MacTech: Parallels up to 20% faster than competition

Parallels loves feedback, and fortunately I get to see a lot. There are a ton of fans out there who believe Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac is the best way to run Windows on a Mac, and a recent benchmark test from MacTech helps show why. 

MacTech compared Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac and VMware Fusion 2 side-by-side in what developed into a huge undertaking for their benchmark team, and the results verify one thing for sure:

"In the majority of overall averages of our tests, Parallels Desktop is the clear winner running 14-20% faster than VMware Fusion"

I'm not sure why that's my favorite quote from the article, but it is. Their study compared both programs in a clean test environment and found Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac outperformed VMware Fusion 2 in nearly every task, operating system and hardware configuration.

To be clear, this article isn't a user review. This is a report from a team which ran over 2,500 different tests and collected the data. A comparison of that data showed one product performed faster than the other in nearly every situation. A reviewer can have personal preferences; a benchmarking program can't - though scientists are attempting to make one that can love.

As mentioned in the benchmark, there were some key areas where VMware Fusion 2 failed to a large degree, so in order to show a more competitive benchmark, the tests were removed from final analysis. This included testing Internet Explorer, where Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac loaded a large and complex HTML web page in about nine seconds compared to VMware Fusion 2's two minutes. Fusion was also unable to play a DVD with the current Windows Media Player (which is the default option that comes with Windows. Duh).

Even with those tests removed, the process still tested a variety of workloads (a fancy way of saying they ran a bunch of application test cases). Personally I found the battery life (power saving) and video game tests to be particularly interesting, because to me one stresses efficiency while the other stresses compatibility and sheer horsepower. The games chosen were Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization and Valve Software's Portal. The results were up and down on both sides depending on the configuration, but MacTech ended saying that, "In our tests, MacBook users will have a better experience with Parallels Desktop," compared to VMware Fusion.

Again, the full benchmark article is HERE. I recommend that readers take a look at MacTech's results for themselves, especially anyone who wants the best bang for their buck. Considering that on top of the performance advantage, Parallels includes bonus Windows anti-virus and data backup software, your bases are well covered.

It's Not Rocket Science. Oh, actually, it is...

NASA ramping up (literally) to launch the Kepler observatory spacecraft. The Kepler has been strapped to the Delta II rocket which will carry it into space on Jolene Blalock's birthday (also known in some cultures as March 5th). The Kepler's mission: to explore strange new worlds and to seek out new life and new civilizations. Though, it won't be boldly going anywhere most of the time.

(EDIT: Turns out the launch was bumped to March 7th at 3:50 Universal Time (UT), which is both Rachel Weisz and Laura Prepon's birthday, so hey I think we're still in good shape.) 

 

Kepler's mission involves staring at the same spot for 3.5 years, watching a select group of about 100,000 stars, some of which are similar to our Sun. By watching long enough, it can determine which of the stars have planets orbiting it, and how long it takes each planet to make a full orbit. Kepler is looking for planets with Earth-like orbits and a temperature that's right for liquid water - a key component to possible life forms, says NASA; though personally I believe they're neglecting the possible mercury-based life forms out there which will one day invent the Galaxy's finest thermometers.

 

This potential discovery is a huge deal Humanity, because as it stands nobody has any clue how rare the Earth climate is on a Universal scale. There could be millions and billions of Earth-similar planets out there, or there could be just us. NASA Science Principal Investigator William Borucki had this to say during a CNN video on the Kepler mission objective:

 

"Kepler is designed to find hundreds of Earth-sized planets if such planets are common around stars, dozens of these planets if they're in a habitable zone. And If we find that many, it certainly will mean that life may well be common throughout our galaxy, because there's an opportunity for life to have a place to evolve. If on the other hand we don't find any, that will be another profound discovery."

 

So while the eventual results gathered by Kepler will be extremely interesting for humanity to discover, there's one certainty about the observatory's mission. Sitting in empty space, watching the same stars for 3.5 years, the Kepler observatory spacecraft will without a doubt have the most boring space mission of all time. Meanwhile, the Hubble has happily cruised over Earth since 1990, taking photographs and basically sight-seeing the galaxy for the past 18 years. Some telescopes get to have all the fun.