Today Parallels announced the availability of the upgrade to version 9 of its desktop virtualization platform Parallels Desktop.
The new release supports the upcoming Windows 8.1, released yesterday in RTM, providing its own version of the start menu and includes the support for iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive and SkyDrive.
The highlights of this new version can be resumed as follows:
- Extends Power Nap support to Windows and Windows Applications
- Extends Mountain Lion gestures support to Windows Applications
- Supports Thunderbolt and Firewire devices in Windows VMs
In the press release Paralles also claims 40% better disk performance, virtual machines shut down up to 25% faster, suspend up to 20% faster, 3D graphics and web browsing is 15% faster than the previous version.
Parallels Desktop 9 is available starting from today Aug. 29 as an upgrade for current Parallels Desktop for Mac users. The full version will be available starting Sept. 5.