I can't answer your question about why it's slow in these tests, but I do own Parallels (7), and have used VirtualBox extensively.
Some background: I use Parallels for local testing of build-scripts that I use to turn up Rails hosting infrastructure. A "full stack" build script turns up some basic compile tools and utilities, Ruby 1.9.3, Apache, Passenger, and MySQL. All of this is built from a base snapshot: a Debian netinst installation with nothing but root and a non-superuser account. No other packages added or configured at install.
My scripts write timestamps at the beginning and end of the process. With "nothing" running on my host MacBook Pro, Parallels and VirtualBox both take within seconds of each other (around 14m45s) to build an app server, so for my usage, Parallels doesn't represent much of an advantage. I use Parallels for my hosts mostly because I'm familiar with it's configuration tools and supporting application config. I wouldn't spent the money on it unless you use one of the operating systems for tasks they demonstrated will run much faster.
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I can't answer your question about why it's slow in these tests, but I do own Parallels (7), and have used VirtualBox extensively.
Some background: I use Parallels for local testing of build-scripts that I use to turn up Rails hosting infrastructure. A "full stack" build script turns up some basic compile tools and utilities, Ruby 1.9.3, Apache, Passenger, and MySQL. All of this is built from a base snapshot: a Debian netinst installation with nothing but root and a non-superuser account. No other packages added or configured at install.
My scripts write timestamps at the beginning and end of the process. With "nothing" running on my host MacBook Pro, Parallels and VirtualBox both take within seconds of each other (around 14m45s) to build an app server, so for my usage, Parallels doesn't represent much of an advantage. I use Parallels for my hosts mostly because I'm familiar with it's configuration tools and supporting application config. I wouldn't spent the money on it unless you use one of the operating systems for tasks they demonstrated will run much faster.