1. Parallels software company recently released a technical demo of the Parallels 16, which is compatible with Mac computers running the M1 processor and performs surprisingly well. In fact, the “Apple Silicon of Parallels” version is designed for ARM-based operating systems; Therefore, it does not support the x86 version of Windows 10, and an.
2. Apr 14, 2021 BELLEVUE, Wash., April 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Parallels ®, a global leader in cross-platform solutions, today released the highly anticipated Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac (parallels.com.
3. Parallels software company optimizes Parallels Desktop 16 software for Macs equipped with M1 processor; This means that new M1 Mac computers can run or install Windows OS based on ARM and software on the Mac OS.

• M1 Mac Parallels Software
• M1 Mac Parallels Linux

We’re very excited to announce the highly anticipated Parallels® Desktop 16.5 for Mac with full, native support for Mac computers with either Apple M1 or Intel chips. Users will now be able to run Windows 10 on ARM Insider Preview and its applications as well as the most popular ARM-based Linux distributions on Apple M1 Mac computers.¹

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 Sur’s legendary ease-of-use ² —which transforms Parallels® Desktop 16.5 into a new standard of seamless Windows-on-Mac experience.

Mac M1 system owners patiently waiting for the ability to run Windows on their Mac machines, may be interested to know that Parallels has today released a new Technical Preview 2 version the testing.

“Apple’s M1 chip is a significant breakthrough for Mac users,” said Nick Dobrovolskiy, Parallels Senior Vice President of Engineering and Support. “The transition has been smooth for most Mac applications, thanks to Rosetta technology. However, virtual machines are an exception and for that reason, Parallels engineers implemented native virtualization support for the Mac with M1 chip. This enables our users to enjoy the best Windows-on-Mac experience available.”

100,000+ M1 Mac Users Tested the Technical Preview

We are beyond thankful for the feedback of more than 100,000 M1 Mac users that tested the Technical Preview of Parallels Desktop 16.5 for M1 Mac. They ran Microsoft’s Windows 10 on ARM Insider Preview, as well as tens of thousands of different Intel-based Windows applications—including Microsoft Office for Windows, Microsoft Visual Studio, SQL Server, Microsoft PowerBI and MetaTrader.

“We received enthusiastic feedback about the remarkable performance of both the Technical Preview of Parallels Desktop 16.5 for M1 Mac and Windows 10 on ARM Insider Preview as well as x86 applications and games, including Rocket League, Among Us, Roblox, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Sam & Max Save the World and many others. Testers loved Parallels Desktop’s easy-to-use features and seamless integration of Windows with macOS Big Sur, which increases productivity,” said Dobrovolskiy.

Applications Run Faster and More Efficiently

With Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac, users benefit from Apple’s M1 chip performance advancements and experience applications that run faster and more efficiently.

Performance advancements include:

• Up to 250%less energy used: On a Mac with an Apple M1 chip, Parallels Desktop 16.5 uses 2.5X less energy than on a 2020 Intel-based MacBook Air computer.³
• Up to 60%better DirectX 11 performance: Parallels Desktop 16.5 running on an M1 Mac delivers up to 60% better DirectX 11 performance than on an Intel-based MacBook Pro with Radeon Pro 555X GPU.⁴
• Up to 30% 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% better than a Windows 10 VM running on Intel-based MacBook Pro with Intel Core i9 processor.⁵

“I installed Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac and Windows 10 on ARM Insider Preview on my M1 Mac Mini because, as a math teacher, several software apps that I use are no longer supported on M1 Mac,” said Daniel Dudley, Albuquerque, NM, United States. “Running Windows on my M1 Mac in Parallels Desktop 16.5 has been awesome. It’s the fastest version of Windows that I have ever had!”

Run Linux Distributives on M1 Mac Computers

With Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac, users can not only run Windows 10 on ARM Insider Preview in a virtual machine on M1 Mac computers but also Linux distributives Ubuntu 20.04, Kali Linux 2021.1, Debian 10.7 and Fedora Workstation 33-1.2.

“I absolutely love being able to run Linux environments within Parallels Desktop 16.5 on my M1 Mac,” said Darren Paxton, United Kingdom. “The performance is simply amazing.”

The Best Features for Parallels Desktop 16.5 for M1 Mac

Discover some of the best Parallels Desktop 16 for Mac features that have been re-engineered for the Apple M1 chip:

• 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 customize your Touch Bar shortcuts to feature the apps and commands you use most.
• Mac keyboard layouts: Easily customize your keyboard menu and shortcuts for a more personalized experience.
• Hundreds of other Parallels Desktop features are included to help make it simple for customers to 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.

Check out all of the highlights of Parallels Desktop 16.5’s extensive features for Intel-based Mac computers on our website. Intel-based Parallels Desktop for Mac customers can run more than 50 supported guest OSs, including several versions of Windows, macOS, OS X, Linux, as well as Android OS and dozens more.

Howto Get Your Copy of Parallels Desktop 16.5

 If you…

…are an existing customer: Anyone with a Parallels Desktop 16 for Mac license can get an automatic update to Parallels Desktop 16.5 at no additional cost.

M1 Mac Parallels Software

…are a new customer: All editions of Parallels Desktop 16.5 update for Mac support both M1 and Intel Mac computers (Standard Edition, Pro Edition and Business Edition). Purchase your copy here—or test it for 14 days for free.

Running VMs on Apple M1 Mac computers in Parallels Desktop 16.5 requires ARM-based operating systems (OSs). Customers who install guest operating systems in Parallels Desktop virtual machines are responsible for making sure that they are compliant with each OS’s end-user licensing agreement (EULA).

System Requirements

Discover if Parallels Desktop 16 for Mac can run on your Mac Computer with Intel or M1 chip: System requirements.

M1 Mac Parallels Linux

1. Running VMs on Apple M1 Mac computers in Parallels Desktop 16.5 requires ARM-based operating systems (OSs). Customers who install guest operating systems in Parallels Desktop virtual machines are responsible for making sure that they are compliant with each OS’s end-user licensing agreement (EULA).
2. Apple M1 chip performance, power efficiency, and information is from https://www.apple.com/mac/m1/.
3. Performance measurements were conducted by Parallels by measuring Mac power consumption with Windows 10 running. Tested with a pre-released version of Parallels Desktop 16.5 on MacBook Air 10,1 with Apple M1 chip and 16GB RAM versus MacBook Air 8,2 with Intel Core i5-8210Y and 8GB RAM. The performance will vary based on usage, system configuration and other factors.
4. Performance measurements were conducted by Parallels by running the Unigine Valley benchmark for DirectX 11 API and comparing an average score out of five iterations on each computer. Tested with a pre-release version of Parallels Desktop 16.5 on MacBook Pro17,1 with Apple M1 chip and 16GB RAM versus MacBook Pro 15,1 with Intel Core i9-8950HK, 16GB RAM and Radeon Pro 555X GPU. The performance will vary based on usage, system configuration and other factors.
5. Performance measurements were conducted by Parallels by running the Geekbench 5 benchmark and comparing an average score out of five iterations on each computer. Tested with a pre-release version of Parallels Desktop 16.5 on MacBook Pro 17,1 with Apple M1 chip and 16GB RAM versus MacBook Pro 15,3 with Intel Core i9-8950HK, 32GB RAM and Radeon Pro Vega 20 GPU. The performance will vary based on usage, system configuration and other factors.

The M1 Mac’s inability to run Windows might seems like an obvious limitation, but it’s actually a major issue for a lot of Mac users. Boot Camp is gone so you can’t run Windows natively, which means you need to use a virtualization app. A few months ago, Parallels previewed its Parallels Desktop for Mac virtualization software on M1 Macs, and on Wednesday, the company annnounced that Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac—which brings full native support for both M1 and Intel Macs—is out of beta and now available to the general public.

If you want to run Windows on your M1 Mac, you can launch Parallels Desktop 16.5 to run the Windows 10 ARM Insider Preview, the only version of Windows that can run on Apple silicon. To get the Insider Preview, you need to register for Microsoft’s Insider Program. Keep in mind that this is beta, so some features may not work, and it isn’t optimized for performance.

Despite the lack of optimization on Microsoft’s part, Parallels claims that performance of Windows 10 ARM is 30 percent better on an M1 Mac than Windows on an Intel Core i9 MacBook Pro, and DirectX performance is 60 percent better compared to a MacBook Pro with a Radeon Pro 555X GPU. And the M1 Mac uses 2.5 less energy than a 2020 Intel MacBook Air, the company says.

The major features that were in the version 16 release are fully available on M1 Macs, including Coherence Mode, Mac keyboard layouts, Shared Profiles, Touch Bar controls, and more. Parallels says that it “hopes” to add the ability to run macOS Big Sur in a virtual machine later this year.

Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac is $79.99 for a new subscription or $99.99 for a new perpetual license. An upgrade from Parallels Desktop 14 or 15 to a perpetual license is $49.99.