I ordered Parallels Desktop 12 to upgrade my computer from Parallels 7 and an old operating system. First call to Parallels support was ok, the tech recommended that I upgrade the iOS system first, and then upgrade the Parallels. Parallels Toolbox for Mac is a feature of all versions of Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac whic hwill also be available as a stand-alone subscription product for $9.99 per year, including all new.
8.0Excellent
Pros
✓Runs Windows and Linux VMs on Macs
✓Improved integration between Mac and Windows apps
✓Supports macOS Sierra and Windows 10 Anniversary Update
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Cons
✕Business and Pro Editions require annual subscription
✕Virtual machines require lots of memory and storage
✕Poor documentation for first-time users
Parallels Desktop is celebrating its tenth birthday this year, and its regular cycle of annual updates has helped to consolidate its position as the leading virtualization tool for Mac users who need to run Windows apps on their office computers.
Last year's update followed the launch of Windows 10; it was a major upgrade that focused on supporting new Windows technologies, such as the Cortana voice-driven virtual assistant. This year's Parallels Desktop 12 is a more modest update, but it does include a number of useful features that make it a worthwhile upgrade for existing users.
Desktop options
Like its predecessor, Parallels Desktop 12 provides three options for different types of users. The standard Parallels Desktop 12 is designed for home and education use, and allows you to buy a one-off, single-user licence for £64.99 (inc. VAT, or £54.16 ex. VAT), or a two-user licence for £97.49 (inc. VAT, or £81.25 ex. VAT). Existing owners of the standard edition can upgrade to version 12 for £34.99 (inc.VAT, or £29.16 ex. VAT).
There is also a Pro Edition that includes additional features for developers, and a Business Edition that provides extended technical support, as well as tools for IT managers who need to manage multiple virtual machines within their organisation. The Pro and Business Editions both require an annual subscription of £79.99 (inc. VAT, or £66.66 ex. VAT), which includes automatic upgrades for each new version. However, the core features and improvements in Parallels Desktop 12 are common to all three versions, and even the standard edition will be perfectly adequate for many business users who simply need to run a few Windows apps every now and then.
Parallels performance
Some of the new features in Parallels Desktop 12 are clearly aimed at home users, such as the ability to run the Xbox streaming app for Windows on the Mac. But there are also a number of timesaving improvements that will appeal to business users. Parallels continues to finetune the program's performance, and we found that we were able to suspend or resume a Windows 10 virtual machine on our office iMac in just three seconds -- that's around 50 percent faster than with the previous version.
There's a new Always Ready mode that automatically launches a specific virtual machine when you boot the Mac, but leaves it paused in the background so that it's instantly available as soon as you need to open a Windows app. Your Windows apps can also be assigned a series of 'behaviors', such as always opening in full-screen mode, or automatically hiding the Windows desktop and other apps.
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How to use Windows on a Mac
Because Macs are made with the same components as PCs these days, it doesn't take much to configure them to work with WIndows. We call this process, 'Virtualisation.' Parallels is a program that makes this process easy.
Parallels Desktop 12 review
Mac users are fortunate to have not one, but two excellent commercial virtualization software packages to choose from, not to mention less-polished free alternatives like Virtual Box. In what has now become an annual ritual, VMware and Parallels have updated their respective Fusion and Desktop products to coincide with the recent release of macOS Sierra.
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Last year, both companies delivered ambitious new versions to capitalize on back-to-back debuts of Windows 10 and OS X El Capitan, but the 2016 editions are somewhat more subdued by comparison. VMware marked the occasion by launching Fusion 8.5, a maintenance update with no new features.
Having celebrated its tenth anniversary for Desktop earlier this year, Parallels encouraged engineers to come up with at least one unique new feature to justify the upgrade to version 12, although the company’s usual relentless innovation produced a mixed bag this time around.
Open the Toolbox
Ironically, the marquee feature of Parallels Desktop 12 ($100 one-time purchase or $65 upgrade) isn’t part of the core software at all, but a bundled standalone application called Parallels Toolbox (sold separately for $13) which is installed via Preferences. Toolbox consolidates 20 common, everyday tasks into a single menu bar window, making them easier to find and use.
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These tools offer one-click simplicity for downloading or converting video, recording audio, muting the microphone, or performing system tasks such as locking the screen, hiding the desktop, preventing your Mac from going to sleep, and Do Not Disturb, which temporarily pauses notifications and Dock activity. Convenient? Yes, but none of the utilities are particularly special or unique, and power users are likely to have their own alternatives already installed.
Others are grouped into categories, providing functionality for taking screenshots, screen recording, archiving files, or managing time. I found the stopwatch, alarm, timer, and date countdown in the latter group particularly handy, since I typically defer such tasks to my iPhone or Apple Watch. Toolbox strictly works on the host OS—it has nothing to do with enhancing Mac, Windows, or Linux virtual machines.
One unfortunate side effect of Toolbox is that you’ll now have three separate Parallels icons taking up space on the menu bar: one for Toolbox, another for Desktop (when it’s actually running, of course), and a third for Parallels Access, the company’s remote access service (included with annual Desktop subscriptions). There’s clearly room for some consolidation here, and the individual tools also add icon clutter to Launchpad, but at least they can be organized into a single folder there.
Always ready
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If you spend an equal amount of time in Windows and macOS, Parallels Desktop 12 offers a number of welcome enhancements. Performance has been boosted across the board, with 25 percent faster access to shared folders and snapshots, and noticeably speedier suspend and resume—under five seconds on my 27-inch iMac Retina 5K.
VMs can now be configured to launch automatically when your Mac starts up, leaving them paused in the background while idle to avoid consuming valuable CPU time. (Remarkably, this continues to work even after quitting Desktop.) Located under Startup and Shutdown in the Options tab, “always ready in background” is accompanied by a handful of custom settings that determine how VMs behave when launched, closed, or shut down.
One of my biggest Windows 10 pet peeves is the heavy-handed approach to automatic updates. I don’t use Windows daily, so it every time I launch Parallels Desktop, performance is degraded as updates start installing in the background. The new Maintenance option allows such tasks to be blocked until the scheduled time, such as a weekend when my iMac isn’t in use. (VMs must be open at the time.) PD12 includes one year of free online storage (500GB) from Acronis, which can be used to back up your virtual machines.
Desktop 12 also makes using Windows on the Mac more seamless. Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents in Safari can be configured to open in their respective desktop Office 365 applications, and passwords entered in Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge can now be saved in your Mac keychain.
Last but not least, Parallels offers independent screen resolutions for multiple displays. In full-screen mode, my iMac runs Retina Display resolution, while the adjacent 27-inch Thunderbolt Display works as an extended 2560 x 1440 desktop, each in their own Space. (Sadly, there are no independent settings for backgrounds.)
There is at least one area where Desktop 12 takes a step back. Parallels for mac crashing. Parallels for mac el capitan. Contextual menu shortcuts have been inexplicably removed from Control Center, which I always found quite handy for quickly reclaiming storage from my Windows VMs without having to open the Configure window.
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Bottom line
Parallels Desktop 12 For Mac Is The World's
If you already have an annual subscription, installing Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac is a no-brainer. Although the new Toolbox utilities aren’t compelling enough on their own to justify a perpetual license upgrade, the performance improvements and macOS Sierra support certainly are.