Item: Parallels Desktop
Rating: 9
Author: Kris Giorgetti

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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.

Pros and Cons

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.

Return on Investment

Saves money on having to buy a Windows and MacBook, as the MacBook can run almost 99% of all Windows software and usually run it faster and share between your MacBook transparently.
Gives employers the most flexibility with regards to which OS to adopt across an enterprise
We are a media company and everyone uses Macs in our industry, Fortune 500 companies also use Windows and MS Project, Parallels gives you the most flexibility for almost all of these use cases
Improves efficiency as the MacBook Pro M3 systems are much faster than some of the fastest corporate issued Windows laptops. What takes me 3-10 seconds for a video export can take 5 minutes on a similar Windows laptop

Alternatives Considered

Azure Virtual Machines, Windows Server, Windows Server Failover Clustering, Hyper-V, Google Cloud Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), VMware Cloud on AWS and Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V)

Parallels makes running other operating systems on your Mac user friendly and not have the hassle of some of the server use cases. VMware is the closest competitor I use occationally but for the most part Parallels is what I use for the majority of the time.

Key Insights

Do you think Parallels Desktop delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Parallels Desktop's feature set?

Yes

Did Parallels Desktop live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Parallels Desktop go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Parallels Desktop again?

Yes

Other Software Used

ChatGPT, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Microsoft Visual Studio Code, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Google Chrome, Safari, Adobe Premiere Pro, Canva, Salesforce Sales Cloud, Serverless Cloud, Google Cloud CLI, Azure DevOps Services, Apple Health, Apple iCloud, Apple Pay

Likelihood to Recommend

Parallels works well for everyday Windows or alternative OS usage on a Mac. Most applications run flawlessly, multi-monitor works, audio/video, games, etc. When in full screen mode, many people cannot tell my MacBook Pro M3 is a Mac as Windows 11 runs so fast and in full screen you can't tell a difference unless you know what to look for. I use Outlook, Word, Excel, etc. and these apps run faster on my MacBook than on the latest Windows laptops provisioned by work!

Parallels does not work well for some legacy and older applications which may require specific hardware or software drivers. There are only a handful of these apps I have found, dating back 10-15 years old. Newer versions are available of most software which run flawlessly.

Parallels Desktop Review on a MacBook Pro M3 Max

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with Parallels Desktop