Late last week, Parallels launched Parallels Desktop 16 for Mac Technical Preview Program, which allows M1 Mac owners to use the Parallels software. With a pair of Army-based versions of Windows available through the Windows Insider program, it is possible to get Windows up and running on an Army-based Mac.
In our latest YouTube video, we installed Parallels on Mac M1 and tested Windows, but it didn’t work. When we first installed Parallels on Mac M1, it worked, but for about an hour of experience we kept getting into errors trying to get Windows to work. It was freezing regularly and the performance was grim.
With a little tinkering and a little trouble helping from MacRumors forums, we were able to make it work well enough to test. Parallels on the M1 Mac are available as Technical Preview and Windows can only be installed through Windows Insider, so none of these are software-released versions. Given that we are working with beta software that is still in development, it is not surprising that there are issues that need to be worked out, and anyone who wants to test make Windows on Mac M1 via Parallel bug fixes.
When running macOS Big Sur, the ekM1 MacBook Pro with 8GB RAM has a single-core Geekbench score of 1719 and a multi-core score of 7384. When it runs Windows 10 through Parallels using the basic dual-core setting, the Mac M1 achieved its single-core score of 1491 and multi-core score of 2753.
That’s very similar to Microsoft’s own Surface Pro X in terms of multi-core performance, and better when it comes to single-core performance, so when it works, distances aren’t too bad. Parallels fails to allow just two chores when running Windows, but you can switch to four main tasks.
With four cores implemented, multi-core Geekbench scores were much better, hitting 5013. The single-core score did not grow as well at 1518. You can also enable eight cores, but going from four to eight cores did little for performance (1524 single-core and 5958 multi-core).
In the four-core mode, there are some performance issues, so it is best to stick to the two-core option where possible. When an app is able to open and run, performance is hard, but there are a lot of bugs to deal with and a lot of software that is not working.
Many pre-installed apps do not work well and often refuse to open, but third-party apps like Geekbench seem to work as expected. Paint 3D, the Xbox app, and the Calendar app, for example, refused to work, but the Microsoft Edge browser and Office app suite were active and executed satisfactorily. Third-party apps like Spotify, Notion, and others worked well, and the Windows VM is even capable of playing older games like Civilization IV and Skyrim.
Currently, getting Arm-based Windows on Mac requires ParaM1 Parallels and the preview version of Windows Insider of the software, and it remains unclear whether Microsoft will provide people with a release version of Windows Arm for get permission.
Those who want to try Windows (or another OS) on Mac M1 can sign up to try the Parallel Technical Preview.