Parallels reports that, according to research conducted by the Crimson Consulting Group, Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac performs “22 percent faster than the nearest Windows-on-Mac competitor in standard productivity testing of Windows 7 64-bit on a MacBook Pro.” Testers in eWEEK’s labs, however, preferred VMware’s Fusion 3.

Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac is available in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish, with Chinese, Czech, Hungarian, Japanese, Polish and Russian coming in the next few weeks. It’s priced at $79.99 (£48), which the company says includes $175 (£106) worth of additional software for free.

Existing customers can update their software for $49.99 (£30), and customers who purchased Version 4 on or after 1 October, and still have a proof of purchase, are entitled to a free upgrade. The solution can be purchased at Apple stores, Amazon.com, Best Buy, Target and a number of other retailers.

A free trial is available at the Parallels’ website.