This still makes many Windows apps available, though, and it's a considerably more elegant (not to mention more universal) solution than CrossOver's emulation-on-emulation approach. Don't expect a favorite game or a must-run productivity tool to perform as well as it would on a comparable x86 PC.
And while Windows 10 for ARM does emulate 64-bit x86 apps, you'll only get that vaunted performance with the smaller number of ARM-native Windows programs. An Insider Preview by its nature isn't stable. The company even says power consumption on an M1 MacBook Air should improve by 250 percent, although it's comparing that to a 2019 MacBook Air (as its footnotes indicate) and not the last Intel model.Īs we hinted earlier, though, you'll have to make some compromises. Parallels claims you'll get up to 60 percent better DirectX 11 performance on an M1 Mac than you would an Intel-based MacBook Pro with a Radeon Pro 555X GPU, and 30 percent better virtual machine performance compared to an even higher-specced Intel MacBook Pro. The software will even support M1 Macs, though. In some cases, the M1 could perform better than a theoretically more powerful Intel-native setup. Parallels, makers of virtualization software for Mac, have announced Parallels Desktop 17, which will have support for Windows 11 and macOS Monterey. You can run Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Debian and Fedora, too.
Parallels has released Desktop 16.5 for Mac with full support for M1 Macs, promising "native speeds" for the virtual machine when you're running Windows 10 ARM Insider Preview. Once M1 users get that version installed using Parallels Desktop 17, they must get past a nasty TPM 2.0 error before upgrading to at least a beta version of Windows 11.You now have a reliable and quick way to run Windows 10 on an M1-based Mac - provided you're willing to make some tradeoffs. Experience Windows 10 ARM Insider Preview and its applications on Apple M1 Mac computers. Unfortunately, Microsoft's only offering a free ARM Insider Preview version of Windows 10 Pro. Parallels, a global leader in cross-platform solutions, today released the highly anticipated Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac, which features full native support for Mac computers equipped with either Apple M1 or Intel chips. To run any version of Windows through Parallels on an Apple M1 Mac, you need an ARM version of the operating system. Unfortunately, these steps aren't very pretty.
Starting with Parallels Desktop 17, Parallels Desktop reports to Windows OS that it's running in a virtual environment so that Windows doesn't ask for the presence of a TPM 2.0 chip.įor those with an Apple silicon-based Mac, there are a few more steps to take to install Windows 11 through Parallels Desktop 17. As the company explains:Ī virtual TPM chip isn't required for upgrading to Windows 11. Regardless, Parallels Desktop 17 lets you install Windows 11 through virtualization. The reason? Some Windows 10 computers (even some newer ones) don't come with TPM 2.0 and won't work with Windows 11. When Windows 11 was first announced, this requirement caused much anger in the Windows community. Short for Trusted Transport Module, TPM 2.0 is a hardware security feature found on most Windows-based computers and a requirement for Windows 11. However, upgrading to Windows 11 was a much rockier experience, although this had nothing to do with the virtualization tool and everything to do with Apple silicon.įirst, understand that Parallels Desktop 17 supports virtual versions of Windows 11, even though all the best Macs and older ones don't have TPM 2.0. Installing Parallels Desktop 17 on my MacBook Pro with M1 (and the latest version of macOS Monterey beta) worked very well, as well as adding a fresh virtual copy of Windows 10.
The result is a PC gaming experience on Mac like no other and reason alone to upgrade to Parallels Desktop 17.
There's also a new display driver in place that increases the frame rate. Parallel's improved performance mentioned above means smoother Windows UI and synchronized video playback. Until now, however, a poor performance made it difficult to do PC gaming through virtual Windows on a Mac. Gaming has always been popular for Windows users.
Finally, it's important to circle back around to the improved gaming performance on Parallels Desktop 17.