Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac has arrived right on schedule, just ahead of Apple’s macOS Catalina.
The list of new features in v15 isn’t, perhaps, as long or impressive as it has been in recent years, but there are some important architectural changes to the software that are designed to keep Parallels Desktop aligned with changes to macOS itself, and which will particularly appeal to business and professional users who are keen to get the best performance from the Windows apps that they need to run on their Macs.
Parallels Desktop 15 will support features such as Sidecar, which will allow you to use an iPad as a second screen, as well as using an Apple Pencil with Windows apps.
The real challenge for Parallels Desktop — and virtualization rivals such as VMware’s Fusion — now lies in the realm of graphics performance. This is where Parallels Desktop takes a big step forward, utilising Apple’s Metal API to add support for DirectX 11 for Windows software and games. Not only does this help to improve performance for graphics-intensive software, but it also allows Parallels Desktop to run Windows apps, such as Autodesk 3DS Max and Lumion 9, which couldn’t run on previous versions of Parallels Desktop (along with a number of Windows-only games as well).
MacDailyNews Take: If you have to slum it with Windows, Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac is the way to do it.
I’m curious as to how well Parallels and Fusion will work once Apple makes the switch to their own custom ARM chips and kicks Intel to the curb. Seems like it will throw a BIG monkey wrench into the pot of those unfortunate souls who must switch between Mac/Windows on a regular basis.
I”m glad I’m not one of them.
Did they fix the Ubuntu problem? Recent versions of Ubuntu were incompatible with Parallels. The cursor disappears.