I am writing this review and rating it only 3 stars, but I continue to love Parallels. I actually hope that others will buy Parallels 9 and then call, write, and chat with the support team to complain about the loss of Parallels Mobile and its replacement with a more expensive, but more functional version called Parallels Access. Hopefully, people reaching out and complaining will push them to re-visit their idea.
So, here's my review of the actual software.
Parallels makes upgrading easy. I just popped in the Desktop 9 CD, then realized that they will let me download it. I prefer to download as the CD will never survive in my house. If I ever needed to re-install, then I will have to have it. So, I downloaded the software and hit install. It found my Parallels 8 and replaced it. All of my OS's are still there.
Now my Dropbox and Google drive docs are available on the Windows machine. This may seem like nothing, but I can access my Photo Stream, my iCloud Docs (which I don't use), and my Google Drive docs straight from my Windows machine without having to create shares and links or by installing and mirroring the same data on the Windows machine. This is very nice and makes it much easier for me to update a file and know it will be pushed to Google Drive or Dropbox.
Parallels Access is a subscription which will turn a lot of people off. Access will set you back $19.99 per year. Access will set you back $19.99 per year. When you think about it, $20 for a year of this service is totally worth it.
The last time I upgraded my Mac, I had an issue because Parallels stopped working. Apparently, Parallels Desktop 7 worked for Lion (10.7), but not Mountain Lion (10.8). That was a frustration that I wanted to avoid. When Mavericks (10.9) comes out, I can upgrade my laptop without worrying that all of my Parallels Operating Systems will shut down. I use the windows side for some of the work that I do and that was frustrating to realize that I couldn't access Windows until I upgraded Parallels. In their defense, they notated this on their website and had sent emails that I must have missed. I was pleased that the issue was documented and easy to see if I searched.
Parallels has replaced Parallels Mobile with Parallels Access as of this version. First off, what are these things, you might ask. These are Apps that you run on your iPhone/iPad which allows you to takeover your remote machine. I can sit at the coffee shop and remember I needed to hit send on an email. I grab my phone, open the Parallels Mobile app, and it connects to my laptop at home, shows me the desktop, and lets me do what I need to do. You don't have to setup your router or anything. Just have Parallels running and you're good to go. * The downside, Parallels Mobile worked for iPhone and iPad. This meant that if I just had my phone, I was still good. Parallels Mobile was introduced around version 7 and now it's being phased out. It's being phased out in favor of Parallels Access, which does the same thing, but costs $79.99/yr and doesn't currently work on the iPhone. When you connect with Parallels Access, the computer you takeover gets all funky as Parallels us tweaking the desktop resolution so that it can show you one Mac/Windows application at a time. * The upside, Parallels Access is pretty sweet. You can takeover just one Mac/Windows Application at a time. You don't have to re-size the application to perfectly fit in the screen. They have taken the iPad finger strokes and made them work when you are taking over a remote computer. It's pretty amazing and has allowed me to get more done faster.
Parallels Access might be worth $20/yr to me, but not $79.99. It's worth even less to me because I don't have a choice. Parallels Mobile is End of Purchase. http://www.parallels.com/support/desktop-virtualization/mobile/ This means that you can't get it anymore and those of us that have been with them for years can't use it if we want to upgrade. If the next Mac upgrade to Mavericks works the same, then once I upgrade my Mac, I will have to upgrade Parallels and lose access to Parallels Mobile. (This is what I was talking about on the first paragraph. Please phone, chat, Skype, and email support. Please push for Parallels Mobile to come back or Parallels Access to be reasonably priced.)
I love Parallels and they have always come out with something new and some reason that it's worth it to me to upgrade. This is the first time I wouldn't want to give 5 stars. I still love them and want to stick with them. If you are choosing between Parallels and Fusion, I'd still say to go with Parallels. We just need them to get a little less cocky and be more open with us the consumers.
I would recommend this item to a friend!This review is from Parallels Desktop for Mac - Use Windows Applications alongside your Mac Apps!.
Parallels is best known to Mac users as one of the handful of companies—including VMWare and a couple of others—that make apps enabling you to run Windows on your Mac. Now the company is entering a much more crowded niche: Its new iOS app Parallels Access lets you connect to a remote Mac from your iPad and so 'run' Mac apps on your tablet. In doing so, it joins the likes of GoToMyPC, LogMeIn, TeamViewer HD, and SplashTop Remote Desktop, as well as VNC clients like Mocha VNC, among many, many others.
So if Parallels Access isn’t exactly unique in what it does, how does it expect to differentiate itself in that crowded field? By making remotely accessed Mac programs act as much like native iOS apps as possible. Based on my preliminary testing with the app, here’s how it works.
Installation and setup
Installing Parallels Access is a simple, two-step process. First you install an iOS client via the App Store. From that client app, you log into your existing Parallels account or create a new one. You then install a Mac “agent” on your desktop or laptop and log into that same account from there; the Mac app must be running in order for the remote access to work. (The Mac installer is smart enough to check your system’s sleep settings and advise you whether you need to adjust them; if your Mac goes to sleep while you’re remotely accessing it from your iPad, you’ll be out of business.) There’s an Access agent for Windows machines, too, so you can control those from your iPad as well.
With those two bits of software in place, you launch the iPad app, which will then show you a list of the Macs that are registered to your account.
Parallels Access Review
Tap on the one you want and you’ll enter a Launchpad-like interface showing you a bunch of your Mac apps. (Which is to say it looks like a standard iOS home screen, but with Mac icons.)
Parallels says that, by default, this initial list shows the Mac apps you use most commonly, but you can add and delete apps as you see fit: Just tap the Edit button in the upper right corner to delete or the plus-sign (+) to add. There’s also a handy search field, which will find any app with your search string, not just those on that default home screen.
The interface
When you tap on one of the icons on that home screen, the Mac app opens smoothly; I noticed no lag between my taps and the app’s response. (That’s not always the case with this kind of remote access.) If you were near the Mac you’re connecting to, you’d see the app open in full-screen mode on your Mac’s display(s). You could type and move the cursor from your Mac input devices, but the interface would be zoomed in on the one app that’s open on your tablet.
Access isn’t just mirroring your Mac’s screen on your iPad: It’s overlaying its own interface on your OS X apps. That means you interact with Mac apps by tapping, tapping-and-holding, clicking, dragging, and so on. A regular one-finger tap on the iPad produces a single left-click on your Mac, a two-finger tap creates a right-click, a slide of your finger scrolls the screen, and so on.
On the right side of the screen, you’ll see a small toolbar with four icons on it. You can swipe over the toolbar left-to-right to hide it, then swipe in from right edge of the screen to have it reappear.
The top icon on that toolbar summons a Dock-like interface at the bottom of the screen, showing all of the apps that are currently open on your Mac. To switch to another app, you tap its icon there.
Parallels For Mac
Below that on the toolbar there’s a Launchpad icon; you use that to summon that initial home screen with your Mac app icons; you can open new apps there.
Next there’s the familiar gear icon for settings. Tap on that to control six settings:
- Additional Keys (which lets you summon special keyboard keys, about which more below);
- Mouse Pointer (tap on that to get a mouse-click toolbar that makes it easier to effect left- or right-clicks);
- Desktop Mode (which gives you a fuller OS X desktop, including the top menubar and the Dock);
- Sound On/Off;
- Feedback; and
- Help.
Finally, below that Settings icon, there’s a keyboard button that summons the Access keyboard. That keyboard is the standard iOS one, plus a set of special keys at the top: Escape; Tab; F1 through F12 keys; Delete; a button with a grid-like icon on it that, when tapped provides Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn keys; Shift; Ctrl; Alt; Command; and cursor arrow keys.
The Access keyboard doesn’t let you “chord” keys—in other words, you can’t use standard OS X keyboard combinations such as ⌘-B, ⌘-C, and so on. Instead, you must use the iOS-standard context menu (summoned by selecting text or whatever else you’re working on, depending on the app, then tapping the selection). On the plus side, you can use iPad dictation for input in your Mac apps.
Because you’re running OS X, you can run multiple apps at once, switching from one to the other using that app-switcher button in the toolbar. But because you’re in iOS, the Access interface is really optimized for running one app at a time. So if you need to hop among multiple apps, the Access interface could be frustrating.
Tapping on elements of an app’s interface—buttons in the Office ribbon, for example—works really well, in part because Parallels intelligently interprets taps that are close to buttons; you don’t have to hit them exactly.
Final thought
While Parallels Access does indeed provide a nice, smooth iOS interface to Mac programs, that’s not to say the app does so uniquely enough to clearly distinguish itself from the other iPad apps that do much the same thing. For that final word (as well as word on whether and how well you can stream video or transfer files from your Mac to iPad), you’ll have to wait for our review.
Parallels Access will sell for an $80 annual subscription; you’ll need a separate subscription for each Mac (and PC) agent you install.