Parallels vs VM Ware Fusion

At home, I use Parallels on a MacBook Pro 2.6Ghz with 8GB RAM. Guest OS = Win XP, 2 CPUs, 2GB RAM.
At work, I use VMWare Fusion on a Mac Pro 8x2.6Ghz with 12GB RAM. Guest OS = Win 7 64bit, 8 CPUs, 5GB RAM.

In both cases, I have a second monitor and run the guest OS full screen on the second monitor.

For a while I preferred Parallels, but I put that down to familiarity.

However, just recently, I've started playing a game (League of Legends - lots of fun). So I've got quite a good comparison point now. And basically Parallels is the clear winner. Here's a few reasons why:

• Way better audio. VM Ware has a terrible audio latency, which makes working any form of media just plain annoying.
• Way better graphics. Interestingly enough, LoL claims to do 45fps in VMWare Fusion and 30fps in Parallels, but the experience of watching it is clear: Parallels is way smoother. Frame rates vary, and VMWare is really jerky and unresponsive.
• UI responsiveness. Really important for games, the machine needs to respond to keyboard and mouse events quickly. Parallels does, VMWare doesn't.
• Mac-Windows integration is just more clever in my opinion. I get one app switcher (CMD+TAB) for mac and windows apps using Parallels. In VMWare I get a mac-switcher and a windows-switcher. There's more than that, but I'm not going to go through them all.

There's lots of other more technical comparisons between them, but I think what I've mentioned above is very relevant because it's how I as a user experience it.

So, if you want to play games, or use anything media related (even watching YouTube), then go for Parallels and not VM Ware.

How to Import a VMWare image into Parallels

I spent ages reading around on the web for the best and easiest way to import a VM Ware vm into Parallels. Parallels Transporter is an option, but it requires the guest VM to be running, which may not be useful if it's a downloaded appliance image or whatever.

The answer is frightfully simple (although hard to find).

1. Launch Parallels.
2. File -> Open, and select the VM Ware image.
3. Save.

Done, converting. It'll take a while, this image is big. Let's see how it goes...