Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac to launch Sept. 14 with 80 new features

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
Calling it the "best Windows on Mac experience yet," Parallels on Thursday formally announced the sixth version of its virtualization software, set to bring more than 80 new features and enhancements when it launches Sept. 14.



The new Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac is claimed to be the most powerful version yet of the best-selling virtualization software. Benchmark tests reportedly show that 3D graphics run nearly 40 percent faster than before, while boot time for Windows is 41 percent faster. The new Parallels Desktop 6 also boosts speed for working with files on USB drives, networks and in shared folders.



"Whether it?s for school, home, work or play, Parallels Desktop for Mac is the #1 choice of customers worldwide," said Serguei Beloussov, Chairman and CEO, Parallels. "Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac delivers again on our proven track record of innovation with over 80 new and enhanced features that provides the fastest, simplest and most immersive Windows on Mac experience ever."



The company also announced Parallels Desktop 6 Switch to Mac edition, which includes the latest version of Parallels, plus new features specifically designed to make the move from PC to Mac easier for users. It also includes a high-speed USB data transfer cable that allows users to move their programs, files, users settings and browser favorites and bookmarks to a Mac



"The Mac is more popular than ever, with millions of people moving to the Mac from Windows," said Ron Okamoto, Apple's Vice President of Worldwide Developer Relations. "Parallels does a great job of making it even easier for people to switch to the Mac and allowing them to run Windows applications if they need to, side-by-side with their Mac applications and without rebooting."



Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac will be available on Sept. 14 with a standard retail price of $79.99. The student edition will fetch $39.99 while Parallels Desktop 6 Switch to Mac edition will retail for $99.99. However, Parallels is making available today direct downloads of its $49.99 Parallels Desktop 6 Upgrade for customers who already own 5.0. In addition, anyone who purchases Parallels Desktop 5.0 today will be eligible for a free 6.0 upgrade.



Many of the features found in Parallels 6 were reported Wednesday by AppleInsider. The product was also spotted early on the shelves of a Fry's electronics store in California.



Below are the list of new and features highlighted in the forthcoming Parallels Desktop 6:



Faster & More Powerful

Launch Time: Run Windows applications 41 percent faster than Parallels Desktop 5

Full 64-bit Engine: Take advantage of all of the capabilities of your 64-bit Mac and enjoy the fastest virtual machine performance yet

Immersive Graphics & Audio Experience

5.1 Surround Sound: Savor rich, immersive audio experiences for games, music and videos

Enhanced 3D Graphics: Enjoy more life-like visual action and play a wider range of modern games with 40 percent improvement over Parallels Desktop 5

More Manageable

Parental Control: Have peace of mind when children are online by applying the same parental controls you set for your Mac to your Windows applications

VM Encryption: Protect data from being stolen by using built in virtual machine encryption

Simpler & Smarter

Mac Shortcuts: Use Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts to make Windows applications work the way you do

Personal Data Migration: Simplifies moving to Mac by automatically moving programs, data and media (i.e. My Documents, My Pictures, My Videos and My Downloads) to the appropriate folders on your Mac

Web Browser Favorites: Parallels automatically moves your Internet Explorer, Firefox or Chrome settings and bookmarks from your PC to the default browser on your Mac

Anti-virus Protection: Data protection with Parallels SmartGuard & SafeMode plus leading anti-virus protection for both Mac OS X and Windows with complimentary Kaspersky Internet Security 2011, Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Mac, Acronis True Image Home 2010 and Acronis Disk Director 2011 Home
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 36
    Wait for the closeout sale on Amazon next month. Better yet, MacHeist will bundle it with 9 other apps for $39 this Xmas.
  • Reply 2 of 36
    Parallels keeps pulling away from the competition.
  • Reply 3 of 36
    I sure hope that not-crashing is one of the new features.
  • Reply 4 of 36
    MJ Web said: Crap product from crap company!



    Can you elaborate? Since we don't really know each other I would need a bit more information to qualify your opinion.
  • Reply 5 of 36
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cubert View Post


    Parallels keeps pulling away from the competition.



    I'm amazed by the numbers they quote on improvements in version 6. I thought 5 was incredibly snappy.



    I've been very impressed with Parallels. I don't need to use Windows much anymore, but on the odd occasions I do, running it in Parallels works a treat.
  • Reply 6 of 36
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by CandTsmac View Post


    MJ Web said: Crap product from crap company!



    Can you elaborate? Since we don't really know each other I would need a bit more information to qualify your opinion.



    For one thing they sent me an email only yesterday soliciting an Upgrade to Parallels "5". That deceptive to say the least! Parallels has a checkered history of deep discount garage sales -- some orchestrated by Parallels Corp -- to push out their next not ready for prime time update. I stand by that opinion.
  • Reply 7 of 36
    I received an email this morning from Nova and have already upgraded. What's the deal with September 14?
  • Reply 8 of 36
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by twistsol View Post


    I received an email this morning from Nova and have already upgraded. What's the deal with September 14?



    Thank you for making my point. Parallels (Nova) is one sleazy company!
  • Reply 9 of 36
    Version 5.0 did not allow me to import my Fusion 3.1.1 virtual Windows machine so I did not upgrade. Any word whether or not V6.0 will allow us to do this? It really does make a difference when considering moving over to Parallels.
  • Reply 10 of 36
    they brag about being fastest and i gotta say...they're right. i've used both and parallels seems way faster in just about everything. i hope vmware doesn't give up tho
  • Reply 11 of 36
    Parallels Publicity, let's try it first!
  • Reply 12 of 36
    I am tired of those e-mail messages from Parallels prompting me to upgrade to version 5 because discount deal expires soon. It is especially annoying if one knows that version 6 is coming out next days and they should be giving upgrades from version 4 which I am running. If no then double upgrade(4->5->6) is far worse path than simply buying full newest version and to forget about version 4 - uninstalling it.
  • Reply 13 of 36
    chris_cachris_ca Posts: 2,543member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MJ Web View Post


    Thank you for making my point. Parallels (Nova) is one sleazy company!



    Why's that?



    Parallels v5 is now available from them through Amazon for $39 and a $20 rebate (From Nova) on top.

    And with a free upgrade to 6 (if purchased after 15 August).

    $20 for v6 sounds pretty darn good.
  • Reply 14 of 36
    chris_cachris_ca Posts: 2,543member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by twistsol View Post


    I received an email this morning from Nova and have already upgraded. What's the deal with September 14?



    As noted at -> Parallels Desktop® 6 for Mac - Get it before the rest!

    "Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac will be broadly available September 14."

    It's already available at select places.
  • Reply 15 of 36
    I just upgraded and version 6 is extremely fast compared to version 5. Version 5 was barely usable. I fired it up before installing the upgrade and it took 16:30 minutes to get from clicking the icon to a working desktop. Some of the issue may have been Time Machine running in the background, but it never warned me. Version 6 does. After install it took only 2:30 minutes to go from clicking on the icon on the desktop to a working desktop and after the tools were updated it was even faster on the reboot.



    So for me it's finally usable and I won't have to rely on using MS's "Remote Desktop Connection" connection to a real WIn PC anymore.



    Worth the upgrade.



    My setup is a spring 2009 24" iMac 2.8 GHz C2D running 10.6.4.
  • Reply 16 of 36
    sheffsheff Posts: 1,407member
    Plus it says that there will be a mystery feature that they will unveil on the 14th. Speed and battery are the only things I care about at this point, Parallels 5 is already doing everything I need feature wise.
  • Reply 17 of 36
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cubert View Post


    Parallels keeps pulling away from the competition.



    I like Fusion but if it's 40% faster, we're talking workable audio, graphics & gaming.



    I'm seeing a lot of people selling their MacBook pros ( don't have the same high end Vaule they used to so it will take 4 core systems with good graphics and battery time to get them back up), but anyway, I'm seeing a lot of people selling their MBP and getting an iMac and ipad in return but be forewarned, if your an audio, graphic or hardcore user that uses the older mbp with express slots, you might see think twice. With the eexoress slot you can add esata raid, esata, fx for audio taking 50-100% load off the cou ie reverb, compression, delay or specialized ones like fatso that cost $3000 for the hardware version, $300 for the plug in and you can still add the reverbs and such. Fatso gives your mixes a thick 2" analog tape sound. I just wish the iMacs had them, then they would sell even faster and pros especially semi pros, one of the largest market segments out there, they would probably sell really well and graphic artists need antiglare. The real reason we don't see something so easy to add to the iMac is that mbp 17" and mac pros would take a hit. Avid finally saw the light when they bought M-Audio as they saw comuters getting faster and faster and wanted t make sure they didn't lose money with full Pro Tools studios shutting down all the time in Hollywood. Only the big foley, mixing studios are staying open and ironicaly some artist have to use pro tools even though the mixer probably used Logic to mix. But Logic needs updates more often. Nuendo, cakewalks sonar, cubase, acid, ableton live get updates almost every six months.



    Enough rant. Peace.
  • Reply 18 of 36
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by gumguy View Post


    Version 5.0 did not allow me to import my Fusion 3.1.1 virtual Windows machine so I did not upgrade. Any word whether or not V6.0 will allow us to do this? It really does make a difference when considering moving over to Parallels.



    Excellent points. Especially if you have fusion XP, vista, 7 images.



    Edit: not to mention that would be a stupid non feature to have if they are tring to grab sales. Omitting that while having 80 new features would be a blunder.



    PS. For those that work with audio, I was on the Mac beta team for gigastudio and while most soft synths have their built in Kontact, Giga still sounds the best. Got the last, stable release before Tascam stopped. They didn't have the real man power and updates took far to long. Would have been better selling it to Steinberg then to Garritan, no offense Gary but your msn power is even smaller than tascams. Maybe/Hopefully you teamed up with someone to take on NI Kontacts as Giga sounds warmer than Kontakts and you're going to need some real manpower if you are trying to get vendors to try the Giga version. I also hope its not just your products. To many great products out there. Ewql, symphobia, etc. Plus Viennas VSL sounds great.
  • Reply 19 of 36
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MJ Web View Post


    Wait for the closeout sale on Amazon next month. Better yet, MacHeist will bundle it with 9 other apps for $39 this Xmas.





    I hate giving Parallels $49.99 every freaking month it seems. I'm done with those assholes.
  • Reply 20 of 36
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chris_CA View Post


    Why's that?



    Parallels v5 is now available from them through Amazon for $39 and a $20 rebate (From Nova) on top.

    And with a free upgrade to 6 (if purchased after 15 August).

    $20 for v6 sounds pretty darn good.



    Where is this $20 rebate? All I see is $20 off the 'normal' price on Nova's site.
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