A look at what’s new in Parallels 6 for Mac

Parallels have announced the 6th version of Parallels for Mac and with over 80 new features and up to 40 percent speed improvements on the previous version. However, it’s probably only gamers and iPad users who will feel compelled to upgrade.

Since the release of Steam for Mac, Parallels have had to up the stakes by making gaming on Windows in Parallels quicker with a wider range of DirectX games:

3D graphics are rendered quicker (up to 80% quicker according to Parallels) and games sound better thanks to the support of 5.1 surround sound:

In addition, a new iPad feature allows users to stop and start virtual machines in Parallels using their iPad.

There are goodies for other users too though. Probably one of the most interesting new features is the possibility to use Spotlight to find Windows files and applications:

Mac keyboard shortcuts now work in Windows too as do parental controls.

All this plus adding USB devices has now been made much slicker and Parallels have announced that in addition to the English, French, Italian, German and Spanish version currently available, Russian and Japanese will soon also be added.