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turtle777 · Oct 28, 2009, 08:41 PM

Any takers yet ?

VMware Fusion: Run Windows on Mac, for Mac Desktop Virtualization

How's the performance ?
Is the upgrade price justified ?

-t

Cold Warrior · Oct 28, 2009, 08:53 PM

I bought it for the upgrade price b/c I've owned version 2 for a while.

I'm on a MBP C2D 2.16, 3 GB RAM, but things don't seem any faster for me. Win2k, XP and Win7 seem the same or nearly so.

Also the Fusion GUI and VMs beachball a lot for minutes at a time, will respond to a click or two, then beachball for several more minutes. It will become responsive after maybe 10 minutes of being left alone after Windows VM bootup & login.

turtle777 · Oct 28, 2009, 08:59 PM

That doesn't sound good.

I have had a lot of issues recently with Fusion 2. After Suspending the VM, it would wake up and then freeze (mainly with Vista). Sometimes it would unfreeze after 10-15 min, sometimes I had to restart.

It got really annoying.

I guess I'm going to try the 30 day Trial.

-t

Mrjinglesusa · Oct 28, 2009, 09:22 PM

I purchased Fusion 2 from Amazon a couple days ago for $25. Only did it because it came with a free download upgrade to Fusion 3. I've used Parallels for awhile but for $25 I am going to give Fusion 3 a try.

besson3c · Oct 28, 2009, 10:26 PM

How many of you have tried Virtualbox?

turtle777 · Oct 28, 2009, 10:52 PM

Awesome. I can't install the updated VMWare Tools.

Setup quits complaining about invalid characters in the "My Documents" path.
All I want is my functioning Fusion 2 VM to be ported over and working. But no dice.

Stupid sh!t. Don't those companies have any QA anymore ?

-t

Cold Warrior · Oct 28, 2009, 10:58 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

How many of you have tried Virtualbox?

I'll give it a shot now. Basic criteria is install, setup and usability of Win 7 x86 compared to Fusion 3.

Cold Warrior · Oct 28, 2009, 11:55 PM

VirtualBox seems good. The VM seems more responsive than with Fusion 3, no beachballs, and I could also still use my Mac -- Fusion 3 has been the opposite. VBox isn't a 64-bit app, but neither was Fusion until yesterday.

besson3c · Oct 29, 2009, 12:43 AM

I was having screen redraw issues with Virtualbox in XP, but I was using an older version. I'll convert my VMDK back into a VDI and give Virtualbox another go soon.

(It is possible to migrate VM disk images to different VM hosts even if they don't use the same native file format)

lpkmckenna · Oct 29, 2009, 08:13 PM

I've used VirtualBox. It's very nice. Just dedicate a space just for Windows for avoid graphics ugliness. There's a command line hack that allows you to use your Bootcamp install, but I haven't tried it yet.

I plan to buy Fusion 3. Looks good, sorry to hear people are having problems.

turtle777 · Oct 29, 2009, 08:30 PM

Well, after fiddling around with Fusion 3, it doesn't seem to be more responsive than Fusion 2.

Still get the freezes when waking up a suspended VM. Sucks.

I was able to update the VMWare tools, after having to repair some Regedit entries. Windows just sucks.

-t

Atheist · Oct 29, 2009, 09:34 PM

I've been using it for months... since the technology previews (or whatever they called them). It's been rock solid for me with Win XP and Win 7. I use Fusion everyday and sometimes have 2 VM's running at the same time.

turtle777 · Nov 7, 2009, 06:56 PM

Ok, so here is my experiences with Fusion 3

1) Forget running Vista. It was a nightmare under Fusion 2, and hasn't changed much (maybe got a little better). Windows 7 is the better choice.

2) Don't carry over old XP VM from Fusion 2 to 3. They will be sluggish and use up a lot of space.
New XP installs under Fusion 3 are amazingly small in HD footprint, and very speedy.

-t

Andy8 · Nov 7, 2009, 07:14 PM

Will Fusion 2 still run XP ok on Snow Leopard?

turtle777 · Nov 7, 2009, 07:35 PM

Originally Posted by Andy8

Will Fusion 2 still run XP ok on Snow Leopard?

Yes. I seemed to me that it became more sluggish though.

The speed difference of a newly installed XP made the switch to Fusion 3 a no brainer.

-t

Andy8 · Nov 7, 2009, 07:45 PM

I shall try and fresh install of XP under Fusion 2 and see how that performs before I spring for the upgrade to Fusion 3.

turtle777 · Nov 7, 2009, 10:24 PM

Originally Posted by Andy8

I shall try and fresh install of XP under Fusion 2 and see how that performs before I spring for the upgrade to Fusion 3.

Plus, Fusion 3 supports DirectX 9.0EX with OpenGL 1.4, makes games run that previously required bootcamp.

Try the 30day trial version and see.

-t

Cold Warrior · Nov 8, 2009, 12:29 AM

Originally Posted by turtle777

The speed difference of a newly installed XP made the switch to Fusion 3 a no brainer.

-t

Excellent tip. Thanks. I just redid a win7 vm that was set up in fusion 2. A fresh setup in fusion 3 shows none of the previous hangs or beachballs, and the vm seems lighter and quicker too.