Running Windows via Parallels on modern Macs

[MR_Boogy]

I am looking to get a new laptop but I need the ability to use Windows for certain applications. My desktop Mac is one of the last Intel iMacs and obviously a new laptop would be running Arm - currently M4.

I separately need to figure out if all the Windows apps will actually run on Arm hardware, but what specs do I realistically need - RAM primarily since I can't install more later? I use Windows mainly to access remote systems so it won't be running apps itself, but the OS still takes resources.

 

[Bigwaff]

I separately need to figure out if all the Windows apps will actually run on Arm hardware, but what specs do I realistically need - RAM primarily since I can't install more later?

At least 6-8GB RAM allocated to Windows Virtual Machine depending on version of Windows in use.

 

[MR_Boogy]

At least 6-8GB RAM allocated to Windows Virtual Machine depending on version of Windows in use.

Thanks.. And how little can MacOS cope with left over? It looks like 16GB is the minimum on newer MacBooks but that's unified across GPU as well. It sounds to me like it would probably be reasonable to opt for 24GB and 512GB SSD, or do I really need more than that?

 

[maflynn]

It sounds to me like it would probably be reasonable to opt for 24GB and 512GB SSD, or do I really need more than that?

VMs occupy space, so 512GB may be a little tight if you have other apps that you'll be installing either for macOS or windows. I'd opt for 1TB, and personally, I'd go for the next level and get 48GB of ram (the 36GB of ram is not available in the base model configuration)

 

[BigBlur]

I use Windows mainly to access remote systems so it won't be running apps itself

Are there no Mac apps you can use to access these remote systems? Microsoft has Windows App (previously called Remote Desktop). I use that to remote into my Windows machine. If you're connecting to Linux, you can use the built-in Screen Sharing app or some other VNC app.

 

[MR_Boogy]

Are there no Mac apps you can use to access these remote systems? Microsoft has Windows App (previously called Remote Desktop). I use that to remote into my Windows machine. If you're connecting to Linux, you can use the built-in Screen Sharing app or some other VNC app.

No. There are plenty of remote desktop apps, but the corporate security/VPN/firewall my client use is Windows only (well maybe Linux but I want to keep it simple).

 

[maflynn]

No. There are plenty of remote desktop apps, but the corporate security/VPN/firewall my client use is Windows only (well maybe Linux but I want to keep it simple).

The thing with my company is that if you want to connect to the corporate network, your computer must have certaint settings, configurations and software. For the PC, its stuff like crowdstrike (yes that crowdstrike), but for Macs, they want to load a MDM profile, and I'm not comfortable them restricting admin access on my personal device.

 

[zayanhani]

I am looking to get a new laptop but I need the ability to use Windows for certain applications. My desktop Mac is one of the last Intel iMacs and obviously a new laptop would be running Arm - currently M4.

I separately need to figure out if all the Windows apps will actually run on Arm hardware, but what specs do I realistically need - RAM primarily since I can't install more later? I use Windows mainly to access remote systems so it won't be running apps itself, but the OS still takes resources.

If you have not already, test your key Windows software on a trial copy of Parallels + Windows 11 ARM. It’s the best way to confirm compatibility before locking in specs.