Parallels 6. Windows on your Mac.

As good as OS X is, sometimes it just has to be Windows.

For instance, there are applications that have been written for Windows, an for which there is no Mac version. Yes, I know that sounds odd, but there are some applications where there is either no Mac version, or perhaps the Mac version is not quite up to par.

But when that happens, what’s a person to do?

How about firing up Parallels 6, and running your Windows application, right there on your OS X desktop?

Yep. With Parallels 6, that’s what you can do. And by running your applications in what’s called “Coherence” mode, it almost looks and runs as if it’s a native OS X application.

OS X Desktop using Parallels 6

Previous versions of Parallels have provided this functionality, but this latest version offers improved speed and stability, as well as greater functionality.

And it’s with its performance where this latest version really shines: my needs are that I demand a high level of real time performance. Consider for a moment that some of my activities include broadcasting. During my broadcasting, pretty well all of my music comes directly from a computer, and as such, I can’t afford for there to be any lag or skipped segments in terms of how activities such as music and audio playback are handled. For me, these are mission critical applications, and they must be handled correctly and gracefully, first time, every time.

Running a virtual machine of any type places a high demand upon your computer: you’re effectively running more than just the one computer, and if you have high performance demands, then you can be really pushing the performance capabilities of the systems. In this regard, Parallels 6 comes to the party with the horsepower and performance that matches my needs here.

And that’s on my aging Macbook!

I’d really like to have a play on a newer Macbook Pro, where it wouldn’t just shine, but it would positively sparkle.