Dual - booting is n’t your only solution to run Windows on a Mac . On Thursday , Parallelsannounced the public beta release of Parallels Workstation for Intel Macs , their virtual automobile engineering science . It ’s available for free download now .

Already institute on PCs , Parallels Workstation now lets Intel - based Mac users go multiple operating systems side - by - side , operate as “ practical simple machine ” that function inside a window on the Mac OS XTC screen background . Each practical automobile runs as a standalone system , and can support almost any X86 - based operating organization , admit flavors of Unix , Linux and Microsoft Windows .

On Wednesday , Apple issue a public genus Beta of its own , call Boot Camp — software that enable Intel - found Macs to run in a dual - boot configuration , operating either Mac OS X or Windows XP separately .

It ’s Parallels Workstation ’s ability to “ virtualize ” machine operations and run in a windowpane that makes it fundamentally dissimilar — and therefore more sympathetic to certain users — than Apple ’s offering , said Parallels Marketing Manager Benjamin Rudolph . Rudolph likened dual booting to cramp a Ferrari sports railcar with modest operation part .

“ Why would you want to rick your Mac into a PC , essentially , when you may get the same functionality while still running Mac OS X ? ” Rudolph asked . “ Parallels Workstation enable you to go on to operate the software you need without disrupting your work flow . ”

Rudolph call virtualization system like Parallels Workstation the “ Holy Grail ” of Mac users who need to run Windows or other operating system but do n’t want to be encumber with having to reboot to do so , or retain a separate computer on their desk .

Parallels plan a GA , or General Availability , release in the next several weeks . In the interim , they ’re publicly beta testing Parallels Workstation 2.1 for the Macintosh and offer it as a free download . Once the software is released it ’ll cost $ 49 to register . The cost of X86 - based operating system software is disjoined .

Leverages Intel technology

Rudolph toldMacworldthat Parallels Workstation calculate on Intel ’s “ Virtualization Technology ” — a feature built into the new Core Duo chipset used by Apple ’s current Intel - based offerings — in fiat to function . This applied science is different from Rosetta , the Transitive - based engineering that allows Intel - based Macs to hunt many software applications tooled for PowerPC microprocessor .

Virtualization Technology is part of a assemblage of hardware enhancement developed by Intel to help make it possible to run multiple operating systems on a single chip . The company has evangelized the technology to business organisation and IT departments as a way of supporting legacy operating system of rules software and app software on newer hardware . Virtualization Technology also has benefit for home users — dedicating resources to specific applications to help bolster defenses against computer virus and other malware .

Virtualization versus Emulation

hunt down Windows in a windowpane on the Mac OS X desktop sounds a tidy sum like emulation , such as run Microsoft ’s practical PC — which is n’t currently plump for on Intel Macs — or an open source machine emulator , like Qemu or Bochs .

There ’s a key difference between emulation and virtualization , however . Virtualization leverages the computer ’s own computer hardware : It takes a computer ’s CPU and zone its attention into multiple context — part of the time it ’s pay attention to Mac OS X , part of the time it ’s pay attention to Windows , Linux , or whatever other operating systems are run away on the virtual simple machine . Emulation provides a software - found variation of a full figurer . And while that can be utilitarian under certain circumstances , it ’s also a lot slower .

There ’s another practical upper side to virtualization , as well — you’re able to be given multiple practical machines simultaneously . So a developer who wants to debug his multi - platform package in Mac OS X , Linux and Windows can keep several virtual political machine working at once , and hop from lock system to operating system as need be .

So how does the performance of Parallels Workstation compare ? Dramatically better than emulation , consort to Rudolph , but perhaps not quite as fast as a native Windows surround . “ nigh to nigh - native ” is how Parallels identify performance in its press dismission .

Rudolph say any possible tradeoffs in carrying into action will be worth it to many people , however , as they do n’t have to reboot their Macs in edict to get Windows or other operating system working .

Parallels Workstation require an Intel - based Mac running Mac OS X v10.4.4 or afterward . It does not fend for PowerPC - based systems . Parallels Workstation requires a free 30 - solar day activation key to operate ; the activating key can be retrieved by signing up on the Web land site .