Parallels 8 with Retina Support Now Available for Existing Customers

Parallels has announced Parallels 8 upgrades for the Mac for existing Parallels Desktop customers.

“People don’t need to make an either/or choice between Mac and Windows because Macs running Parallels Desktop 8 empower people to simultaneously use applications that best suit their needs – regardless of whether it’s an app for OS X, Windows, Google Chrome OS, Ubuntu, or even Android,” said Parallels CEO Birger Steen.

So what's new?

- Speak, don’t type – Use the new Mountain Lion Dictation tool across both Windows and Mac environments 
- Open in Internet Explorer – When a website doesn’t render well within Safari, launch it in Internet Explorer with a click of a button 
- Parallels Wizard – Download and automatically install Windows or other operating systems (OSes) including Google Chrome OS, Ubuntu and Android on your Mac. 
- Windows apps on OS X Launchpad – Add Windows applications to the Mountain Lion or Lion Launchpad to quickly launch Mac and Windows applications used most 
- Consolidated notifications – Integration of Windows notifications into the Mac OS X Notification Center makes it easy to stay updated on Windows virtual machine operations 
- Mountain Lion gestures for Windows apps – Enjoy seamless integration of Mountain Lion gestures with Windows apps such as pinch to zoom, Mission Control, three-finger drag, swipe between full-screen apps, two-finger scroll, Launchpad and rotate 
- Retina display support – Enjoy stunning Retina display resolution in Windows OS and Windows applications to see crisper fonts, vivid photos, images and animations 
- Improved Parallels Desktop 8 performance - up to 30 percent faster for input/output (I/O) operations, 30 percent faster for games and up to 25 percent faster for virtual machine operations such as boot, suspend, shutdown and resume, when compared to Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac

 Parallels 8 will be available starting today as an upgrade for existing Parallels Desktop users. The upgrade is priced at $49.99.

The full version will become available for both online and retail stores for $79.99 on September 4th. Customers who purchased Parallels Desktop 7 for the Mac on or after July 25, 2012, are eligible for a free upgrade.