Setup

Both Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion are easy to install. Both offer setup assistants that guide users through creating a virtual machine and offer configuration suggestions based on the operating system being installed and the hardware specifications of the Mac.

Fusion takes advantage of the dual-core processors used in almost all Intel Macs by allowing you designate whether the virtual machine will be able to use one or both cores. This is a nice feature because you can opt to retain the processing power of one core exclusively for Mac OS X and Mac applications, or you can throw all the processing power to the virtual machine.

Parallels makes setup much easier than Fusion with its "Express Windows OS Installation Mode" that performs the entire install process of either Windows XP or Vista for you. All you need to do is enter your name and Windows activation key. This is both extremely user-friendly and a great-time saving convenience.

Both products offer a set of tools and specialized drivers for Windows to enhance its performance in a virtual environment. These tools offer things such as a shared folder that can be accessed from Windows and Mac OS X, the ability to respond to the cursor appropriately as you move into or out of the window containing the virtual machine, and enhanced hardware support. Both products also offer a tool for compressing the hard drive image file that serves as the virtual machine's hard drive.