Parallels has released a 4th Beta of their much-hyped Workstation software for Intel-based Macs that allows OS virtualization (not just Windows) within Mac OS X. Improvements and fixes in this new beta include:

• Introduced full screen mode
• Introduced dual-monitor support
• Improved real CD/DVD support
• Improved, easier to use interface
• Better sound support, including a fix for Windows 2000 guest OS
• Networking kernel panics resolved
• Bridged networking issues fixed
• WiFi networking issues fixed
• Fixed some of the issues encountered when entering "Sleep" mode when a VM is running
• Many other minor bug fixes

Don't forget: in addition to running Windows XP within Mac OS X, one of the largest appeals of Parallels Workstation is that you can run a whole slew of other OSs from Windows 3.1 - 2003, any Linux distro, FreeBSD, Solaris, OS/2 and MS-DOS - all running inside a full-featured, secure environment within Mac OS X.

Despite my previous two posts on the topic, there are things to like about the Mac mini, and so I've decided not to return the machine. I still think it is overpriced and I also maintain that the Front Row performance over Bonjour is shoddy at best. However, if you keep all your media on the Mac mini, it works nicely as a little media server offering the local media up to my TV. My only complaint about that is that Front Row doesn't recognize my iPod and the content on it when it is mounted on the Mac mini, even though I can navigate and play all that content via iTunes itself.

I also discovered that the 512MB chip that I ripped out of my iMac when I upgraded it to 2GBs of RAM fits quite nicely and works well inside my Mac mini, which is now running 768MBs of RAM after an easy bit of tinkering (Photos of said tinkering after the jump). The added RAM has doubled the frame rate at which I can run World of Warcraft on my 32-inch HDTV. It's still a bit sluggish at 16-20fps in crowded areas, but it is playable and overall a cool experience while lounging on my couch with wireless bluetooth keyboard in lap and mouse to my side. Additionally, using this wonderful little program called iRecord, I can hook up my digital cable box to the mini via a FireWire cable and record shows in HDTV. Unfortunately, playing back these HDTV shows with their large 7.35GB size footprint (for an hour of video) via VLC seems a little beyond the capabilities of the mini as the video shows up as an animated series of stills during fast-moving sections. However, I can easily bring these large files over to my iMac where I can watch them and compress them to a smaller, more mini friendly format. Also, as a dev box, I am liking the mini. I can jump into it easily enough using Chicken of the VNC on my iMac and OSXvnc on the mini. I can also ssh in via the command line. Compiling code, while not blazingly fast, isn't snail-crawl slow either. So, I'm enjoying the box for what I bought it for, I just wish it had a Core Duo, came with more RAM, Bonjour video worked better, and it hadn't cost so much.

Hopefully, I'll have my hands on a new iMac later today, so that I can weigh in with a little video review of the new computer, but thank the Woz that the Japanese beat me to tearing open the new iMac! Now, I can simply direct your eager eyes over to this site, so that you can peep into the new iMacs sans the distractions of English, and, as a bonus, I no longer have to tear open my own machine....unless I need to. ;-)

Thanks, Robert!

Continuing the tradition of taking things apart as soon as they're released, a site by the name of KODAWARISAN has already dissected an Intel Dual Core iMac. The images aren't incredibly hi-res, but they should be good enough to keep you from doing the same to your zippy new iMac.

[via MacDailyNews]

I seem to remember a hack that came out shortly after the G5s shipping where someone claimed to have gutted the machine and replaced all the PPC innards with the insides from his old Dell. The Mac community reacted in shocked astonishment and freaked out, flaming the post. I seem to also remember it being a hoax. I only wish there were some way for me to find that information...

In any case, O'Grady's Powerpage has a few choice pics of an Apple-created PowerMac with an Intel board crammed inside. According to the Powerpage, "Apple is making development boxes available to select ADC Premiere members for US$999 at this week's WWDC conference in San Francisco."