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VMware Fusion 2
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List Price:
$79.99
Homebizpc.com Price:
$62.99
Your Savings: $ 17.00 ( 21% )
Subject To Change Without Notice
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Smith Micro Software Inc.
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Binding: CD-ROM
Brand: Smith Micro Software Inc.
EAN: 0717103883675
Feature: Run Windows side-by-side with Mac OS X without rebooting
Format: CD-ROM
Label: Smith Micro Software Inc.
Manufacturer: Smith Micro Software Inc.
Model: VMFM20BX2
Platform: Mac OS X Intel
Publisher: Smith Micro Software Inc.
Release Date: 2008-10-05
Studio: Smith Micro Software Inc.
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Features
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Run Windows side-by-side with Mac OS X without rebooting
Run Windows applications across multiple screens; instantly launch Windows applications from any Mac file, the Dock and more
Use Exposé to switch between Windows and Mac applications; minimize Windows applications to the Dock
Run 3D games, design software and other graphics-intensive apps with support for DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 2 3D hardware-accelerated graphics
Use Windows-only USB devices on your Mac, including GPS receivers, cell phones, PDAs, and iSight cameras
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Editorial Reviews:
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Who says you can t have it all?Seamlessly run your favorite Windows applications on the Mac with VMware Fusion. Instantly launch Windows applications from any Mac file the Dock and more. Run Windows side-by-side with Mac OS X without rebooting and quickly switch between Windows and Mac applications with Expos . You can even bring your entire PC along virtually using VMware Converter. Windows really is better on the Mac.Get the best of both worlds.Moving to the Mac is easy.Getting started is a breeze. Import your existing Windows PC with VMware Converter or easily install a new Windows OS in a few simple steps with Windows Easy Install.Graduate from Boot Camp.VMware Fusion is the perfect complement to Apple s Boot Camp. No more choosing between Mac or Windows on boot; run Windows side-by-side with Mac OS X from your existing partition. And when you re ready import your Boot Camp partition to reclaim extra space and enjoy great features such as Snapshots AutoProtect and Suspend and Resume.3D for you and me.Run 3D games design software and other graphics-intensive apps with support for DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 2 3D hardware accelerated graphics.Displays for days.Use Windows applications across as many displays as you please up to eight screens.Mac to the core.Built from the ground up for the Mac VMware Fusion works the way you expect with customizable tool bars Quick Look integration searchable Apple help and more.Airbags for your Mac.Take snapshots of your Windows installation and always have the option to roll back to a safe state in case of trouble. And with AutoProtect automated snapshots let you easily go back in time to before problems occurred.USB without limits.VMware Fusion lets you use Windows only USB devices on your Mac from GPS receivers to cell phones PDAs and even Apple iSight cameras.Keep the bugs away.To keep Windows XP and Windows Vista on your Mac as safe as possible VMware Fusion includes a complimentary 12-month subscription to McAfee VirusSca
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Very solid PC emulator for the Mac
Comment: When Mac introduced Intel chips they opened the door to finally be able to run PC software on the Mac. I rushed out and bought Parallels. When Parallels was the only game in town it was great. Sure Parallels crashed sometimes, and would often lose its internet connection. But it was great to be able to run PC's.
Now you have an established visualization leader, VMWare in the game. I've rarely seen VMWare crash or drop its internet connection. You're still not going to run 3d windows games at full power/extreme performance. But for everything short of video games, this product does quite well.
VMWare lets me use hardware that just does not support my Mac. I can plug in my TomTom, programmable remote control, Lego Mindstorms and other USB devices that do not have Mac programs. Or in the case of Mindstorms, do not have a very good Mac program!
If you want the best of both worlds, this is a great product!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Just what I needed!
Comment: I was sick and tired of rebooting my macbook every time to switch between mac os and windows. Fusion will save you time and frustration. I needed to run a windows program called swish that does not run on mac os. Fusion took care of the problem. Installation of fusion was pretty simple. I already had a partition from bootcamp so I am not sure how installation is if you haven't installed windows with bootcamp and starting fresh. Once installation was complete I was up and running. The application that I was using, "swish" was running very well. It was not lagging or running slow. You can use it full screen and have your macbook look like a windows machine. Or you can run windows and be able to use expose and switch between windows faster. Overall, I really love fusion. I am running windows xp instead of vista. Vista doesn't sound to good so I am sticking with xp. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to run applications that run on windows. If you have word, excel, etc and have the windows version, I would just purchase the mac os version instead.
Customer Rating:
Summary: VMWare gets better and better....
Comment: The best part of VMWare Fusion 2 is just how easy it is to use. Though a ton hasn't changed in terms of interface since version 1, the visuals have, and it's a lot more "21st Century" so to speak, with options laid out neatly etc.
Of course, and as you may have gathered from the product description and other reviews here, Fusion 2 is a way of booting your Windows XP/Vista (and other operating systems such as Linux etc) from within the Mac OS. For the sake of this review, I'm using the following:
MacBook Pro 2.53Ghz (late 2008 model)
4GB DDR3
320GB 7200rpm hard disk
Most people are using Fusion to install Windows, so I'll focus on that..
To install Fusion correctly, it's as simple as running the Fusion installer on the CD, and then following the instructions to install your Windows operating system. After a few simple configuration options (like how much RAM you want to allow the virtual OS to take up), you boot into Windows the first time using the installed application. That's all there is to it! The whole process is simple, and once you get into Windows for the first time, VMWare will install a few virtual software drivers automatically.
While running a virtual operating system isn't going to be as fast as running Windows via Boot Camp (i.e. rebooting into Windows without OS X running at all), I found Fusion 2 to be quite speedy. The slowest part of the whole procedure is unquestionably actually booting into Windows. Once this is done, assuming you have 2GB (or preferably 4GB) of system memory, you'll be good to go!
For the gamers in us, you'll be pleased to know that Fusion 2 is a tremendous improvement over Fusion 1. I didn't test gaming extensively, but I did test a few. Sam and Max Volume 1, and Titan Quest. Sam and Max Volume 1 ran absolutely wonderfully on my new MacBook Pro in the virtual OS, and even Titan Quest, a VERY tough game on ANY modern system, ran quite acceptably. I was not expecting this at all.
So, overall, Fusion 2 is a resounding success. In fact, as of 11/14/08, a new update 2.0.1. has been released, which addresses a few issues, and only serves to show that the VMWare team are dedicated to fixing all known issues. It was like this in version 1, and it seems like they are on the ball in version 2.
Two thumbs up for this release: 5/5.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Finally!!!
Comment: No way of getting around it, I'm thrilled with the VM Fusion 2!!! Granted, I'm not some big tech geek, but it does exactly what I needed it to do, and that's just fine. We'd recently made the move to Mac, but had a ton of old programs on my PC. I was worried I'd lose a all kinds of important stuff, but with this.. I'VE BEEN SAVED!!!! Not much more to say unless I type out a life story of a review like so many others, so I'll just stay short & to the point. With a relatively simple install you really do get the best of both worlds with "Fusion 2". If you're like me & are in the process of converting or just have both & wanna run various programs with both you need this product, GET IT!!!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: VM Ware Fusion 2: Peer Process Paralysis: Worst Support I've ever encountered.
Comment: I bought VM Ware Fusion 1 and then upgraded to VM Fusion 2. The initial version worked fine and was most effective.
As soon as I upgraded to Fusion 2, I received a notice of "failure to connect peer process." I have been completely unsuccessful at correcting the problem; so I cannot use my virtual machine.
I have tried to get help from Smith Micro and from VM Ware. Smith says they cannot help because I bought the upgrade through Amazon. VM Ware sends you in every direction but one that offers assistance to the non technician. It is almost impossible to speak to a human being at VM Ware unless I sign on and pay for support, even though I have just purchased the basic and upgraded program.
The result is I have a Mac and no ability to use the virtual machine and no ability to get direct assistance from VM Ware. This discourages me from ever buying a VM Ware product in the future.
L.M.M.
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