Parallels Desktop 5.0 for Mac

Parallels Desktop 5.0 for Mac is a low-end program. It is designed to allow a user to run Windows 7 side by side with Mac OS X. It features the ability to drag and drop files between operating systems, and the ability to run Windows without rebooting.

The software, once installed, allows a user to drag and drop files between Windows 7 and Mac OS X with ease. This lets a user switch files easily to each operating system and back, in case a file isn't compatible with one of them, they can just run it with the other. Parallels Desktop 5.0 for Mac is also able to run Windows 7 at the same time as OS X without rebooting. It is able to achieve this by running Windows 7 through a virtual machine, which lets the user run an OS in a window through devoting a certain amount of RAM and harddisk space. This specific virtual machine requires at least 1GB of RAM, and 450MB of HDD space. The user themselves may choose how much extra space they want the virtual Windows 7 OS to have for itself. Since the user can run Windows 7 in a window, they can do whatever they need to do with Windows 7 without having to wait and reboot their Mac. To avoid glitches and slowdown, it is recommended that the user has one of the following operating systems installed on their Mac: OS X 10.4.11 or higher, OS X 10.5.2 or higher, or OS X 10.6.x (32 or 64 bit) or higher running on an Intel Mac. When compared to a similar product, Codeweaver's CrossOver Mac, Parallels Desktop 5.0 for Mac has an advantage in that it can actually run Windows 7 itself, and not just the programs for it.