Parallels for M1 Mac: A Game-Changer for Running Windows VM

The latest release of Parallels has brought significant enhancements to running virtual operating systems on your Mac, especially for those with M1 machines. One of the most notable benefits is a 38% speed boost across all Macs, with some M1 models even outperforming Windows systems.

For those who want to run older macOS versions, you can now also run back to High Sierra (10.13) using Parallels. Additionally, you can now run macOS Monterey as a virtual machine, allowing you to have two separate Mac environments on one machine. This feature may be particularly useful for application testing or if you need to test Monterey before migrating it to your main Mac.

Unfortunately, Microsoft has not announced any plans to sell the ARM version of Windows for use with Parallels on Macs. However, the Windows 11 Insider Preview does work fine on Apple computers, including M1-powered models. The biggest hurdle for Mac users hoping to use Parallels to support Windows 11 is that Microsoft has not yet officially released the ARM version of Windows for sale.

One important limitation to note is that Intel Macs will support a wider range of guest operating systems compared to M1 Macs, mainly because ARM support is only available via Windows 10, 11, Monterey, and Linux distros Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian GNU, and Kali. Additionally, Parallels will work with macOS versions up to High Sierra on Intel Macs, but M1 Macs must run Big Sur or later.

Overall, the latest release of Parallels offers significant enhancements for running virtual operating systems on your Mac, especially for those with M1 machines.

M1 mac windows vm