Parallels on Wednesday issued a Parallels Desktop for Mac update that removes memory limitations, enabling it to run on Mac Pro desktops with up to 16GB of RAM, enhances USB support, and offers support for Windows Vista as a guest OS and for Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard" as a primary OS.
Other changes include a hard disk caching tool that improves Mac OS X performance while Parallels is running, and better sound and video quality in virtual machines.
The full version of Parallels Desktop For Mac sells for US$79.99. It requires Mac OS X v10.4.6, an Intel processor, 512MB RAM (1GB recommended), and 30MB of available hard drive space (15GB recommended). The software can run Microsoft 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP, 2003, and Vista RC2, as well as many Linux distributions, including SUSE, Red Hat, Debian, Fedora Core, and Mandriva.