Parallels Desktop is the best choice for running multiple OS on my Mac
I use Parallels Desktop to access Windows on my Mac. There are eLearning and local government design applications that require the …
Starting at $49.99 per license
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What is Parallels Desktop?
Parallels Desktop is a virtual user session solution built to run Windows on Macintosh computers without rebooting. It is designed for OS X Yosemite with one-click tuning.
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Popular Features
- File transfer (23)9.898%
- Screen sharing (9)9.090%
- Access to sleeping/powered-off computers (10)8.787%
- Centralized management dashboard (11)8.585%
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Pricing
Parallels Desktop 16
$49.99
On Premise
per license
Parallels Desktop Pro Edition
$49.99
On Premise
per license/per year
Parallels Desktop
$79.99
On Premise
per license
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- No setup fee
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- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Product Demos
Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac - VM Explorer Demo
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What is Parallels Desktop?
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How to Run Windows on Mac : Parallels Desktop for Mac
Parallels Desktop Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Windows, Linux, Mac |
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Parallels Desktop is a virtual user session solution built to run Windows on Macintosh computers without rebooting. It is designed for OS X Yosemite with one-click tuning.
Reviewers rate File transfer highest, with a score of 9.8.
The most common users of Parallels Desktop are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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(84)Attribute Ratings
Reviews
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March 26, 2024
Ultimate Decision Yes or No? YES!
Parallels solution simplifies the process of getting windows 11 on my Macbook pro! I have recently joined the Microsoft ISV program but to run windows 11 i needed to find a way to use windows 11 on my Macbook pro. I search online and i found Parallels, I was a skeptic at first but then i did some reach and attempted to download it by myself on other reddit user knowledge and NOTHING worked. I went back to Parallels & pulled the trigger. Needless to say I dont even use safari anymore! Microsofts edge provides coupons for every website i visit and if i want to switch back to Mac i just click on the bottom right of the screen to go back to Mac. Its like having two computers on 1 now thanks to Parallels. along with the platform the staff are great additions to their solution! they are extremely supportive as well as knowledgeable in not just their platform but the overall market in the software development industry! I highly recommend their solutions and their employees. I RARELY give 10 thumbs up but i'll give it to this team!
- Gives me access to Windows 11
- it's extremely responsive, very fast.
- user friendly
- has a great layout
- overall look feel and use cases are highly recommended by me!
- Maybe an interactive tutorial video for new users to click along with the video for the video to continue as a teach guide, learning windows was difficult at first!
- Ability to find it online as the tool i needed to use rather than attempting to download malware to use windows 11 from the web.
- maybe a built in chatbot for when you're using parallels you can ask questions and assist with tasks in the platform solution.
February 22, 2024
Desktop virtualization with power and ease.
We are an all Apple environment, but still, we have plenty of applications that require us to run Windows. In some cases, we have entire departments that have this need, and in other instances, it’s a single user. Prior to implementing Parallels Desktop, we had some people who were lugging around an old Dell laptop in addition to a MacBook Pro for a single application. The IT department also uses to easily spin up virtual machines for testing and training on our machines.
- Quickly share resources between the host machine and guest. Great for when we process data in MacOS and then need it in a virtual machine.
- Coherence mode is great for a lot of users. They don’t even realize the app isn’t running natively on the host operating system.
- The user interface for managing virtual machines isn’t my favorite.
January 22, 2024
Parallels Desktop saved me from buying another computer
In our team, we prefer using MacBooks for the vast majority of our work. However, there are a few things here and there that require us to work within a Windows environment. In these specific cases, we use Parallels Desktop to access a virtual Windows installation and use the software we need to get our work done efficiently all on one machine.
- Runs Windows in a virtual environment
- Does not take up a lot of additional overhead
- Runs fast and seamless
- Easy to setup and use
- There are a lot of configuration options that can seem overwhelming.
- Some features are not clearly explained.
- Frequent updates sometimes interrupt workflow.
Parallels are used to run VMs locally on MacBook developer machines - most commonly to run Windows applications or to check bugs and code pertaining to Windows from the standard-issued MacBooks. This is important as, while development productivity is highest using MacBooks, our customers are more often using the UI tools on Windows for authoring tasks.
- Installs new VMs including OS configuration.
- Integrates mac and windows seamlessly.
- It can be configured to run a VM "the old-fashioned way" or simply let you run applications no matter the OS.
- Having to buy a new upgrade whenever Apple updates the OS with its yearly releases seems a bit excessive.
- The integration features between Windows and Mac are enabled by default, which can clutter both sides; I would rather it was not default.
January 10, 2024
Parallels Desktop Review on a MacBook Pro M3 Max
I use Parallels to run various operating systems on my MacBook Pro. This includes Windows, Windows Server, Linux, and more. There are many programs only written for Windows such as MS Project which works well as I recently had a project plan with over 12,000 lines in it for a major construction effort and MS Project worked as well on my Parallels enabled MacBook Pro M3 as on other native Windows systems. You can also use applications written for Linux that can help with DevOps use cases and helped with some MLOps use cases.
- Fast Windows Emulation
- Multiple OS Support
- Parallels Tools with many useful apps
- Ability to unify MacOS and Windows
- The ability to do snapshots, backups, and other types of branching for VMs is a little confusing and takes a bit to get used to
- The Parallels tools frequently pop up windows advertising functionality, while this is helpful at times it can also happen when you are doing a presentation or typing in a password.
- Careful using the VMs on a shared cloud drive such as Dropbox or OneDrive, there are hundreds and sometimes thousands of files which are updated when running a VM and this can clog up your Dropbox or OneDrive sync for minutes to hours even on a 2gb connection.
January 10, 2024
Superb software for cross environment compatibility
Most of my work is on Apple only software but I have some software that is only available on Windows. Parallels allows me to have the best of both worlds.
I also love the fact I can sandbox an Apple OS and have multiple Windows installations including XP for some very dated serial software that doesn’t work after that.
- Windows integration
- Multiple operating systems
- Sandboxing
- Size of update installers
December 20, 2021
Works if you need it. Will make your MacBook an inferno.
We use Parallels [Desktop] strictly because we are an Apple company, but the technical writing software we use is only available on Windows.
- It allows easy back and forth between operating systems. Can access all my Mac documents within my Parallels [Desktop] instance.
- [It] is a fully functioning Windows operating system on my MacBook.
- My MacBook gets incredibly hot when I run Parallels [Desktop]. Like scorching hot.
- My MacBook's battery only lasts 1 hour when running Parallels [Desktop}. Normally will last over 4 hours.
November 10, 2021
Best Application of Virtual Machine for MacOS
I'm using Parallels Desktop for to have multiple operating systems all in one device. I can set the CPU, RAM, and Harddisk according to how many sources I need. Also, this app works really stable and supports almost all operating systems. Also possible to sync files between the local device and virtual machine.
- Virtualization
- Customisable
- Safe place for external files
- Security
- Expensive
- Need an stable version for Windows
I use Parallels to run older versions of Mac OS X on my MacBook Pro for the purposes of testing apps on older versions of Mac OS. Parallels does this job perfectly, by allowing me to easily boot up older versions of the OS at leisure. I also run Windows 10 in Parallels so I can use PC-only apps that are not available on OS X.
- File Transfer - You can easily transfer files between Parallels virtualized desktops and the host desktop either through Copy and Paste functionality, or Drag and Drop. You can also configure shared folders.
- Switch Between Virtual and Host Desktop - You can configure swipe gestures on a MacBook Pro to be able to switch between the virtualized and host desktop. You can also launch apps from the OS X Taskbar.
- Performance - Apps in Parallels run quite smoothly on my 2015 MacBook Pro, as of 2020. Considering they are running on a 5-year-old computer, I give Parallels top marks for performance.
- Support for more versions of OS X. For instance, I would like to install Snow Leopard, but it is not supported. Parallels supports Snow Leopard Server but it is prohibitively expensive now, having gone up in price due to rarity and also likely because of people needing it due to the lack of support for normal Snow Leopard.
- Compatibility issues with certain versions of OS X, meaning you have to continually upgrade Parallels for it to work with the current version of OS X. It would be better if older versions of Parallels continued to work bug-free with updated versions of OS X.
- Lack of support for gaming and multimedia - The newest version of DirectX is not supported at the time of this writing, and some games that run at 90-110 FPS on host architecture or BootCamp run at only 20 FPS in Parallels.
January 24, 2020
Life Saver
I am the only user as our company is very small. I use Parallels in order to access Windows because my accounting program (QuickBooks Desktop Pro) is only available in Windows and not in Mac.
- I like how it is a separate entity from the workings of my Mac. I can access the programs on Windows in a separate section on my desktop.
- Parallels allows Windows to run seamlessly.
- Parallels uses a lot of RAM, so unless your machine has 16 GB of RAM, it will probably run slowly.
I'm the only Mac-user at my company. We provide BIM Consultancy services for clients and work a lot with BIM-software tools, which are often Windows-only. I have used Parallels for several years. It allows me to use software such as Autodesk Revit and Navisworks and a few others, although I prefer Mac-versions for software where they are available (ARCHICAD, Rhinoceros).
I've used BootCamp to have a separate Windows partition. Parallels allows me to access this also in a running macOS session, which is my primary use (even though performance does suffer a bit).
I've used BootCamp to have a separate Windows partition. Parallels allows me to access this also in a running macOS session, which is my primary use (even though performance does suffer a bit).
- Run the Bootcamp partition in a running macOS session.
- Integrate in both directions: copy/paste text, open files in both directions, integrate the file system, to read and write files in either direction.
- Using the same hardware and network connection.
- Run Clickshare in a Windows session, when the Mac-version fails due to non-updated system firmware updates.
- No update for OpenGL 3, which prevents some 3D applications from launching. The Windows-version of SketchUp is but one example.
- Frequent (yearly) updates which don't always bring benefits (I always skip at least one version).
March 25, 2016
Parallels Desktop for Mac bridging the GAP
I deployed Parallels Desktop to 40 Macs. Parallels is mainly used on MacBooks; Parallels Desktop for Mac was deployed to Mac users who need Windows to run some applications but wanted a stable operating system to run on. Once deployed we were able to recoup PCs and redeploy them to other users. We also used Parallels Desktop for Mac in a classroom with 15 Macs. The setup saved the school $15,000 for three semesters because the classroom could accommodate Windows or Mac users so the school wouldn’t have to rent outside space.
- Parallels Desktop is very stable and over the year has improved tremendously. I particularly love the migration, this feature allows a user to convert a desktop image to virtual image.
- Parallels Desktop is very user friendly and users actually believe they are working on a real Windows Desktop. I use Parallels Desktop to constantly test applications that need to run in both a Windows and Mac environment.
- I love the snapshot feature I recovered several users VM with this feature it's one of best backup options I have ever used.
- I am quite satisfied with features and I have no complaints. I have no problem with functionality.
- It would be nice if it was a little bit cheaper for home users.