The new Parallels Desktop 17 supports M1 Macs and even lets you run Windows 11, although it may be worth waiting for the OS to launch first.
Great news for macOS users who want to run Windows VMs on their machines. Parallels now supports both Intel and M1 Macs, and can even be used to run the Windows 11 preview.
M1 users, however, will only be able to emulate ARM-based operating systems, which means they will be limited to using Windows on ARM.
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While M1 Mac users also get some performance improvements if they’re coming from Parallels 16, the new Parallels version will provide them with up to 28% better DirectX 11 performance, and up to 33% faster start times for Windows 10 on ARM.
Furthermore, 2D graphics will be up to 25% faster and OpenGL performance will be up to 6X faster in Windows VMs on all supported Macs. BitLocker and Secure Boot will now also be available to M1 Mac owners.
Finally, Parallels 17 is now a universal app, and will be receiving support for macOS Monterey as well.
For the new version, Parallels has kept pricing at the same level as before. To get the regular version of Parallels Desktop 17, users can choose a $79.99 per year subscription or a $99.99 perpetual license.
Owners of previous versions of Parallels can upgrade their perpetual license to Parallels 17 for just $49.99. Pro and Business editions are also available for the price of $99.99 per year.
While Parallels 17 is already available for purchase, it may be with waiting for Windows 11 to launch this autumn, to see how well it actually performs.