• Pc Games On Mac Parallels 10
• Pc Games On Mac Parallels 7
• Pc Games On Mac Parallels 10

A virtual remote server can help you to run Windows on Mac.Parallels, the remote application server that gives access to Windows on a Mac system. So today I am reviewing this awesome application called Parallels Desktop and tell you how it helps you access Windows on your Mac PC.

Aug 20, 2012  PC games: they can be the bane of a Mac gamer’s existence. The Mac may be a better computer than a windows box, but even so, most games don’t support OS X. Even on Steam, the leader in cross-platform computer game support, most games run only on Windows. Dec 08, 2011  Can i install and run PC games directly in parallels, or do i have to bootcamp? Got a tip for us? Install and play games in parallels? Thread starter L4Leonard; Start date. Windows, Linux & Others on the Mac L4Leonard macrumors regular. Original poster. Oct 15, 2011 107 0. Nov 2, 2011 #1 Can i install and run.

I've been a Mac since 2006, or the first year that Apple introduced the Intel-based Mac, and I bought my first Mac to be a Windows Machine. In retrospect, I'm glad that I made the full switch over to macOS; but when you really NEED to run Windows on your Mac, there are really only a few ways to make this happen.

One of the best and easiest ways to run Windows on your Mac is with Parallels Desktop. Parallels recently released version 14 of their flagship virtual machine software. It allows you to run the latest, greatest version of Windows on your Mac.

With over 50 new features and improved performance, Parallels offers some compelling reasons to either hop on the bandwagon and upgrade or to jump in with both feet and take the plunge as a first-time buyer. Let's take a look and see if this is the version that brings Windows to the Mac on your desktop.

Parallels Desktop 14

Price: $80 for a new version or $50 for an upgrade

Bottom line: This is the best version of Parallels' VM software yet, making the choice to buy a no-brainer.

The Call to Upgrade

There are a few key reasons to upgrade to Parallels 14 from an earlier version. The biggest is that version 13.x won't run on macOS Mojave. A new macOS version will always require an update to key utilities like Parallels Desktop. The new OS will have features that will impair the functionality of or outright prevent the software from running. Existing Parallels users MUST upgrade if they move to macOS Mojave.

Over and above the mandate, if you will, there are a few benefits to the new software. Parallels Desktop 14 fully supports Mojave's Dark Mode, one of macOS' most anticipated pieces of eye candy. Perhaps the most noticeable feature is that Parallels Desktop 14 is 35% faster than previous versions; and it was immediately noticeable, too. This means that existing VM's really move. Based on my limited experience running both a Windows 7 and Windows 10 VM, I can attest to the increased speed. The new version also uses a great deal less space. Your VM's can be up to 20GB smaller, with automatic disk monitoring.

From a resource use perspective, Parallels 14 also provides an easy way to monitor RAM and CPU utilization. It will automatically adjust VRAM usage for the best VM performance possible. It's perhaps one of the better versions of Parallels to do this, too.

New Features

The latest version of Parallels Desktop comes with 50 new features, including the five I mentioned above. If you have a 2016-2018 MacBook Pro, Parallels Desktop will provide additional application support for your Windows apps through the Touch Bar. Apps and the OS itself will make use of the additional, second screen on your modern MBP. You also get enhanced access to the Touch Bar Wizard for even more customization options.

You also get the ability to use a stylus pen – or your finger by holding down the Fn key – in both Mac and Windows without having to connect or disconnect devices. You can use your Mac's webcam, as well as use your multi-display setup in Full-Screen mode while adjusting your video memory needs automatically.

Parallels Desktop 14 has enhanced Windows and Mac integration, including support for the 2018 Fall update of Windows 10, Version 1809. It also includes improved maintenance features allowing you to schedule maintenance and keep working, even while downloading and installing system updates.

Static or Subscription

Licensing for a lot of modern software is shifting from a standalone license to a subscription model. Consumers have seen that in a number of popular titles, include apps like Office 365 and Creative Cloud. You pay a little each month, and you get software for a year. Parallels Desktop is doing this as well; and this year, their subscription model is taking more of a front seat as opposed to its standard license. The matrix below outlines which features come at which tier level. The Standard Edition is the only edition not on a subscription model.

If you want better performance and more features, for the same price as the static upgrade or $20 more on a full license, the Pro Edition is perhaps the best way to go here.

Verdict

I've been a Parallels Desktop user since 2008, with the introduction of Parallels Desktop 4. It's come a long way in the past 10 years. Back in the day, virtualization software was slow; and you really, really needed a powerful Mac with a decent amount of RAM in order to be able to run both Mac and Windows software at the same time; and even then, performance still stunk. Parallels Desktop was slow; but it was still, in my opinion, the best and easiest way to run Windows and Windows apps on a Mac without having to constantly reboot the machine.

The current version – Parallels Desktop 14 – is by far – the best version of the virtualization environment yet. It's fast. I have both Windows 10 AND Windows 7 VM's on my Mac, and running them under Parallels Desktop 14 is very surprising to me, since they perform like native hardware PC's.

From a pricing perspective, making the upgrade to Parallels Desktop 14 was an easy decision.

I tend to run in Coherence mode, which hides the standard Windows Desktop and allows you to run a Windows app side by side with native Mac apps, sharing and swapping data back and forth between both, if you like. The operations are smooth, and for the first time, completely seamless.

From a pricing perspective, making the upgrade to Parallels Desktop 14 was an easy decision. At $50 a year, the Pro Edition, with the extra features and improved performance was a no-brainer. Since my current Mac will work well with Mojave, upgrading was a foregone conclusion for me – I really didn't have a choice, as Parallels Desktop 13 won't support macOS Mojave. However, I feel – and I think you will too – the cost of the upgrade is worth the expense, as you get a ton of performance features, but a bump up to the next and any additional releases for free for a year with your subscription.

Parallels Desktop 14 is the flagship consumer product from Parallels and is available via free trial or to purchase new for $80 or as an upgrade for $50.

macOS Catalina

Main

We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.

C.J.'s next Fishing Tourney will be in July

There are four Fishing Tourneys each year in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Here's when they are and what the rules are for participating.

The Mac has plenty of games, but it'll always get the short end of the stick compared to Windows. If you want to play the latest games on your Mac, you have no choice but to install Windows ... or do you?

There are a few ways you can play Windows games on your Mac without having to dedicate a partition to Boot Camp or giving away vast amounts of hard drive space to a virtual machine app like VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop. Here are a few other options for playing Windows games on your Mac without the hassle or expense of having to install Windows.

GeForce Now

PC gaming on Mac? Yes you can, thanks to Nvidia's GeForce Now. The service allows users to play PC games from Steam or Battle.net on macOS devices. Better still, the graphic power of these games resides on Nvidia's servers. The biggest drawback: the service remains in beta, and there's been no announcement when the first full release is coming or what a monthly subscription will cost.

For now, at least, the service is free to try and enjoy. All supported GeForce NOW titles work on Macs, and yes, there are plenty of them already available!

The Wine Project

The Mac isn't the only computer whose users have wanted to run software designed for Windows. More than 20 years ago, a project was started to enable Windows software to work on POSIX-compliant operating systems like Linux. It's called The Wine Project, and the effort continues to this day. OS X is POSIX-compliant, too (it's Unix underneath all of Apple's gleam, after all), so Wine will run on the Mac also.

Wine is a recursive acronym that stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator. It's been around the Unix world for a very long time, and because OS X is a Unix-based operating system, it works on the Mac too.

As the name suggests, Wine isn't an emulator. The easiest way to think about it is as a compatibility layer that translates Windows Application Programming Interface (API) calls into something that the Mac can understand. So when a game says 'draw a square on the screen,' the Mac does what it's told.

You can use straight-up Wine if you're technically minded. It isn't for the faint of heart, although there are instructions online, and some kind souls have set up tutorials, which you can find using Google. Wine doesn't work with all games, so your best bet is for you to start searching for which games you'd like to play and whether anyone has instructions to get it working on the Mac using Wine.

Note: At the time of this writing, The Wine Project does not support macOS 10.15 Catalina.

CrossOver Mac

CodeWeavers took some of the sting out of Wine by making a Wine-derived app called CrossOver Mac. CrossOver Mac is Wine with specialized Mac support. Like Wine, it's a Windows compatibility layer for the Mac that enables some games to run.

CodeWeavers has modified the source code to Wine, made some improvements to configuration to make it easier, and provided support for their product, so you shouldn't be out in the cold if you have trouble getting things to run.

My experience with CrossOver — like Wine — is somewhat hit or miss. Its list of actual supported games is pretty small. Many other unsupported games do, in fact work — the CrossOver community has many notes about what to do or how to get them to work, which are referenced by the installation program. Still, if you're more comfortable with an app that's supported by a company, CrossOver may be worth a try. What's more, a free trial is available for download, so you won't be on the hook to pay anything to give it a shot.

Pc Games On Mac Parallels 10

Boxer

If you're an old-school gamer and have a hankering to play DOS-based PC games on your Mac, you may have good luck with Boxer. Boxer is a straight-up emulator designed especially for the Mac, which makes it possible to run DOS games without having to do any configuring, installing extra software, or messing around in the Mac Terminal app.

With Boxer, you can drag and drop CD-ROMs (or disk images) from the DOS games you'd like to play. It also wraps them into self-contained 'game boxes' to make them easy to play in the future and gives you a clean interface to find the games you have installed.

Boxer is built using DOSBox, a DOS emulation project that gets a lot of use over at GOG.com, a commercial game download service that houses hundreds of older PC games that work with the Mac. So if you've ever downloaded a GOG.com game that works using DOSBox, you'll have a basic idea of what to expect.

Some final thoughts

In the end, programs like the ones listed above aren't the most reliable way to play Windows games on your Mac, but they do give you an option.

Of course, another option is to run Windows on your Mac, via BootCamp or a virtual machine, which takes a little know-how and a lot of memory space on your Mac's hard drive.

How do you play your Windows games on Mac?

Pc Games On Mac Parallels 7

Let us know in the comment below!

Updated October 2019: Updated with the best options.

We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.

Pc Games On Mac Parallels 10

C.J.'s next Fishing Tourney will be in July

There are four Fishing Tourneys each year in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Here's when they are and what the rules are for participating.