Parallels 3.0 Supports 3D Windows Gaming, SmartSelect

By Seamus Byrne on June 1, 2007 at 7:45 AM

One of the main reasons why Mac users still use Boot Camp to run Windows Natively instead using virtualization software likeParallels is its lack of 3D gaming (OpenGL and DirectX) support. In Parallels Desktop version 3.0, now in final candidate development, you can finally use 3D gaming without rebooting.

The other major feature is “SmartSelect”, which allows users to open a file in either a OS X or Windows program directly from OS X. You won’t have to fire up the Windows program first and open it the long way. New versions cost $79 and upgrade versions are $39 if you buy before June 6. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Parallels via MacWorld]

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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)

  • Penguinister
    June 1, 2007 at 12:49 PM

    Ive been pretty impressed with parallels and having 3D support for Windows games etc means I can finally throw my dedicated Windows gaming machine out the door and run Linux/OSX/Windows all on one machine (just add heaps of ram).

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  • Seamus
    June 1, 2007 at 1:03 PM

    Yes, this is awesome news. I’ve been dual-booting to Vista for when I need it, but if I can move to pure virtualisation I’ll be a very happy boy.

    And I reckon a Mac is currently the best Vista environment – we have a closed hardware set, so when you Boot Camp install, you get a set of drivers for everything. More than you can say for many PC installs.

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  • Michael
    June 1, 2007 at 8:58 PM

    Parallels seriously has to be one of the greatest and most innovative pieces of non-OS software ever written. What these guys have managed to do is nothing short of brilliant. On my Intel iMac with 1.5Gb RAM, XP runs flawlessly with a 512MB allocation of RAM. I don’t use XP much, but for things like Etax (the ATO software), it is so friggin’ handy to be able to boot into XP without any issues at all.

    Showing Parallels off to my friends is one of coolest geek tricks I have.

    Permalink Reply

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