Reviews for Nova Desktop v.3.0 - License - 1 UserMac - Retail - MPN: 727298404005 
By member:
Scott Mahrer
- Mar 29, 2008
ParallelsStrengths: Ease of use Weakness: Windows not included I know that Apple is included Boot Camp within Leopard (OS X 10.5), which is a great thing. However, Boot Camp needs you to reboot your Mac every time you wish to switch to Windows or Mac OS. Enter Parallels, which avoids the reboot requirement. Windows actually appears as a window (no pun intended) much like any other Finder window. You can literally switch back & forth between your Mac and Windows environments. This is important especially if you constantly need to refer between documents. It's a real time-saver. Very stable too! 100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
dmausner
- Jan 19, 2008
Windows VM is a major alternative to boot campStrengths: Runs windows systems within Mac OS, run both systems at once, share files between systems. Weakness: No significant weaknesses for office use of Windows inside Mac OS. Parallels works right out of the box, or can be customized, to create a synthetic PC environment within Mac OS. Windows runs like any other Mac program, and its C: drive becomes a Mac file. Many windows systems can be created for testing software versions. They can be "booted" by clicking on their icons in the finder. Once started on an Intel Mac, the behavior is exactly like Windows 2000, XP, or Vista; plus, you can switch to and from Mac OS at any time. It has the major benefit that no boot camp is required, and no special disk partitions are needed. If Windows is not needed anymore, its file can be deleted. Viruses cannot propagate from Windows to Mac; the environment is sealed. Special Mac drivers supplied by Parallels allow Windows to operate in the Mac hardware; otherwise every aspect of Windows is the same. Very little system performance degradation was noticed on a 2GHz MacBook Pro. An excellent utility for those who need Office or other MS products to cooperate in a Mac environment. For network operation, including wireless, it is necessary to read the how-to guide closely. Recommended. 100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
compcons
- Jan 2, 2008
Wonderful way to put Windows on a MacStrengths: Easy install, works flawlessly once installed Weakness: Heavy memory footprint I've been a Mac Boot Camp user since August 2006. When offered the chance to install Parallels on my machine, I initially thought it would be a hassle. What do I need run two OSs concurrently for? Since I only use Windows a few times a month, why should I bother installing a virtual machine? 100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
wbthomas
- Nov 30, 2007
Best Solution on the MarketStrengths: Switching between Mac and Windows without rebooting; easy install; launch Windows programs from dock or desktop Weakness: Windows Parallels 3.0 maintains the dominance of this software as the best solution for Mac owners who need to run programs written for Windows on their Macs. Seems to be faster than the 2.0 version on my Intel MacBook Pro. 100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
sturam
- Jul 9, 2008
Impossible to install no help from Nova on week-endsStrengths: Great idea, but after three hours trying to install this program on my brand new intel Mac laptop - I gave up. Good luck to you. Seems people like the idea of not having to re boot. Weakness: Sold to me at Apple store and then they told me they do not support it at all - no help from the genius bar. Tech support at Nova Parallels not available on week-ends Would like to hear from some one as to how you install this program in three easy steps. All I got was error messages when I tried to install that it could not read the Windows XP disk that I had to purchase for almost $ 200 extra. Best Buy techs were able to use the disk to install Boot Camp however Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
RBev1
- Sep 2, 2007
Mac Os , Windows & Linux on one Desktop.. What a...Strengths: Availability to use multiple OSes Weakness: No, muti processor support. A little tricky to use.
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The Product That Marries Mac OS and Windows!
Strengths: This software allows for running Windows virtually while being within Mac OS X
Weakness: Version 3 does not utilize multiple processors / cores while running Windows virtually.
This product is very impressive. I purchased an Intel Mac and it cam with Mac OS 10.4.9. As many do, I downloaded the Boot camp software from Apple and loaded Windows XP on the machine. This was nice as I am a transforming PC guy and this allowed me to boot to Windows as needed and still give me use of Mac OS at other times. The ultimate is to be able to run both Mac OS and Windows simultaneously without having to reboot to switch back and forth. Enter Parallels Desktop. It is what makes this possible and does a good job of it. Imagine having everything you like about each one of the operating systems and all the related applications running all at once!
my only minor gripe is that under Boot camp, Windows XP shows all four processor cores running, while running under Parallels, only one is operating. It is said that Nova Development plans to update this in the future.
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