VMware Fusion 4 [Old Version]

I totally recommend it! It made my life easier. I am currently use Visual Studio 2010, SQL Server and Office 2007 on a virtual machine and it runs perfect.

Simply put, this product rocks!!!! My VMWare fusion 2 & 3 was slow and sluggish and was incompatible OSX 10.7 (LION) for MAC. VMWare fusion 4 installed and after an updated my VMs ran much smoother and more efficiently than ever.

but remember the one box does THREE macs !

Im using VMware on my mid-2010 Macbook Pro running a 2.4GHz Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM. I installed Windows 7 in the VWware environment. Overall, Windows is running great and practically seamless with VMware. My Macbook does run a little warmer and causes the fans to spin faster and louder, but its not that big a difference. My favorite feature is being able to associate a Windows-only application, such as Windows Media Player, to its particular file extension in Mac OS X (so if I click a WMV file in Mac, then it will open up in Windows Media Player through VMware)

I upgraded from fusion 3 and wish I hadnt. Outside of faster boot times, I cant tell the difference in performance, but lost USB support and it no longer automatically releases the mouse when you try to move out of the VMWare window.

I tried multiple times to get this to install on my macbook air, but while it seemed to recognize the USB key, it would not install the product on my machine. I ended up getting the program elsewhere, and it installed properly, so there must have been something wrong with the USB I received.

I have had no problems running VMWare Fusion 4 with a Windows 98 and various Linux installations. But...Im not happy about the fact that it requires a paid upgrade only a year later in order to maintain compatibility with Mountain Lion. I was happy using VirtualBox for virtualization prior to VMWare, and will be going back to that stable, reliable and free Open Source solution (available from Oracle).

If you buy this with a Mac and expect a rebate, dont hold your breath. Ive tried twice and both times got stiffed. I have heard from others that this is some kind of racket with this company - promise a rebate and then never send it. If its worth it to you at full price, knock yourself out, but plan on not getting your rebate.

I have decided that the low cost of a small laptop that comes with Windows 8 already loaded is a better option than running an additional OS that also costs money on my iMac. I never knew where I was with FUSION 4 and disliked the uncertainty. Let each OS do its own thing.

Easy drag & drop install and works well. Running it on a 2010 era MacBook Pro with 8 GB of memory.