- Parallels SVP of Engineering and Support Nick Dobrovolskiy told iMore, ”the Parallels Engineering team is waiting for the official Windows 11 Insider Preview build to start studying changes.
- DirectX 11 support is introduced in Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac and later by default. If you upgrade to Parallels Desktop 15 from earlier versions, DirectX 11 will become available automatically in Windows after installing new Parallels Tools. With DirectX 11 you can run Windows applications including Autodesk 3ds Max 2020, Autodesk Revit 2020.
- With Windows 10 mostly unchanged, Parallels 12 upgrade is nice but to Parallels Desktop 11 and then get an upgrade to version 12 at no Compsci eggheads bring OpenCL framework to RISC 'Expanding the RISC-V ecosystem to include parallel applications via plugging away at previews for the upcoming iteration, Windows 11.
- “Since Windows 11 has just been announced recently, the Parallels Engineering team is waiting for the official Windows 11 Insider Preview build to start studying changes introduced in the new OS to deliver full compatibility in future Parallels Desktop updates,” said Nick Dobrovolskiy, SVP of Engineering and Support.
Windows 11 is on Microsoft enthusiasts' minds, as one would expect. But it's also a much-anticipated OS for certain Mac users who can now look forward to it arriving on their systems via Parallels.
Users will soon be able to run Windows 11 officially on their Macs, thanks to Parallel Desktop 17. The new version supports both Intel and M1 Macs. However, if you are using an M1 Mac, you will only be able to emulate other Arm-based operating systems, for instance, Windows on Arm.
Despite the caveats that M1 users have to deal with while installing Windows on Arm, there are significant performance improvements when compared to Parallels 16 running on Intel versions. According to Parallels, the M1 Macs will get up to 28 percent better DirectX 11 performance and up to 20 percent better disk performance. The company adds that Windows will start up to 33 percent faster on M1 and Windows 10 will be able to resume 38 percent faster as well.
In addition to this, you will get up to 25 percent faster 2D graphics and up to six times faster OpenGL performance in Windows virtual machines on all supported Macs, including the Intel ones. M1 users can also use BitLocker and Secure Boot, since it includes a virtualized TPM.
Along with Windows 11, Parallels also supports the latest macOS Monterey, giving you the best of both worlds.
Parallels has not modified the pricing this year. The regular version of Parallels Desktop 17 is still available for $79.99 a year, and a perpetual license will cost you $99.99. The Pro and Business editions will also cost you $99.99 a year.
If you have a perpetual license for a previous version of Parallels, you can get the latest version for $49.99.
You can check out Parallels Desktop 17 on their official website.
Mac virtualization veteran Parallels has released an update to its flagship Desktop software, with support for the rounded bits of Windows 11 and Mac-in-a-Mac courtesy of the upcoming Monterey update.
Support for Windows 11 will cause more than a few eyebrows to raise. After all, Apple's M1 chip is most definitely not on Microsoft's infamous hardware compatibility list for its upcoming operating system but, judging by our test drive, Parallels has invested a considerable amount of effort in persuading the code to work, rounded corners and all.
At its core, Parallels Desktop 17 for Mac is the latest in a long line of platforms from the company aimed at allowing Windows apps to run on a Mac. Back in the Intel days, firing up Windows on a Mac was a relatively straightforward process (we have an elderly i7 Mac Mini on the desk which uses Bootcamp to run Windows 10), but M1 silicon has made things a little more complicated.
Handy, therefore, that Microsoft has an Arm version of Windows which Parallels started supporting for M1 hardware in a previous release. The new release, version 17, adds support for Windows 11 but also raises questions over what will happen when Windows 11 moves out of preview and into the wider world.
Microsoft requires a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) for Windows 11, which can be enabled in virtual fashion. However, the requirement for certain types of CPU could present more of a challenge for M1 users.
Parallels' take? 'We need kind of more push from the users that they need it.'
Who knows, perhaps Microsoft might listen (probably not).
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How fast now?
For now, The Reg took the software for a spin on an 8GB M1 Mac Mini to see how the Windows Insider Preview of Windows 11 on Arm ran.
The answer is very well, particularly considering the absence of Intel hardware.
Parallels will cheerfully trot out stats claiming the startup time of Windows 11 is 33 per cent up on Windows 10 on Arm with a 20 per cent disk performance boost.
Our experience was that, subjectively, it was all simply a lot snappier. Native Windows on Arm apps flew along and even Intel apps behaved well. To torture the hardware, emulation and virtualization, we fired up Sea of Thieves and were delighted to find it vaguely playable on the M1 Mac (Parallels recommends a 16GB Mac for gaming, we only had 8GB) even if the results of the experiment won't cause our dedicated gaming rig any sleepless nights.
Although some of the benchmarks we ran might cause some tossing and turning for users of Microsoft's flagship Arm-based kit. Performance of the relatively weedy 8GB M1 Mac Mini was nearly double that of the Surface Pro X in single core, and a good 1.5x faster for multi core.
Parallels was a little coy on the subject, merely saying that: 'On M1, Windows is running a lot faster than on Windows-specific [hardware].'
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As for the target market, Parallels told us that a significant portion of customers use the software to play Windows games on their Macs, and the new release shouldn't disappoint. For the majority who need it for that one weird app (apparently Excel), improvements in Coherence mode (where an app runs seamlessly on the Mac desktop rather than in a VM window) and other tweaks around functionality (such as drag and drop) will similarly be handy.
Away from Windows, Linux continues to be supported and audio and video improvements will please Penguinistas (although as with Windows, the user is limited to a subset of distributions when running on M1 hardware) and macOS Monterey is supported as both a host and guest operating system.
There is, however, a price to be paid. A new subscription will set a user back £69.99 per year, or a perpetual licence can be picked up for £79.99. On top of that, one must factor in the cost of Windows itself.
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Still, as Apple works to update its hardware to use its own silicon, Parallels Desktop 17 (combined with Microsoft's own efforts to make Windows on Arm usable) represents an avenue to get that one old Windows app working on your shiny new Mac. ®