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Apple M1 with Parallels for one App?

L

laurieballard

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 12, 2016
149
107
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 want to drop £600+ on a Windows laptop which is going to be worth about £100 in a couple of years just to occasionally run one bit of software.

Is Parallels at a point where it would let me run Windows 10 and use this bit of software?

Im wondering if 8GB of RAM would be enough on the MB to run Windows 10 and still have the Macbook be usable alongside it.

Thanks
 
laurieballard said:
Is Parallels at a point where it would let me run Windows 10 and use this bit of software?
Click to expand...
No way to tell beforehand. It may work, it may not, both Parallels and Windows on Arm are beta level products. Can she possibly remote desktop into a Windows PC that has access to the app? In case it doesn't work directly? If latency isn't too much of a problem...

One thing that you have to remember is that Windows on Arm is not officially licensed to individuals yet, so until it is, there's no way to know if it will be. Right now you can only run the insider version and that gets updated a lot and each version has an expire date. (so you really do have to do the updates)

And no, you'd want 16G of RAM so you can dedicate at least 4G for the VM. (when it's running)
 
laurieballard said:
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 want to drop £600+ on a Windows laptop which is going to be worth about £100 in a couple of years just to occasionally run one bit of software.

Is Parallels at a point where it would let me run Windows 10 and use this bit of software?

Im wondering if 8GB of RAM would be enough on the MB to run Windows 10 and still have the Macbook be usable alongside it.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Parallels can run ARM based Windows operating systems.
I'd rather buy a used PC.
 
Sounds like RDP to a Windows PC might be best. Will get her to use my MBP for the morning and RDP to her work PC to see if she can get used to working this way vs using the software locally on her current Windows Laptop.

We are fully Apple in the house, iPads, iPhones, Apple TV etc so her using a Macbook would be beneficial to her in terms of iCloud etc.
 
iHorseHead said:
But you can use iCloud on Windows too?
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204283
Click to expand...

Its more the integration aspect and getting more for your money with a Macbook. If I am going to drop the best part of a grand on a new laptop for her, I would rather something which is going to hold some value and be worth something in a few years if she wanted to upgrade. Any Windows laptop I have bought have been virtually worthless after a few years.

She uses Photos and Videos on her iPhone a lot so having this integration directly with the photos app would be good for her.

Plus the batteries on the MacBooks tend to actually last, even my brand new HP work laptop claims 10 hours but barely lasts 4,
 
To soon to run windows in virtual mode and have it as a daily driver for buisness ! End of story
 
Depending on the App you want to run under Windows, the UTM (Qemu) approach might be a solution.
Runs win7 64bit (x64) pretty well here on my M1 Air.
All ingredients are available for free (excl. the M1 itself ;-) so you can test and see yourself...
 
mystery hill said:
She could remotely access a Windows PC.



Latency shouldn't be too much of a problem for order processing software.
Click to expand...
I didn't mean latency of the order processing software, I meant latency of remote desktop itself. Unless the remote pc is local, it can be a problem...
 
laurieballard said:
Long story short, the Asus is on its last legs and I don't want to drop £600+ on a Windows laptop which is going to be worth about £100 in a couple of years just to occasionally run one bit of software.
Click to expand...
The question shouldn't be what you want. The question should be what your wife wants. Don't force macOS upon her if she doesn't want it and if she gets along just fine with Windows. You will make both her and your own life miserable.
 
bobcomer said:
I didn't mean latency of the order processing software, I meant latency of remote desktop itself.
Click to expand...
Yes, I understand that you meant the remote desktop latency.

Latency would be more noticeable if playing a graphic intensive game or video compared to using an order processing app.
 
Thanks all

she’s going to have a go on my MBP tonight with the Anydesk app she uses on her work PC to see if she can get along with it.

Im just not keen dropping a grand on a Windows laptop which will be worth naff all in a couple of years
 
mystery hill said:
Yes, I understand that you meant the remote desktop latency.

Latency would be more noticeable if playing a graphic intensive game or video compared to using an order processing app.
Click to expand...
Or when the internet connection is crappy...
 
laurieballard said:
Thanks all

she’s going to have a go on my MBP tonight with the Anydesk app she uses on her work PC to see if she can get along with it.

Im just not keen dropping a grand on a Windows laptop which will be worth naff all in a couple of years
Click to expand...

Just buy the right tool for the job. If you buy a $600 Windows PC and it works fine for 5 years and after that it is worth nothing it has cost you $600. If you buy a Mac costing around $1200 (which may not suit your wife's workflow) and that Mac is worth around $600 (probably less) after 5 years it has also cost you $600 ;). So what is the difference? In both cases you have lost the same amount of money. You should buy what fits the best for work.

If you want good return value, buy jewelry instead, not a computer.
 
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