MacRumors

MacTech performed an exhaustive set of benchmarks comparing Parallels, VMWare Fusion and Boot Camp to run Windows on a Mac.

To tackle this problem, MacTech undertook a huge benchmarking project starting in September. The goal was to see how Boot Camp, VMware Fusion, and Parallels performed on different levels of Mac hardware, covering both Windows XP and Vista, and comparing that to a baseline PC running Windows.

Doing such an exhaustive comparison resulted in 19 configurations tested with over 2500 tests to be completed. They tested 3 different broad scenarios: one step tests, multi-step tasks between Mac OS X and Windows, and quantitiative benchmarks on a MacBook, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and a Fujitsu Lifebook A6025.

One Step Tests: In XP, Parallels is 17% faster than VMWare Fusion on XP and 1% faster than Boot Camp. In Vista, VMware Fusion ran 46% slower than Boot Camp, and Parallels ran 44% slower than VMware Fusion.
Multi Step (Cross platform) Tasks: Parallels was 6x faster than VMWare on XP, and 5.2x faster on Vista.

A number of application specific benchmarks were also undertaken using Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Internet Explorer and more. These results are detailed in their article along with relevant graphs.

Their final conclusion, however, sums up the results as follows:

... both VMware Fusion and Parallels performed well, and were a good user experience. That said, Parallels was somewhat faster in general than VMware Fusion for XP. If you want the best virtualization performance for Vista, then VMware Fusion is your choice.

Of course, if you are not interested in coexistance with Mac OS X, naturally, Boot Camp is your best option.

Note: both Parallels and VMware Fusion have been updated since these benchmarks were performed. Since VMware has multi-core support, the author speculates that specific multi-core tasks may perform better on VMware than Parallels, but these scenarios were not tested. In the tests they did perform, however, they saw no speed advantage from VMware's multicore support. That being said these earlier Crave benchmarks suggest that the VMware multicore support is a substantial advantage when performing their multimedia multitasking test.

Apple has seeded developers with two updates tonight.

The first is the Mac OS X 10.5.2 (9C7) update which lists fixes to 76 distinct issues. Bug fixes range from memory leaks, various printing issues, SMB support and more. Apple issued Mac OS X 10.5.1 in November and has recently updated retail copies of Leopard to include the full 10.5.1 version. A Page 2 rumor pegs the Mac OS X 10.5.2 final release at Macworld Expo in January.

Next, Apple has finally seeded Java SE 6 Preview 8 for Leopard. Apple had been secretive about the Java 6 support for Leopard and the product launch was met with disappointment amongst Java developers hoping for support for the latest version. Tonight's release provides an implementation of Sun's Java SE 6 for Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and includes Java SE 6 version 1.6.0_01. This latest seed requires a 64-bit capable Intel-powered Mac and is described as having received only limited testing thus far.

Seeking Web Designer - We are looking a professional web designer or team who would be interested in potentially participating in a MacRumors site and forum redesign. Also interested in ongoing relationship for additional projects outside of MacRumors. Ideal candidate would be a MacRumors reader(s) who is familiar with the workings of the site and forums and would be able to retain the basic feel of the site while modernizing the design. The site uses a custom Content Management System for the front page, and vBulletin for the forums, so vBulletin experience would be a plus but not necessary. Please contact us via our web form with the subject of "Web Designer Inquiry" and please include links to previous work.

Macworld Expo 2008 Exhibitors - Macworld Expo 2008 is upon us. MacRumors will be providing our traditional MacRumorsLive keynote coverage as well as expanded exhibitor coverage this year. In MacRumors-style, instead of exhaustive coverage of every new product, we will only focus on a few of stand-out products. If your company would like to be considered to potentially reach some of our 3.9 million unique monthly visitors, please contact us via our web form with the subject of "Macworld Exhibitor" and company/contact information. Any press embargoes will be honored. For readers, our MacRumorsLive coverage will be back with notable improvements based on previous feedback.

MacRumors MWSF Reader Meetup - If you are interested in joining us in a casual meetup at Macworld, please express your interest in this forum poll. The meetup would take place in the evening on Monday, January 14th.

MacUpdate End of Sale, Price Increasing - MacUpdate's Mac App Bundle is coming to a close, with only 2 days left. Three new applications have been included, bringing the total number of applications to 13. Pricing has started to increase gradually as the deadline approaches, so now is the time if you are considering this bundle. (MacRumors is a promotional partner of MacUpdate's and sales of this bundle support this site.)

Apple has released MacBook, MacBook Pro Software Update 1.1 today which addresses a keyboard-freezing issue seen by many MacBook and MacBook Pro users under Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard:

This update addresses a responsiveness issue on MacBook and MacBook Pro notebook computers. Some MacBook and MacBook Pro systems may occasionally experience a temporary suspension of keyboard input which can last a minute or longer. The Mac OS X 10.5.1 update is required before installing the MacBook, MacBook Pro Software Update 1.1.

There has been lengthy discussion of this problem on Apple's support forums.

Apple has released Sonic The Hedgehog for the iPod (iTunes link).

The $4.99 game, made by Sega, is available for all iPods that are game-compatible, including the 3rd generation iPod Nano, the 5th generation iPod, and iPod Classic.

The original ground-breaking title makes its debut on the iPod! Rocket Sonic, the fastest blue hedgehog on earth, through hair-raising loop-de-loops and dizzying dives past pubbling lava, waterfalls and on as you gather up Rings and stop Dr.Eggman's schemes for world domination!

Sonic the Hedgehog was a popular platform game that first made its appearance for the Sega Genesis game system. LimeiBook86 has posted a Youtube video of the game in action.

See Also: Sonic The Hedgehog Wikipedia

Apple has issued security updates for Mac OS X 10.5.1, 10.4.11 (PPC), and 10.4.1 (Universal) today. The individual packages affected are listed:

Mac OS X 10.5.1: Core Foundation, CUPS, Flash Player Plug-in, Launch Services, perl, python, Quick Look, ruby, Safari, Samba, Shockwave Plug-in, Spin Tracer

Mac OS X 10.4.11: Address Book, CUPS, ColorSync, Core Foundation, Desktop Services, Flash Player Plug-in, gnutar, iChat, IO Storage Family, Launch Services, Mail, perl, python, ruby, Samba, Safari, Shockwave Plug-in, SMB, Spotlight, tcpdump, XQuery

A detailed breakdown of the security fixes is not yet available available on Apple's site. The updates are recommended for all users.

The Apple Store updated with last minute Christmas shipping deadlines on Apple products from the Apple Store. All standard configuration Macs must be purchased by December 19th, 2007 with standard shipping or December 21st with overnight shipping to ensure delivery by Christmas.

Our Buyer's Guide, however, does not recommend buying MacBook Pros or Mac Pros at this time due to the long lead time since their last update. Rumors have also placed Mac Pro and MacBook Pro revisions in the near future with number of new Intel processors now available for the future machines. To balance this recommendation, however, readers should realize that updates could still be 1-2 months away, with Macworld Expo (January 15th) being the earliest possible date that these upgrades would be announced. And even if announced at Macworld, actual shipping dates could be delayed beyond that date.

Readers should, however, feel comfortable buying new iPods, as most of the iPod line saw dramatic revisions as recently as September (Classic, Nano, Shuffle, Touch). It seems unlikely that iPods will see major revisions in the near future, though minor storage increases are always possible. iMacs have also been seen relatively recent and significant updates, and could also be comfortably purchased at this time.

Recommendations for Cinema Displays, Mac Minis, Apple TV, MacBook and iPhone are trickier due to individual circumstances and are dealt with separately:

Cinema Displays, Mac Minis - historical data for these updates are inconsistent, with rumors of Mac Mini's possibly being discontinued in the near future. Cinema Displays infrequently get major upgrades, and instead get intermittent price drops. Readers may find greater value in 3rd party LCDs at this time.

MacBook - Despite a November 2007 update, the MacBook could see competition with the Apple Sub-notebook expected at Macworld in January. So, unless you are certain that this ultra-portable will not change your decision, it would be best to wait to buy a MacBook until January 15th.

iPhone, AppleTV - as new consumer electronic devices, Apple has not yet defined the frequency of these updates. Apple TV's future remains entirely open ended as Apple could decide to simply leave its specs stable for some time as it represents an "appliance" device rather than an ongoing platform. However, being a year since its introduction, we would buy cautiously.

The iPhone, however, has more pressure to receive timely updates due to ongoing competition. The iPhone is rumored to see its next major revision in Mid-to-Late 2008. The biggest upgrade expected is a 3G chipset which has been promised for 2008. Whether or not to buy an iPhone now really depends on the your individual need for 3G and if potentially waiting until late 2008 is feasible.

The 1394 Trade Association announced a new S3200 specification that will deliver speeds up to 3.2 gigabits per second over FireWire. This represents a four-fold improvement over the existing FireWire 800 specification found in current Macs.

The new specification builds on the existing 1394b standard by using the same cables and connectors that are already deployed in existing FireWire 800 products. S3200 is expected to be ratified by early February.

"The S3200 standard will sustain the position of IEEE 1394 as the absolute performance leader in multi-purpose I/O ports for consumer applications in computer and CE devices," said James Snider, executive director, 1394 Trade Association. "There is a very clear migration path from 800 Megabits/second to 3.2 Gigabits/second, with no need for modifications to the standard and no requirement for new cables or connectors."

The increased bandwidth would permit S3200 to transmit uncompressed high definition signals over long distances at a lower cost than HDMI.

The GarageBand 4.1.1 update yesterday introduced an unexpected feature -- the creation of custom (free) Ringtones for the iPhone.

An Apple support document details the procedure:

To create a custom ringtone
1. Set up a cycle region that covers the area you wish to use in the GarageBand song. Note: This area must be 40 seconds or less in length.
2. Once the cycle area has been set, choose Share > Send Ringtone to iTunes.

Requirements
- GarageBand 4.1.1 or later
- iTunes 7.5 or later
- iPhone with software version 1.1.2 or later

Apple introduced Ringtone support into iTunes and the iPhone in September of this year. The feature, however, was originally limited to converting iTunes Store songs at the price of $.99/each. A number of workarounds and 3rd party utilities have since appeared to fill the gap for free custom iTunes ringtones, but each iTunes revision has caused issues with these tools.