Fortunately,Parallels Desktop 18makes running the latest version of Microsoft’s OS easier than ever.
This means that running Windows on an Apple Silicon processor is viable from both a performance and compatibility standpoint.
How long the process takes largely depends on how fast your internet speed is.
As soon as Parallels Desktop finishes installing, you’re invited to download and set up Windows right away.
Once Windows 11 finishes downloading, Parallels installs it to a preconfigured virtual machine without any input from you.
The installer will even create a Windows account using the same username as macOS.
It can be easy to forget that you still (technically) need to pay for Windows 11 too.
Parallels takes care of your virtual machine’s disk space with a capacity limit, starting at 256GB.
Just choose the little “cog” icon next to a machine to see a full list of properties.
This can be as easy or complicated as you like.
Why Bother With Windows on Your Mac?
Parallels does an excellent job of allowing you to run Windows 11 and its associated software on your Mac.
Thanks to support for 64-bit x86 applications, you could now run almost any Windows app on your Mac.
Performance is excellent, with things happening at what feels like native speed.
This lets you run software without worrying about managing a standard Windows desktop environment.
Users with more than one monitor could have macOS and Windows running on separate displays and use both simultaneously.
MacBook users need to be aware of the additional battery drain introduced by running Windows alongside macOS.
On our MacBook Pro, we barely noticed much of a drain on system resources.
It’s easy to forget you have Windows running at all.
Parallels can help bridge that gap and get Mac users gaming again.
Not everything works, and there are a few reasons for that.
Let’s take Half-Life and Half-Life 2 as examples.
These Valve classics are only available as 32-bit applications, even if you own the Mac versions.
On Parallels, these games work perfectly well.
Is Parallels Better Than Boot Camp?
The experience isn’t quite perfect, but it’s damn close.
Thankfully, a quick Command+Tab normally resolved that.
However, just likeinstalling Linux via UTM on Apple Silicon, this requires more work than using Parallels.
