Parallels 16.5 update rolling out for M1 Mac, including virtualization ARM Windows for better performance

Parallels today announced the release of Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac, which fully supports M1 Mac, allowing Windows 10 ARM Insider Preview and ARM-based Linux distributions to run at native speed on M1 Mac.

Parallels said that running the Windows 10 ARM Insider Preview virtual machine natively on the M1 Mac has improved performance by 30% compared to the 2019 15-inch MacBook Pro equipped with Intel Core i9 processor, 32GB RAM, and Radeon Pro Vega 20 graphics card. DirectX 11 performance Increased by 60%, and the energy consumption of Parallels Desktop 16.5 on the M1 Mac is 2.5 times lower than the latest Intel-based MacBook Air.

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In addition, many features have been redesigned for M1, including Coherence mode, shared profile, Touch Bar control, and Mac keyboard layout. During the release of Parallels Desktop 16.5, 100,000 Mac users participated in the beta preview.

” Apple’s M1 chip is a major breakthrough for Mac users. Thanks to Rosetta technology, the transition of most Mac applications is smooth. However, the virtual machine is an exception, so Parallels engineers have implemented a native implementation for Macs using the M1 chip. Virtualization support. This allows our users to enjoy the best Windows-on-Mac experience.” said Nick Dobrovolskiy, senior vice president of Parallels.

Microsoft has not yet provided an ARM-based retail version of Windows. The Windows 10 ARM Insider preview version is available on the Microsoft website for members of the Windows Insider program.

The ability to run macOS Big Sur in a virtual machine is a feature that Parallels hopes to also add support to Parallels Desktop later this year. Anyone with a Parallels Desktop 16 for Mac license can get automatic updates of Parallels Desktop 16.5 for free.