Parallels, a global leader in cross-platform solutions, today released the highly anticipated Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac (parallels.com/desktop), which features full native support for Mac computers equipped with either Apple M1 or Intel chips. Experience Windows 10 ARM Insider Preview and its applications on Apple M1 Mac computers.2 The M1 chip’s superior performance delivers the world’s fastest integrated graphics in a personal computer, revolutionary power efficiency, and was designed to work with macOS Big Sur3—which Parallels Desktop 16.5 transforms into a new standard for a seamless Windows-on-Mac experience. It also delivers M1 support for the most popular ARM-based Linux distributions. Separate Parallels Access (parallels.com/access) and the just redesigned and simplified Parallels Toolbox (parallels.com/toolbox) apps, which are both included for free concurrently with Parallels Desktop subscriptions, now also provide native support for M1 Mac computers.
The virtualisation approach for Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac enables users to benefit from Apple’s M1 chip performance advancements—applications run faster and more efficiently. Performance observations include:
- Up to 250 percent less energy used: On a Mac with an Apple M1 chip, Parallels Desktop 16.5 uses 2.5 times less energy than on a 2020 Intel-based MacBook Air computer.4
- Up to 60 percent better DirectX 11 performance: Parallels Desktop 16.5 running on an M1 Mac delivers up to 60 percent better DirectX 11 performance than on an Intel-based MacBook Pro with Radeon Pro 555X GPU.5
- Up to 30 percent better virtual machine performance (Windows): Running a virtual machine (VM) of Windows 10 on ARM Insider Preview on Parallels Desktop 16.5 on an M1
- Mac performs up to 30 percent better than a Windows 10 VM running on Intel-based MacBook Pro with Intel Core i9 processor.6
Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac also supports guest operating systems (OSs) on M1 Mac computers including Linux distributives Ubuntu 20.04, Kali Linux 2021.1, Debian 10.7 and Fedora Workstation 33-1.2.
All the best Parallels Desktop 16 for Mac features have been re-engineered for the Apple M1 chip, including:
- Coherence Mode: Run Windows applications on your Mac as if they were native Mac applications, without managing two separate desktops or rebooting.
- Shared Profile: Share your Mac desktop, pictures, documents, and other folders with a VM for easy access.
- Touch Bar controls: Quickly access apps in your virtual machine and customise your Touch Bar shortcuts to feature the apps and commands you use most.
- Mac keyboard layouts: Easily customise your keyboard menu and shortcuts for a more personalised experience.
- Hundreds of other Parallels Desktop features are included to help make it simple for customers be more productive.
- macOS Big Sur in a VM is a feature that Parallels hopes to add support for in Parallels Desktop later this year.