Parallels Desktop 17
Run Linux and Windows on your M1 Mac
Choice is limited on an M1 – Windows 10 and 11 for ARM, four Linux distros and macOS 12 but not 11
£69.99 (upgrade £39.99)
FROM Parallels, parallels.com
NEEDS macOS 10.13 or later, 4GB memory
Default allocation of two of the M1’s performance cores proves ideal for everyday use.
More than a year ago, among the software shown when Apple demonstrated its prototype Apple silicon Macs was an early demo version of Parallels Desktop for the new models. It has since taken 14 months for Parallels to release Desktop 17, the first virtualisation software to make full use of M1 Macs.
Apple silicon has posed serious problems for those wanting to run Windows or older versions of macOS in a virtual machine (VM). As ARM processors in the M1 and later chips aren’t compatible with Intel processors, virtualisation software such as Parallels Desktop can’t run regular versions of Windows, nor Intel versions of macOS. Engineers have been working to salvage what they can for those who want to virtualise on M1 Macs and their successors; this new version of Parallels Desktop is the first which not only runs special preview versions of Windows and a range of different distros of Linux, but macOS too.