Parallels 8 beats out VMware Fusion 5 in extensive benchmark analysis

MacTech Magazine, which recently announced its upcoming MacTech BootCamp II, today looked at two of the most popular virtualization products for Mac with an in-depth benchmarking analysis of the most recent versions of Parallels Desktop 8 and VMware Fusion 5. We have seen Parallels 8 come out on top in benchmarks from previous reports, but this is by far the most comprehensive comparison.

MacTech put the two apps to the test in a number of areas including launching various OSes, application performance, 3D graphics tests, Retina Support, and much more. The conclusion: Parallels Desktop 8 won on the majority of general tests and 62 percent of 3D graphics tests.

In the vast majority of our overall tests, Parallels Desktop 8 won. Again, if you count up the general tests (including the top 3D graphics scores), Parallels won 56% of the tests by 10% or more. If you include all the tests where Parallels was at least 5% faster, as well as the balance of the 3DMark06 graphics tests, Parallels increased the lead further.

We recommend checking out MacTech’s lengthy analysis.

Parallels 8 for Mac currently sells for $55 on Amazon, while VMware Fusion 5 is available for as low as $46.99.