were created – thus avoiding text reflow and other potential file problems.Īlso, with each new Mac OS X iteration comes new features and enhancements enticing users to upgrade. As prepress departments deal with a wide range of clients and an even wider range of source files, it is important to maintain older versions of production critical applications such as Adobe Creative Suite and QuarkXPress. So why would you want to run an older version of Mac OS X as a virtual machine on your Mac? Simple – protecting your legacy software investment. What many do not realize, however, is that Parallels Desktop can accommodate a wide range of 32-bit and 64-bit Guest Operating Systems including Linux, Solaris and every flavour of Windows ever devised, as well as legacy Mac OS X operating systems back to OS X 10.5 Leopard Server. After all, Parallel’s Website and packaging both scream “RUN WINDOWS ON YOUR MAC” in large red print. You would be forgiven to think that the only reason to run a virtual machine on your desktop is to get Windows running on your Mac. Parallels Access is available on an annual subscription basis.
#PARALLEL DESKTOP FOR MAC OS X MOUNTAIN LION UPGRADE#
Fortunately, SSD prices are coming down as more manufacturers include them in new machines and aftermarket upgrade drives become commonplace.Īlongside Desktop 9, Parallels launched Parallels Access, an iOS App enabling users to access and run applications from their Mac and VM on an iPad. Likewise, you do not need an SSD to run Desktop 9, but your user experience will improve dramatically if you do. My current MacBook Air has 8GB RAM which is more than adequate for Parallels Desktop 9 – but my next Mac will have at least 16GB RAM or more, if available. While the stated memory requirements for Desktop 9 start at 2GB, users will find that more is better in this department, as a sizable block of memory must be assigned to the virtual machine OS.
#PARALLEL DESKTOP FOR MAC OS X MOUNTAIN LION PRO#
To be effective, virtual machines need to live on a speedy machine such as a late model iMac, MacBook Pro or Air. Of course, your mileage will vary based on the configuration of your host computer. My virtual machines were significantly speedier after migrating to Desktop 9. While I often take marketing claims of this nature with a grain of salt, this one seems to stand true. Parallels claims up to 40 percent better disk performance in Desktop 9 in addition to faster start-up, shutdown and suspend times. The biggest reason to upgrade is speed, however, as Parallels Desktop 9 runs noticeably faster than version 8.



Released in September 2013, Parallels Desktop 9 improves an already robust hardware emulator with a host of new features, including: Support for Windows 8 Thunderbolt and Firewire device access multi-monitor settings remembered iCloud, SkyDrive and Dropbox sync and an enhanced wizard making it considerably easier to setup a new virtual machine. Suffice it to say that the SSD completely changed the way I used virtual machines and put Parallels Desktop on my daily use list. The differences in speed between the SSD and a conventional hard drive is remarkable, making a virtual machine respond just like a hardware-based Windows workstation. When I reviewed Parallels Desktop 8 ( PrintAction, February 2013), I had just made the transition to a new MacBook Air with a Solid State Drive (SSD).
