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Parallels Desktop is known as the most powerful virtual machine software on macOS. It can simulate multiple operating systems and software on your Mac without having to restart your computer, and you can switch between systems at will.
The latest version of Parallels Desktop 18 (PD18) is fully optimized to support the latest macOS Ventura, Monterey and Windows 11 and Win10! Run Linux and Windows applications, games, tools such as Office, VisualStudio, AutoCAD, and more directly on your Mac system without rebooting. This new version of PD18 supports DirectX 11, which dramatically improves startup speed and the graphics performance of 3D games! An absolute must for Mac users。
What’s the Parallels Desktop 18 for Mac?
Simply put, Parallels Desktop 18 for Mac allows you to ‘run’ one or more Windows or Linux systems on your Apple Mac computer (including M1, M2 or Intel) at the same time, and switch between different platform software at will. It makes your Mac incredibly powerful because PD lets you run almost all applications and games on other system platforms directly on macOS that would not otherwise be installed and run on a Mac.
Parallels Desktop for Mac allows you to share files and folders between macOS and Windows applications, support for copying and pasting text or images directly between platforms, and the ability to drag and drop files between systems with your mouse, makes it extremely easy to use!
PD Virtual Machine also supports the use of various Bluetooth devices or USB hardware devices, and supports USB-C / USB 3.0. Once the user has plugged in the device, it can be assigned to a Mac or assigned to a virtual machine system for use. This allows you to use hardware devices on your Mac that are only driven by Windows. (e.g. to flash ROMs on mobile phones, use old printers, tax office invoicing systems, use USB dongles, etc., gamepads, or any other kind of USB device)
In terms of performance, according to various media tests, previous generations of PD have outperformed and outperformed VMware Fusion, VirtualBox and others in terms of 3D gaming and graphics performance! Now PD also supports DX9 ~ DirectX 11 through Apple Metal’s API, allowing you to run Autodesk 3ds Max, AutoCAD, PhotoShop and many major 3D games more smoothly and easily. The new version also adds support for XBox and PS5 console grips for a better gaming experience.
In addition, because everyone has a different system and software environment, Parallels Desktop offers a thoughtful ‘one-click auto-optimisation’ feature, which allows you to choose between running common everyday applications, design or development, games or large 3D software, etc. It will adjust and optimise the configuration of the PD virtual machine itself to make it more suitable for your work scenario.
First to Support Apple M1 and M2 Processors Natively
Apple has introduced the “Apple M1 and M2 chip” processors in its latest Mac models, which are quite powerful, but they are not directly compatible with x86/ x64 systems and software, so you can’t install regular Windows systems natively. Now, officially supports M1 / M2 chips for Mac installations running Windows 11 ARM / Win10 ARM! (Currently only supported exclusively by PD)
Simply go here to download the latest Windows 11 ARM image or Win10 ARM image to install Windows ARM on your M-Series machine and it’s running smoothly! Compatibility is no problem, and the native installation is virtually indistinguishable from the native installation, which works quite well. The new PD also supports the installation of Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, CentOS, Mint and other Linux ARM systems.
What’s new in Parallels Desktop 18?
Designed specifically for the latest Apple hardware and macOS Ventura systems, the PD18 virtual machine improves compatibility with Windows 11 running on ARM architecture and features powerful performance and gaming updates, allowing users to get more work done and more entertainment done without interruption.
Some of the basic features of Parallels Desktop
- Support for all Microsoft operating systems such as Windows 11 / Win 10 / Win 8.1 / Win7 / Vista / 2000 / XP.
- Support for various Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian, etc. as well as Chrome OS and Android.
- Support for dragging and dropping files, copying and pasting text or files between Mac, Windows and parts of Linux.
- Easy conversion of Windows systems installed via BootCamp to virtual machines.
- Share cloud storage such as OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. between Mac and Windows.
- Easily move files, applications, browser bookmarks and more from your PC to your Mac.
Support for Windows with Retina displays. - Support for Sidecar functionality and Apple Pencil stylus support.
- Assign as many USB devices as you like to your Mac or Windows.
- Support for connecting Bluetooth devices, FireWire, Thunderbolt interface devices.
- Support for Windows / Linux shared folders and printers.
- Support for importing virtual machines from VMware, VirtualBox and Hyper-V.
PD18 Virtual Machines M1, M2 Significantly improved performance
The new version of the PD18 virtual machine optimises the performance of Apple M1 and M2 processors! Get the most out of Apple’s new Macs and get a huge performance boost. Applications run faster and use less power.
Users can allocate more RAM and CPU cores to increase the speed of Win11 by up to 96% on Mac Studio. The M-series chips use up to 40 per cent less power than Intel models with PD, up to 60 per cent more DirectX 11 performance and 30 per cent more virtual machine performance!
Better OS Compatibility
When you run Windows 11 on Parallels Desktop 18 with the ARM architecture, it provides better compatibility with Intel (x86) applications than in the past, especially when saving and reading files from Mac disks. The process of installing and configuring Win11 has also been made easier. It also supports the latest Linux distributions such as Ubuntu 22.04, Fedora 36, Debian 11, CentOS 9 Stream, RHEL9 and many more.
Enhanced Gaming Experience
The experience of playing Windows games on your Mac has been enhanced. PD18 automatically connects your DualShock Bluetooth joystick for Xbox or PS5/PS4 to Windows and Linux. simply connect the joystick to your Mac, switch to Windows and start playing games.
Now you can also run Steam games with Linux OpenGL improvements. And enjoy smooth Windows UI and video playback, higher frame rates and more.
More new PD18 features:
- Better Apple hardware support: Improved compatibility with Apple’s ProMotion display, enabling automatic synchronisation of display refresh rates between Mac and Windows.
- Improved USB 3.0 support: Support for live streaming devices such as webcams, game capture video devices and a variety of other video and audio streaming devices including the Elgato HD60 S, SOCT Copernicus REVO and more.
- Simplified sharing options: freely configure file sharing between Mac and Win. Easily choose which local or cloud folders on macOS you want to share with Windows and vice versa.
- Network configuration protection: The new version adds basic network connection protection so users don’t inadvertently break it.
- Better disk space control: Disk space used by snapshots can be calculated in the updated Free Disk Space Assistant.
- Boot macOS virtual machines into recovery mode: Ventura virtual machines can be booted into recovery mode to disable SIP system integrity protection.
New Features in Parallels Desktop 18 Pro Professional, Enterprise Edition
- Powerful network tuner: on Macs with M chips users can simulate various network conditions (bandwidth, packet loss, latency, etc.) for virtual machines, this feature is available for Win and Linux virtual machines
- Remote analysis using Visual Studio: The VS plugin allows C++ developers to analyse applications on their secondary virtual machine by selecting the appropriate virtual machine from the VS menu.
- Virtual machine network isolation from the Mac: Improve network security and use Parallels Desktop as a virtualization provider to launch Minikube clusters.
- Network Boot for Linux ARM VMs: Use network boot functionality for Linux ARM VMs on Macs with M-Series chips.
- Convenient SSO/SAML authentication (Enterprise Edition): Employees can log in and activate PD using their corporate account.
Virtual Machine Deployment Management (Enterprise Edition): IT administrators can deploy, pre-provision or transfer Win11 virtual machines between employees’ Mac computers.
Parallels Desktop Virtual Machines: Smooth! Fast! Good performance
As the most powerful virtual machine software available for macOS, PD is all about performance. Recent releases have provided video decoding hardware acceleration, 2D performance and DirectX 3D performance improvements for Win and Linux, as well as improved OpenGL graphics support, so you can run more 3D applications and games smoothly, in addition to faster Windows boot and recovery!
Software such as Autodesk 3ds Max, AutoCAD, ArcGIS Pro, SolidWorks, etc. all run smoothly.
Faster application opening
Not only that, but the operating system and common applications are also being optimised, with new versions such as Microsoft Office launching faster, PD’s own UI responsiveness, and network performance on virtual machines faster than older versions.
Clipboard Interoperability / Seamlessly Drag and Drop Files
If you often need to switch between Windows and macOS software, Clipboard Interoperability and Cross-platform Drag & Drop make it easy to drag and drop images, text, files and more from your Mac into your Windows applications, and vice versa. It’s intuitive and easy to use, so you can transfer and exchange files more efficiently.
This almost completely breaks down the barriers between software applications on different systems, making them work as if they were on the same system, which will be another significant efficiency boost for office users
Coherence Mode – Magically “turn” Windows software into Mac software
Parallels Desktop offers a very convenient “Coherence Mode” that allows you to display and run Windows programs “as a Mac”, allowing you to “drag and drop” software windows from your Win virtual machine directly onto your Mac desktop. Once in this mode, you can “drag and drop” software windows from your Win virtual machine onto your Mac desktop, just like native Mac software! For example, the image below shows Office for Windows in Fusion mode, which works just like the Mac version.
Of course, you can also run Windows in “full screen mode”, so your MacBook becomes a Windows laptop in an instant – it’s all very flexible and convenient. With Parallels, you can experience an amazing computer experience like never before – using software that spans two (or more) different operating systems at the same time, and it’s so smooth!
Snapshot function – Quickly Backup and Restore System
If you are a fan of iFoxware, then you love to try new software or make changes to your system or applications. However, some imperfect beta software or small programs from unknown sources may leave junk on your system or cause unknown effects. That’s where Parallels Desktop’s powerful “snapshot” feature comes in handy!
You can take a snapshot of your current virtual machine system at any time and it will back up the entire state of your system (including documents you’ve written, web pages you’ve left open, etc.) and then you can mess around with it. …… When you’re tired of messing with it/wrecking it, just take a snapshot of your system in a file. When you’re bored/broken, just select “Manage Snapshots” in the menu and find the snapshot you just took and restore it. In a few moments your system will be back to the point in time when the picture was taken… it’s like a time machine!
Parallels Desktop supports the creation of multiple snapshots (which can also be deleted at will), so for example, you can take one when you install a brand new system, another when you install all the patches, another when you install your favorite software, and another before you test a software, and then you can restore it to any point in time you want. This is an absolute lifesaver for those with a clean system! I highly recommend this feature to everyone!
A handy collection of Parallel Toolbox widgets
Parallels offers a set of supplementary applications – the Parallel Toolbox (PD one-click utility set) – that help users easily take screenshots, record screens, create GIFs, clean junk, record audio, compress files, download videos, convert videos, mute the microphone, display the desktop, prevent hibernation, stopwatch, timer, and more – all of which are useful for lazy users because they don’t have to look around when they need them.
Parallels Access – Remote Control of Virtual Machines on iOS, Android
The Parallels Access feature allows you to access your computer’s virtual machine desktop remotely from your iOS or Android mobile device whenever you need it, just in case. Simply install the Parallels Access app on your mobile device and then gently connect and take remote control.
Or, access it from any other computer through your browser and your Parallels account. Easily navigate and find files on your hard drive, then tap to copy or open them.
Parallels Desktop Pro Professional vs. Enterprise Edition
In addition to the Standard Edition, Parallels Desktop 18 for Mac also offers Pro Professional Edition and Business Edition (Enterprise Edition) two versions, both priced at $119.99 per year. The professional version is “primarily for developers”, which integrates the Visual Stuido debugging plugin, supports the creation and management of Docker virtual machines, and advanced networking tools and debugging capabilities that can simulate various network instability conditions. The Enterprise Edition provides centralized virtual machine management and unified volume license key management on the basis of the Professional Edition. There is a function comparison table on the official website.
Unless you are a developer and know that you will need advanced features such as Docker, Vagrant, command line interface, Jenkins, Hyper-V nested virtualization support, the standard version is completely sufficient for most ordinary personal users ! The Standard Edition is available as a subscription or a one-time buyout, while the Professional and Enterprise editions are paid annually.
Write In the End
In short, if you are using an Apple Mac computer and want to use software from another system platform, especially Windows software, using a virtual machine will be much more convenient and feature-rich than using BootCamp to install a native dual system!
Parallels Desktop 18 for Mac offers you an unparalleled “cross-platform” experience on macOS. I personally think that Parallels is more user-friendly, feature-rich, and better performing than similar software. All in all, a macOS with PD will make your Mac incredibly powerful and is a must-have!