Otherwise, the majority of users will be pleased with the speeds on offer, enabling them to draw out impressive performance from their ARM-based silicon for Windows 10. You will be stuck in the Dev Channel, though. You can use the Windows 10 Insider Preview that is available for download from Microsoft, choose the Dev Channel in your Insider settings and update to the latest build which won't expire for another 11 months. That should be pretty neat and useful for users locked into Windows programs.įor some users, this will be a functional stopgap to tide them over if they've been affected by the lack of Boot Camp on the M1 Macs before - if ever - Boot Camp makes its debut on the new Macs. There is no Windows 10 on ARM version available for download. Microsoft has restrictions on which CPUs may run Windows 11 natively, while Apple M1 and M2 customers can run the operating system in a virtual environment. Parallels Desktop 16.5 uses 2.5 times less energy on an M1. According to a new Microsoft support document published today, Parallels Desktop version 18 is approved to run Arm versions of Windows 11 on Apple’s most recent M1 and M2 Macs.

One such feature, Coherence Mode, lets users run Windows programs on their MacBooks as though they were native Mac apps. Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac natively supports Mac computers with either Apple M1 chips or Intel processors. Parallels Desktop hits a home runĪpart from running Windows 10 at nippy speeds, Parallels Desktop 16 brings a slew of other useful features. There's also a 30% overall uptick in virtual machine performance on the ARM-based Windows 10 build on the M1 Mac, compared to a Windows 10 VM on an Intel-based MacBook Pro. Significant increases in performance and battery improvement have been reported by Parallels Desktop owner Corel.Īccording to Corel's results (opens in new tab), the 16.5 update reportedly uses up to '250% less energy' on the M1 Mac than on the MacBook Air fitted with the Intel chipset. With that said, it's about as close as you can get to the real thing without jumping ship and forking out for a Windows model from our best laptops. Step 1: Download the Parallels Desktop for Mac installer, which comes with a free 14-day trial.

Mac m1 parallels windows 10