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Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac Comes With Sierra Support, Standalone Toolbox App

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Parallels today announced Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac with support for macOS Sierra and the addition of several new features. The company also announced a new standalone app called Parallels Toolbox, which allows users to perform some simple tasks that aren't necessarily tied to virtualization.

Win10-Win8-and-Win7-in-Parallels-Desktop-12-800x500.jpg

New features in Desktop 12 include having Windows 10 "always on" in the background, the ability to instantly launch Windows apps, the ability to schedule incremental backups and Windows updates, the ability to assign special behaviors to Windows apps, improved integration for Microsoft Edge, Outlook, and Office 365, and Xbox app support. Additionally, Parallels has partnered with Blizzard to provide specific support for the hit game Overwatch.

Version 12 also includes 90 percent faster snapshot creation, 60 percent faster suspension of VMs, 25 percent faster shared folder performance, 25 percent faster compilation of Visual Studio projects, and up to 10 percent in battery life improvements for "certain environments."

Parallels-Toolbox-800x500.jpg

The company is also touting a new standalone app called Parallels Toolbox. The Toolbox places a drop-down menu in the Mac's menu bar, allowing users to do certain tasks more quickly. Tasks include the ability to record the screen, take screenshots, record audio, archive files, convert and download video, lock the screen and more.

Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac is $79.99, while Desktop 10 or 11 users may upgrade for $49.99. The Business and Pro Editions are also available with a subscription fee of $99.99 per year, although Parallels 10 and 11 users with perpetual licenses can upgrade for $49.99 per year. Parallels Toolbox can be purchased for $10 per year or will be included with your Parallels Desktop 12 license.


Parallels 10 and 11 users can upgrade now at the company's website. New users can purchase Parallels 12 starting on August 23. Parallels Toolbox also launches August 23.

Article Link: Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac Comes With Sierra Support, Standalone Toolbox App
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/08/18/parallels-desktop-12-mac-sierra/
Aston441 said:
I never understood why people pay for it when virtual box is free. Is it supposed to be faster?
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It is much better than Virtual Box, and arguably the best available if you like to work in 'Coherence' mode where windows applications appear to be running in OSX.

The pricing is just outrageous though, in 5 years I would have paid $289.

I am thinking of jumping ship to VMWare.
 
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javco said:
They make every single MacOs update incompatible with their software. The idea is that you never stop paying them.
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Sounds like they're just one step away from going to a monthly subscription. (Oh wait, I see they're already doing that. HA!!!)

Hitting the restart button a couple times to save my wallet from being gouged? Yeah... Bootcamp works just fine for me. ;)
 
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I just bought Desktop 11 a week ago. My work discount makes the annoyance somewhat smaller.

Undecided said:
What do you all run in a VM anyway?
Click to expand...

I use it almost exclusively to do streaming between Windows 10 and my Xbox One, and thus make my Steam Controller work with the console. :cool:
 
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MacRumors said:
Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac is $79.99, while Desktop 10 or 11 users may upgrade for $49.99. The Business and Pro Editions are also available with a subscription fee of $99.99 per year, although Parallels 10 and 11 users with perpetual licenses can upgrade for $49.99 per year. Parallels Toolbox can be purchased for $10 per year or will be included with your Parallels Desktop 12 license.
Click to expand...

With Parallels offering upgrade every year with support for latest operating systems with mostly sprinkles of new features, I am surprised that Parallels isn't switching to $49.99/year subscription model.

And it's pretty galling that Parallels thinks it can charge lame toolbar for $10/year to older versions of Parallels Desktop.
 
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Undecided said:
What do you all run in a VM anyway?
Click to expand...

I run Ubuntu Linux for some embedded work projects (linux builds), Windows 10 for browser compatibility and app testing.

Having used VirtualBox on my work Mac, it's really amazing how good of product Parallels is. Things are smoother, more fluid and more friendly installs. Even Linux graphics are night and day between VirtualBox. Even simple things like USB devices and spec increases are nicer to use in parallels, and VirtualBox will cause kernel panics on occasion on OS X.

Windows runs amazingly better in it too.. It really is an amazing product. Saves me from boot camping. Not saying I'm a fan of their pricing model though.

The new model of Pro versions really left a sour taste in my mouth ($99/year?). Too bad by Vagrant Boxes will no longer work on the standard one past 10...
 
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Aston441 said:
I never understood why people pay for it when virtual box is free. Is it supposed to be faster?
Click to expand...
VirtualBox has horrible graphics support. Not only will new games perform poorly, but I've had ridiculous issues with compatibility, even with simple games. I think it's more aimed at those running Unix command line VMs (like me). For that, I actually like it a lot better than Parallels.

Parallels seems to run games the best. It does a lot better than VMWare Fusion, maybe because it's Mac-only so it's truly focused on Mac performance, not sure.
 
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I've used both Fusion and Parallels before and has decided to go for Fusion 8 as its cheaper (especially if you have a few Macs) and historically is compatible with new version of OSX, unlike Parallels. Looks like I made the right decision
 
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Undecided said:
What do you all run in a VM anyway?
Click to expand...
All Linux software. OS X is somewhat compatible with stuff made for Linux, but it's easiest to just run Linux and avoid problems. And Debian will give you apt-get so you don't have to resort to MacPorts. I have one or two Linux VMs running in VirtualBox at all times, and they share the developer folder with OS X, which is nice.
 
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Parallels was always the software I wanted to buy but then I keep changing my mind right before clicking the button.
I actually never use it more than 10 minutes/week.

I used to have it in trial mode, then cracked - but never really used it so I ended by wiping it out.

Probably for a user who can benefit from some Windows Apps under mac... yeah I think it's worth the $$$.
If Adobe LR and PS cost like 120 EUR/year - this one is about 50EUR/year... I would say it's OK.

As for me... I will for sure run trial mode at first and then wipe it out :)
 
I've been regularly running Linux in the free Veertu app (in the Mac App Store).

Unlike all these other apps, Veertu does NOT have an installation procedure. You just run virtualized OSes with an app straight from the Mac App Store, which in my book is pretty amazing.

Right now Linux/FreeBSD/OpenBSD is free, for Windows you have to pay $40. But why not try it first?
 
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