| | |  | Operating Systems | Home » » » VMWare Fusion | | | | | | | Description: | | From the proven leader in desktop virtualization comes VMware Fusion--the most seamless way to run Windows applications on your Mac. VMware Fusion combines a clean and intuitive interface that Mac users expect with a virtualization platform trusted by millions of users today. VMware Fusion allows you to launch your Windows applications from the Dock and switch between Windows and Mac applications using Expos . With the industry's most advanced virtualization technology VMware Fusion is ready for the future and lets you leverage all the hardware available on your Mac to simultaneously run 32 and 64-bit operating systems, use two processors at the same time, run select 3D games and utilize USB 2.0 devices. Access the widest range of USB 2 devices, allocate up to 8GB of memory to virtual machines, run over 60 guest operating systems from DOS to Microsoft Windows Vista, Linux, Solaris, Netware and FreeBSD. Run your Boot Camp partition side-by-side with Mac OS X without any additional setup. Run any of the more than 550 virtual appliances available from VMware Virtualize your existing PC with the free VMware Converter Starter Built Exclusively for the Mac - Built with features such as customizable toolbars, easy-to-manage virtual machine packages, and much more The powerful Unity feature transforms your Windows applications and gives you a seamless Mac experience Requires Any Intel Mac computer with a 1.5GHz or faster Intel processor; 512MB of RAM (1GB or more recommended) . | | | Features: | |
• Run multiple operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and Solaris, on your Macintosh at the same time as Mac OS X--without rebooting; copy or paste between operating systems, or drag and drop files from desktop to desktop
• Run Windows applications just like Mac applications--easily launch your Windows applications and switch between all your Windows and Mac applications; use your familiar Mac keyboard shortcuts the whole time
• Capture and save the exact state of your virtual machine with VMware Fusion's innovative Snapshot feature; if your Windows virtual machine becomes unresponsive, use the Snapshot feature to rollback to a known stable state with the click of a button
• Take full advantage of 64-bit and multi-core processors of your Mac for maximum flexibility--run 64-bit operating systems such as Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit Edition or leverage Virtual SMP to create and run multi-processor virtual machines
• Cutting-edge 3D technology even lets you to play select DirectX 8.1 games on your Mac; get full read/write support for CDs and DVDs and complete USB 2.0 support--even for proprietary video cameras, Bluetooth devices and other Windows-only peripherals
| | | Product Details: | | | Package Length:
| 7.6 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.3 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.5 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.25 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 241 reviews |
| | | System Requirements: | | | Platform:
| Mac / Mac OS X | | Media:
| CD-ROM | | Item Quantity:
| 1 |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 241 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
122 of 126 found the following review helpful:
 MUCH better than ParallelsOct 27, 2007
By Heath G. Gerlock
"zeloeistotheo"
Usage: I'm a web developer and graphic designer. My workflow involves using a number of tools that are specific to Windows and others that are specific to the Mac. I also use virtual machines for remotely controlling computers and supporting asp and [...] websites.
Experience: I'm an owner of Parallels 2 and, as released, upgraded to Parallels 3. I was also involved in the Beta testing of VMWare Fusion. I have to acknowledge that the Beta versions of Fusion were not stable, however the release version was a tremendous step up from the Beta and significantly faster than Parallels. Parallels is fine if all you're running it for is IE6/7 browser support for IE specific website (i.e. quickbooks online). If you own Parallels and use it sparingly switching to Fusion is a waste of money. If you use audio, video, and graphic editing programs in your virtual machines you WILL notice huge performance gains running Fusion over parallels. There are numerous *free* appliances available from VMWare you can download, which work immediately and seamlessly with Fusion. Very nice.
Summmary/Recommendation: If you're in the market for a Virtual Machine application VMWare Fusion is my recommendation. If you already own Parallels and use it sparingly there's no need to switch. If you use Parallels with processor intensive programs I recommend switching to Fusion as it is much faster.
132 of 142 found the following review helpful:
Former Parallels userAug 24, 2007
By Jeffrey Ammon
"computer_geek386"
I am very impressed with this product. The virtual machine is running noticeably faster than the one I had running in Parallels, probably because of the multiprocessor support. Also I can finally use my x64 Windows XP Pro without resorting boot camp. Additionally, VMware is way more stable than Parallels. Parallels version 3.0 was crashing spontaneously at least once a day and the suspend feature would always result in blue screen of death on resume. I have yet to see a crash of any kind or a BSOD on resume with VMWare.
56 of 58 found the following review helpful:
 Works As Advertised - And Works WellDec 11, 2007
By Electronic Gadgetphile
Like many MacAddicts on this site, I have a couple of PC based applications that I need to run apart from my Mac applications and didn't want to invest in separate hardware. I used Bootcamp Beta on my older iMac and found it to be OK but didn't like having to reboot to get to the other OS. Recently I purchased a new iMac 2.8 Mz with 4 GB of ram and wanted to see if VMware Fusion would provide me with the convenience of easily switching between Leopard (Mac) and Windows Vista Ultimate. The installation was reasonably painless and I had both systems up and running in short time. I loaded up my essential PC programs - MS Money and MS Publisher - and they worked like a dream. I did note that the Vista Aero effects would not work even when I optimized the system using the VMWare tools. Not a big deal. I then installed a PC game, Call of Duty, and could not get it to run effectively. I dropped back to earlier PC games such as MS Age of Empires and Command and Conquer and they also failed to perform adequately. I assumed it was a Vista thing and installed a separate copy of Windows XP which ran really well but just not games. Curious as to whether it was a virtualization (likely the MS/VM video drivers) versus hardware issue, I un-installed the Windows systems, re-based the Leopard system, installed Bootcamp and then Windows Vista Ultimate. After assuring Microsoft that I was not using my copy of Windows on multiple machines they gave me the secret code with authorized my Vista copy on my Bootcamp partition. When I brought up Vista through Bootcamp I found it to be very quick, Aero effects worked and more importantly, my PC games all installed and ran flawlessly. Now I am considering reinstalling VMware Fusion on the machine along with Windows XP to allow the easy switching back and forth between OS's (via VMware Fusion) and still have the capability of playing my *essential* PC games on the same machine via Bootcamp. In summary, I like VMware Fusion and it performs very well - just not with my PC based games.
(December 26, 2007 Update) I did install VMware Fusion on the Leopard partition and am running Windows XP and it is really running everything well with the exception of games. I love the ease of dragging pictures and files back and forth from WinXP to Mac and vice versa with no problems. I have PhotoShop in the Mac side and Microsoft Publisher on the Windows side and it is really painless editing jpegs and then dragging them into Publisher. Running very stable on both sides of the partitions. Still have Windows Vista Ultimate on the Bootcamp partition and it really handles the PC games well but not convenient for switching back and forth between PC and Mac OS's - reboot requred for every change. One curious feature I noted is with the two Seagate external backup drives I have attached to the iMac - one FAT 32 for Windows and the other HTFS format for the Mac. When I am running Leopard I can see and access both drives but when I start up VMware Fusion and bring up Win XP, the FAT 32 drive disappears from the Mac desktop and shows up on the WinXP side only. As soon as I suspend the VMware Fusion the FAT 32 pops up on the Mac desktop again. Not a problem, just interesting. I would suggest that if you are installing VMware Fusion on your Mac that you create enough space in your Windows partition to accommodate your future needs as well as your current ones - the methods I have seen for expanding partition sizes are fairly complex. Still really happy overall with this software.
39 of 41 found the following review helpful:
You may have to call Microsoft for another activation code for thisAug 31, 2007
By Cybershopper
"CS"
I have tried Parallels and VMware Fusion and feel that the VM product is stabler and faster. Drivers in a Macbook Pro with Parallels took over 25 minutes to load and because previously I had the demo version of VMware Fusion I noticed a significant slowdown running Parallels, MAC-OSX 10.4 with Vista Home Premium. (by the way Vista rocks in a Macbook Pro with Fusion and have had no issues). VMware fusion is a great product! Unity, one feature of the program, will have your Windows programs running on your Mac like they are for the Apple.
**One problem** that I had and noticed others had when I researched it is: if you run your Boot Camp with VMware (did it to me also with the demo of Parallels), your XP or Vista will *not* be activated if you check your computer properties in the virtual drive (Windows) and counts down the 30 day. **Microsoft** is aware of this and you need to call them on. My boot-to-Windows-only-from-start was unaffected. MS fixed by phone.
Because these products (Fusion & Parallels) load proprietary drivers Windows thinks it is another install in VD.
This is more specific to those that have a running Boot-camp and use it before making it a virtual drive with the 3rd party programs.
26 of 27 found the following review helpful:
Awesome... can only get better!Sep 25, 2007
By Lal
Having finally crossed the border into MAC country after being a PC citizen for many many years its not so easy to give up the affliction to some of the PC programs so I picked up VMware Fusion & let me just say that it lets me have the best of both worlds. I read many reviews on Parallels & Fusion but decided to go with Fusion. I believe both programs are equally good. The installation was smooth as can be... I loaded up Windows XP Pro & voila! I had Windows purring away on my MAC! The best part of it is that the experience of using windows is actually more pleasant with the 'suspend' feature of Fusion which lets u literally take a snapshot of all the running programs under Windows & put it in a 'suspend' mode so the next time, one can just 'resume' where you left off!
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