Probably the most notable virtualization software is VMware, available for both Mac and PC.
While VMware provides the same service for both Mac and PC, there are notable differences to explore.
Today I’ll be comparing VMware Fusion 3.1 (Mac) to VMware Workstation 7.1 (Windows).
The computers I’ll be using are a MacBook Pro, 2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4 GB Ram running Snow Leopard, and a Dell Inspiron, 2 GHz Intel with 2 GB Ram running Windows XP.
I will install Windows 7 Ultimate edition on each machine and report on what I find. We will see what the capabilities and advantages of both VMware Fusion and Workstation are.
One of the major concerns with virtualization is the speed of the virtual OS running on top of the native machine. In this comparison, the Macbook Pro is significantly faster than the Dell, so comparing Fusion to Workstation with these two PC’s would be unfair.
VMware Fusion for Mac
I will say that VMware Fusion on the Mac runs without a hitch. No freezes or hiccups, and when you run it in fullscreen, you would never know you’re on a Mac. I could play a fairly demanding 3D game and rarely, if ever, experience lag. Pretty impressive.
The benefits of VMware Fusion on a Mac are immediately apparent. Before ever installing an OS, I know that I can install any Linux or Windows build on my Mac, while Workstation on a PC will never run Mac OS X. This is mainly due to Apple not opening it’s operating system to other vendors, and is not necessarily a VMware issue, but it’s worth noting that the only way to run OS X is on a Mac or using some crazy hack for Windows.
