Parallels 16 for M1 Macs Now Available Through Technical Preview Program

[radus]

Well, i have to confess apple did it right - together with parallels and microsoft.
The arm 64 windows runs very speedy and to my pleasure dragon naturally speaking 15 (an x86 app) runs at least as fast as on my 2018 i9 macbook pro - it is difficult to belief but yes they got it

 

[homohurre123]

I just got rocket League to launch and it works fairly well. Haven't configured the VM yet (only 4 Cores) But it already runs nicely!

 

[tgall_foo]

I've managed to get linux installed but on the reboot always comes back with the error message that there is no OS installed. (not using the debian installer about to try ubuntu)

Like others I've had to use the Windows 10 option for setting up the guess. The Linux option totally doesn't work.

 

[jlc1978]

What is your thinking, @brilliantthings ? I'm looking at it from the point of view that it's mostly developers who run virtualization and they want Linux. Less so, ARM Windows, IMO.

Business users run it as well. I use Parallels to run PowerBI for dashboard development as well as Office 365 apps to check formatting stays the same on Winboxen.

 

[homohurre123]

Rocket League Paralells M1 Air

Default configuration of VM no tweaking at all

vimeo.com

Runs at around 20-40fps staying mostly at 30fps I will tweak config (default software presets) im sure there is more power to get there.

 

[pollycat]

Windows 10 ARM running very smoothly and responsively for me.
M1 MBP 16GB RAM.
Pleased to see this. Very promising.

 

[cakeloverpro]

hard pass. why keep feeding parallels more sub fees. I remember one year getting a version, then 3 months later I needed to pay $29.99 for an upgrade cause I hit upgrade on my OS. they milked it for years, and frankly, their greed is epic.

I suggest getting GeforceNOW and game via that way. Right now memberships are closed, they sold out. However keep trying.

 

[whitby]

Amazing technical achievement but ultimately pointless. Most of us running VMs want to run our Windows 10 x64 guests in an M1 environment which I would suggest is not likely to happen for some time, if ever. Like everyone else we all hope for miracles. But for the moment I will still stick with my Intel based Macs that run x64 Windows 10 etc. adequately. M1 based Macs are amazing machines, but they are not likely to support my need to have SQL Server running in Windows Server anytime soon and I need to deal with that (and that includes having dedicated machines for the job). I believe the days of using WinIntel apps on Macs is over and we had better live with it.

 

[homohurre123]

Trackmania and Ubisoft connect running no Problem
Trackmania running on lowest setting in 2560x1600 between 70-90
on highest setting at 2560x1600 at 45-60

 

[Frank Philips]

OK, a question from a "I'm lost need help" point of view : what prevents non-ARM OS's to run on Parallels/M1?
I mean, can't you install Power PC OS's and apps on X86 even though the architectures are different?
Technology confuses me once more...

 

[thedocbwarren]

OK, a question from a "I'm lost need help" point of view : what prevents non-ARM OS's to run on Parallels/M1?
I mean, can't you install Power PC OS's and apps on X86 even though the architectures are different?
Technology confuses me once more...

Fundamental architecture prevents it.

 

[homohurre123]

Far Cry 3 DX11 1080p Low Preset Running at 35-45fps but it has some drops in the 20s every now and then (Not optimal setup of VM tho)

 

[FreeWoRLD83]

Ubuntu Server is pretty fast

Screen Recording 2020-12-17 at 8.32.31 PM

Watch "Screen Recording 2020-12-17 at 8.32.31 PM" on Streamable.

streamable.com

 

[TheMacDaddy1]

I am so glad I do not need Windows anymore. My company is on O365 and everything I need is accessible from a Mac.

I do not need bootcamp or any VM's running Windows or Linux. This day has been a long time coming!

 

[Madd the Sane]

Seems like installing Big Sur in a VM is not supported yet. Sadly, that would be my main use case (security testing).

Give it time: Apple added the Paravirtualized Graphics API for virtualization of Macs clients. Expect Parallels to add support for this framework in a future release.

 

[mannyvel]

If microsoft can do x86_64 emulation on ARM then other people can as well. It's only a matter of time before Virtual PC, M1 edition is released.

 

[2499723]

In the 90s/00s, Connectix and other companies provided software like ‘Virtual PC’, which emulated x86 on PowerPC hardware. It wasn’t perfect, but it got the job done for certain tasks like running some random piece of proprietary software or a PC version of Office. I don’t understand why companies like Parallels aren’t pivoting from virtualisation to emulation in order to scoop up a wider swathe of users. With the power of Apple Silicon, you’d even expect the performance hit to be manageable.

Edit: Looks like @mannyvel just made the same point above! ⬆️

 

[david1610]

I joined the program today and found the Windows Insider ARM version mentioned here which I downloaded. Then I changed the Windows update settings to Dev Channel and updated to Windows 10 Insider Preview 21277.1000 rs_prerelease version. I can run standard Windows software on this. So... just as I can run Windows on my 2015 iMac using Parallels, I can now use my M1 MacBook Pro with the beta M1 Parallels 16 to run the Windows software I use for translating. I am using an ARM machine M1 to run a Windows 10 ARM version which contains x64 emulation software.... Windows has provided the key to running intel Windows software through its release of x64 last week. This is huge news for those of us who like our Macs but need access to Windows software. Already possible on day 1! And more significantly, I think Windows is showing its commitment to ARM hardware and there is already a long/term vision where Intel is taken out of the picture and there will be Apple ARM and Windows ARM software.

 

[christophermdia]

Look, with applications as they are ... everyone for the most part needs a Windows app or 2 to run. I have had many Macs and have always had Parallels running so that I can run the occasional Windows app. Having the prospect of having Windows on an Arm Mac is awesome ... and those bashing it are the haters who don't have any sense and can only use a word processing app to get by in life. Business users can use a Mac for productivity, for Video/Music editing and for actual work ... this also means Windows apps if needed. I have awn intel Mac, a Surface Pro X, an Alienware gaming laptop, and even Chromebooks, they all serve. a different purpose and serve me well ... Praise Parallels for getting this done, as I could run all my apps on my single MacBook Pro if needed and then some ... its not perfect yet, but if Microsoft made the Arm version of Windows available, then they are good enough to see the future of custom processors and the Arm Architecture ... its coming folks, forget your games ... Stadia and Xbox are displaying the future where it will take an HDMI dongle to play all the games you want at the speed and resolution you want it without buying a $5000 computer ....

 

[Plutonius]

Virtualization is complicated, it's utterly unreasonable to expect products like Parallels to immediately work on a brand new platform as well as they did on the previous one.

I agree with you. I just don't understand why Parallels bothered to release this until Microsoft turns Windows for ARM into a useable product on M1 Macs (if they will or even can).

i.e. I appreciate the work Parallels has done but, if I purchase their software today, how useful would it be on my M1 Mac ?

 

[Plutonius]

In the 90s/00s, Connectix and other companies provided software like ‘Virtual PC’, which emulated x86 on PowerPC hardware.

I used Virtual PC and the speed was terrible.

The M1 is much faster than the old Macs where I used Virtual PC so it might not be as much as an issue.

 

[cuestakid]

I joined the program today and found the Windows Insider ARM version mentioned here which I downloaded. Then I changed the Windows update settings to Dev Channel and updated to Windows 10 Insider Preview 21277.1000 rs_prerelease version. I can run standard Windows software on this. So... just as I can run Windows on my 2015 iMac using Parallels, I can now use my M1 MacBook Pro with the beta M1 Parallels 16 to run the Windows software I use for translating. I am using an ARM machine M1 to run a Windows 10 ARM version which contains x64 emulation software.... Windows has provided the key to running intel Windows software through its release of x64 last week. This is huge news for those of us who like our Macs but need access to Windows software. Already possible on day 1! And more significantly, I think Windows is showing its commitment to ARM hardware and there is already a long/term vision where Intel is taken out of the picture and there will be Apple ARM and Windows ARM software.

In your use case (I know everyone's is different) What apps require a Windows environment? I am curious as to what apps cannot be done via cloud, or if you are in an enterprise environment, why can't the IT team make a VM for you to access securely?

 

[KPOM]

For now Parallels Tools is incompatible with Windows on ARM (it becomes unresponsive after rebooting unless you uninstall Parallels Tools) but Windows runs surprisingly well all things considered. Hopefully Microsoft releases a retail license eventually.

 

[spinboy]

What am I missing? 20 years ago I ran VirtualPC on my PowerBook with an X86 version of Windows. So that was a RISC-based Mac with a Windows 2000 VM. I'm not saying the M1 and PowerPC are the same, but they're both RISC and that's got to mean something???

EDIT: Looks like some other old mother fockers besides myself remember Virtual PC above.

All this has happened before, and all this will happen again​

 

[Darth Tulhu]

Which Enterprise apps are Windows-only?

I come from an Enterprise software background (Oracle) and my experience is that a lot of enterprise software is multi-platform, and increasingly web-based.

@dogslobber made this point a few days ago, and but he didn't give examples.

I'm sure my experience is not universal, but I'm genuinely interested to see how many mainstream enterprise apps are limited to a single OS (particularly Windows). I'm sure there are a few, but I'd like to understand if they are niche, specialized products (e.g. machine control etc.), or what could be considered "standard" packages that are widely used in multiple industries (accounting, finance, human capital management, CRM etc.)

Windows-only apps are not the issue.

The issue is that Macs are more (initially) expensive and/or cumbersome than PCs when getting deployed into existing Enterprise environments due to Apple's penchant for proprietary stuff, dongles, removing ports, their inherent secrecy regarding product pipelines, non-field repairability of machines, limited configuration options, IT Departments' (irrational) reticence for integrating Macs into AD and SCCM environments, Office features that are not available on Mac versions (last I checked), and of course, the elephant in the room: most people use PCs and wouldn't know how to use a Mac at all.

I remember when I switched, it took me a week to learn the OS because I was used to doing things the Windows way, which sometimes ended up being much harder than the Mac. I almost returned it!

But after I figured it out, I was hooked forever.