Parallels Desktop for Mac by Parallels, Inc., is software providing hardware virtualization for Macintosh computers with Intel processors.
Parallels Desktop for Mac by Parallels, Inc., is software providing hardware virtualization for Macintosh computers with Intel processors.
Parallels Desktop for Mac is a hardware emulation virtualization software, using hypervisor technology that works by mapping the host computer’s hardware resources directly to the virtual machine’s resources. Each virtual machine thus operates identically to a standalone computer, with virtually all the resources of a physical computer.
Because all guest virtual machines use the same hardware drivers irrespective of the actual hardware on the host computer, virtual machine instances are highly portable between computers. For example, a running virtual machine can be stopped, copied to another physical computer, and restarted.
Parallels Desktop for Mac is able to virtualize a full set of standard PC hardware, including:
- A virtualized CPU of the same type as the host's physical processor, ACPI compliance system,
- A generic motherboard compatible with the Intel i965 chipset,
- Up to 8 GB of RAM for guest virtual machines,
- Up to 1 GB of video RAM (VRAM),
- VGA and SVGA video adapter with VESA 3.0 support and OpenGL and DirectX acceleration,
- A 1.44 MB floppy drive, which can be mapped to a physical drive or to an image file,
- Up to four IDE devices. This includes virtual hard drives ranging in size from 20 MB to 2 TB each and CD/DVD-ROM drives. Virtual CD/DVD-ROM drives can be mapped to either physical drives or ISO image files.
- DVD/CD-ROM “pass-through” access,
- Up to four serial ports that can be mapped to a pipe or to an output file,
- Up to three bi-directional parallel ports, each of which can be mapped to a real port, to a real printer, or to an output file,
- An Ethernet virtual network card compatible with Realtek RTL8029(AS), capable of up to 16 network interface connections,
- Up to eight USB 2.0 devices and two USB 1.1 devices,
- An AC'97-compatible sound card.
- A 104-key Windows enhanced keyboard and a PS/2 wheel mouse.
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallels_Desktop_for_Mac
