We’re very excited to announce the highly anticipated Parallels® Desktop 16.5 for Mac with full, native support for Mac computers with either Apple M1 or Intel chips. Users will now be able to run Windows 10 on ARM Insider Preview and its applications as well as the most popular ARM-based Linux distributions on Apple M1 Mac computers.1
Hi My Wife has an old ASUS ZenBook which she uses as a personal laptop but sometimes for work purposes. There is one bit of software she uses for work (order processing) which only works in Windows, the macOS version is 1-2 years away. Long story short, the Asus is on its last legs and I don't.
Since WWDC, the new version of Parallels Desktop, which runs on Mac with the Apple M1 chip, has made tremendous progress. We switched Parallels Desktop to universal binary and optimized its.
The latest version of parallels allows you to install the technical preview of Windows ARM on your M1 Mac. In theory apps should work on the ARM and Intel chips. So I just attempted the install of storyline and it worked.
Parallels Apple M1 Beta
The M1 chip’s superior performance delivers the world’s fastest integrated graphics in a personal computer, revolutionary power efficiency and was designed to work with macOS Big Sur’s legendary ease-of-use 2 —which transforms Parallels® Desktop 16.5 into a new standard of seamless Windows-on-Mac experience.
“Apple’s M1 chip is a significant breakthrough for Mac users,” said Nick Dobrovolskiy, Parallels Senior Vice President of Engineering and Support. “The transition has been smooth for most Mac applications, thanks to Rosetta technology. However, virtual machines are an exception and for that reason, Parallels engineers implemented native virtualization support for the Mac with M1 chip. This enables our users to enjoy the best Windows-on-Mac experience available.”
100,000+ M1 Mac Users Tested the Technical Preview
We are beyond thankful for the feedback of more than 100,000 M1 Mac users that tested the Technical Preview of Parallels Desktop 16.5 for M1 Mac. They ran Microsoft’s Windows 10 on ARM Insider Preview, as well as tens of thousands of different Intel-based Windows applications—including Microsoft Office for Windows, Microsoft Visual Studio, SQL Server, Microsoft PowerBI and MetaTrader.
“We received enthusiastic feedback about the remarkable performance of both the Technical Preview of Parallels Desktop 16.5 for M1 Mac and Windows 10 on ARM Insider Preview as well as x86 applications and games, including Rocket League, Among Us, Roblox, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Sam & Max Save the World and many others. Testers loved Parallels Desktop’s easy-to-use features and seamless integration of Windows with macOS Big Sur, which increases productivity,” said Dobrovolskiy.
Applications Run Faster and More Efficiently
With Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac, users benefit from Apple’s M1 chip performance advancements and experience applications that run faster and more efficiently.
Performance advancements include:
Up to 250%less energy used: On a Mac with an Apple M1 chip, Parallels Desktop 16.5 uses 2.5X less energy than on a 2020 Intel-based MacBook Air computer.3
Up to 60%better DirectX 11 performance: Parallels Desktop 16.5 running on an M1 Mac delivers up to 60% better DirectX 11 performance than on an Intel-based MacBook Pro with Radeon Pro 555X GPU.4
Up to 30% better virtual machine performance (Windows): Running a virtual machine (VM) of Windows 10 on ARM Insider Preview on Parallels Desktop 16.5 on an M1 Mac performs up to 30% better than a Windows 10 VM running on Intel-based MacBook Pro with Intel Core i9 processor.5
“I installed Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac and Windows 10 on ARM Insider Preview on my M1 Mac Mini because, as a math teacher, several software apps that I use are no longer supported on M1 Mac,” said Daniel Dudley, Albuquerque, NM, United States. “Running Windows on my M1 Mac in Parallels Desktop 16.5 has been awesome. It’s the fastest version of Windows that I have ever had!”
Run Linux Distributives on M1 Mac Computers
With Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac, users can not only run Windows 10 on ARM Insider Preview in a virtual machine on M1 Mac computers but also Linux distributives Ubuntu 20.04, Kali Linux 2021.1, Debian 10.7 and Fedora Workstation 33-1.2.
“I absolutely love being able to run Linux environments within Parallels Desktop 16.5 on my M1 Mac,” said Darren Paxton, United Kingdom. “The performance is simply amazing.”
The Best Features for Parallels Desktop 16.5 for M1 Mac
Discover some of the best Parallels Desktop 16 for Mac features that have been re-engineered for the Apple M1 chip:
Coherence™ Mode: Run Windows applications on your Mac as if they were native Mac applications, without managing two separate desktops or rebooting.
Shared Profile: Share your Mac desktop, pictures, documents, and other folders with a VM for easy access.
Touch Bar controls: Quickly access apps in your virtual machine and customize your Touch Bar shortcuts to feature the apps and commands you use most.
Mac keyboard layouts: Easily customize your keyboard menu and shortcuts for a more personalized experience.
Hundreds of other Parallels Desktop features are included to help make it simple for customers to be more productive.
macOS Big Sur in a VM is a feature that Parallels hopes to add support for in Parallels Desktop later this year.
Check out all of the highlights of Parallels Desktop 16.5’s extensive features for Intel-based Mac computers on our website. Intel-based Parallels Desktop for Mac customers can run more than 50 supported guest OSs, including several versions of Windows, macOS, OS X, Linux, as well as Android OS and dozens more.
Howto Get Your Copy of Parallels Desktop 16.5
If you…
…are an existing customer: Anyone with a Parallels Desktop 16 for Mac license can get an automatic update to Parallels Desktop 16.5 at no additional cost.
…are a new customer: All editions of Parallels Desktop 16.5 update for Mac support both M1 and Intel Mac computers (Standard Edition, Pro Edition and Business Edition). Purchase your copy here—or test it for 14 days for free.
Running VMs on Apple M1 Mac computers in Parallels Desktop 16.5 requires ARM-based operating systems (OSs). Customers who install guest operating systems in Parallels Desktop virtual machines are responsible for making sure that they are compliant with each OS’s end-user licensing agreement (EULA).
System Requirements
Discover if Parallels Desktop 16 for Mac can run on your Mac Computer with Intel or M1 chip: System requirements.
Running VMs on Apple M1 Mac computers in Parallels Desktop 16.5 requires ARM-based operating systems (OSs). Customers who install guest operating systems in Parallels Desktop virtual machines are responsible for making sure that they are compliant with each OS’s end-user licensing agreement (EULA).
Apple M1 chip performance, power efficiency, and information is from https://www.apple.com/mac/m1/.
Performance measurements were conducted by Parallels by measuring Mac power consumption with Windows 10 running. Tested with a pre-released version of Parallels Desktop 16.5 on MacBook Air 10,1 with Apple M1 chip and 16GB RAM versus MacBook Air 8,2 with Intel Core i5-8210Y and 8GB RAM. The performance will vary based on usage, system configuration and other factors.
Performance measurements were conducted by Parallels by running the Unigine Valley benchmark for DirectX 11 API and comparing an average score out of five iterations on each computer. Tested with a pre-release version of Parallels Desktop 16.5 on MacBook Pro17,1 with Apple M1 chip and 16GB RAM versus MacBook Pro 15,1 with Intel Core i9-8950HK, 16GB RAM and Radeon Pro 555X GPU. The performance will vary based on usage, system configuration and other factors.
Performance measurements were conducted by Parallels by running the Geekbench 5 benchmark and comparing an average score out of five iterations on each computer. Tested with a pre-release version of Parallels Desktop 16.5 on MacBook Pro 17,1 with Apple M1 chip and 16GB RAM versus MacBook Pro 15,3 with Intel Core i9-8950HK, 32GB RAM and Radeon Pro Vega 20 GPU. The performance will vary based on usage, system configuration and other factors.
Parallels On Apple M1 Download
Third-party app developers are really stepping up to revise their apps for the new Mac computers with the Apple M1 chip. Every day I receive update notices or see news stories about these updates.
Some of the Mac apps I use every day have released updates. These include the Microsoft Office for Mac suite, ScreenFlow, VLC and many others. (If I tried to give you a full list of the apps that have been updated, it would be out of date by the time you read this. Lol.) Not sure if a particular Mac app has been updated for the new Mac computers with the Apple M1 chip? Check the sidebar below.
Truthfully, Parallels is no exception. The latest versions of Parallels® Access and Parallels® Toolbox, are universal binaries, meaning they contain the necessary code to run at full speed on either Mac with Intel processor or Mac with the Apple M1 chip. You probably already know that in December Parallels released a Technical Preview of Parallels® Desktop for the new Mac with Apple M1 chip. Already, tens of thousands of Parallels beta testers have started using this Technical Preview.
At the risk of revealing my age, I was a Mac user when Apple switched from Motorola processors to PowerPC, and when they switched again from PowerPC to Intel. The switch to Apple Silicon appears (at first blush) to be moving faster, and with developers getting their apps updated much more quickly.
If you have a Mac with the Apple M1 chip, please let us know in the comments about your experience in this transition.
Parallels On M1 Mac
How to tell if a Mac app has been updated for Mac with the Apple M1 chip
There are two easy ways to check if an app has been updated for Mac with the Apple M1 chip:
Parallels On Apple M1 Phone
#1: Look at the app’s Get Info dialog If you just want to check on a single app, this way is the best choice. To open the app’s Get Info dialog, select the app, and then use Cmd-I, or choose the “Get Info” menu item on the right-click menu. The “Kind” field will tell you whether the app is Universal or Intel. See Figure 1.
Parallels On Apple M1 Tablet
#2: Look at the Mac System Report If you want to check the status of all your apps, this way is a better choice. To do so: 1. Choose the “About this Mac” option on the Apple menu. 2. Click on the “System Report” button. 3. Click on “Applications” in the “Software” entry in the left pane of the System Report window. 4. The “Kind” column will show you whether an app is Universal or Intel. Click on an individual app for more details. See Figure 2.