Good news for those of you who are still addicted to Windows but use a Mac: the switch to Apple Silicon is a little less painful with the arrival of Parallels version 16.5 fully optimized for M1 chip.
This optimization allows Parallels to already be able to natively emulate the ARM Insider Preview version of Windows 10, as well as any Linux distribution based on the ARM architecture. Due to hardware limitations, system emulation for x86 architectures (Intel, AMD) is not possible on computers with ARM chips.
More performance with less energy
Parallels assures us that we will notice that native performance: in their tests, they state that the ARM version of Windows 10 works 30% faster and uses less than half the energy comparing it to a MacBook Pro with an Intel Core i9 chip, 32 GB of RAM and Radeon Pro Vega 20 graphics. This means that Apple laptops will be able to emulate Windows while consuming less power and extending battery life. battery. Oh, and for gamers: DirectX 11 performance improves by 60%.
And that’s just the start, because the ARM version of Windows is a preview in the development and optimization phase. As soon as this version is final, performance could increase further. Additionally, Apple could resurrect Boot Camp as soon as Microsoft officially offers Windows 10 for ARM chips.
If you have a Parallels 16 license, you can upgrade to version 16.5 for free. Otherwise you need a license, which starts at 49.99 dollars if you already have a previous version or 99.99 dollars if this is the first time you buy it. As an alternative, you also have a subscription for 79.99 dollars per year to be able to update for free when you want.
