Why would someone want to run Windows software on a Mac?
Running Windows 11 on a Mac can be beneficial for several reasons:
- Access to Windows-only software: Some software applications are only available on the Windows operating system. By running Windows 11 on a Mac, you can access these applications that you might not be able to use on macOS.
- Gaming: Most popular games are only available on Windows and cannot be played on macOS. By running Windows 11 on a Mac, you can access and play these games. That’s what I’m using Windows for on my Studio Mac.
- Compatibility testing: If you’re a developer, you may want to test your software on different operating systems. By running Windows 11 on a Mac, you can test your software on both macOS and Windows.
In the Early Mac Days, PC Emulators Were Almost Unusable
Back in the early 90s, I attempted to use a PC emulator for the Mac. I can’t remember what Mac model I had at that time, and I don’t remember the name of the program.
What I do remember was that the experience was horrible. Even with a text-based app like Microsoft Word, the emulator ran as slow as molasses on a cold day. You had to wait for the text you typed on the keyboard to show up in the document.
As you can imagine, it was extremely frustrating to use. I couldn’t imagine using it all the time to get things done.
I considered it a failed experiment and for years never attempted to use emulation again on a Mac.
Running Windows on Macs with Intel Chips
Everything changed with the switch to Intel chips in Macs in 2006.
Boot Camp
Shortly after introducing Intel chips in Macs, Apple also introduced Boot Camp. Mac users could now create a disc partition and install and run Windows natively on their Mac. Depending on the specifications of the Mac, Windows software could run as fast as on a PC.
The negative of using boot camp was that you couldn’t use the macOS and Windows at the same time. To run Windows, you had to select the Windows partition as the startup disk in settings, then restart the Mac to start up the Windows partition. To go back to the macOS, you were required to reverse the process by selecting macOS as the startup disc, then restart again.
Parallels Desktop
Soon after the Mac switched to Intel processors in early 2006, Parallels Desktop for Mac was released. It offered Mac users a different approach than Boot Camp — hardware virtualization for Macintosh computers with Intel processors.
While running Parallels, Mac users could run both the macOS and a window running Windows. There was no need to reboot the Mac into a different disc partition.
When I learned about this development, I started running iMacs in my legal practice with Parallels Desktop installed. In my estate planning practice, we were required to run proprietary Windows software to generate wills and trusts, create trust funding documents, and administer a trust after the death of one of the original trustees.
With Parallels, we could keep a window with Windows running our business software on the iMac without having to reboot to Boot Camp. This made it practical and efficient to use.
The software would output documents in Microsoft Word format, and we would edit and print them using the Mac version of Microsoft Word. The transition between the two was seamless.
I also used Parallels on my personal Mac at home to run PC games. For simple games it was adequate, but I found to run graphics-heavy games at an acceptable speed, I needed to run them natively in Boot Camp.
Running Windows 11 on a Silicon Mac with Parallels
No Boot Camp In Silicon Macs
Starting in 2020, Apple has been transitioning Macs from using Intel chips to its Apple Silicon chips using the ARM64 architecture.
With the shift away from using Intel chips, Boot Camp was terminated. As of this date, there is no Boot Camp for the ARM version of Windows.
Running Parallels Desktop with an Apple Silicon Mac
On the 16th of February 2023, Microsoft recognized Parallels Desktop as an authorized solution for running the ARM version of Windows 11 Pro on a Mac with Apple Silicon. Before this time, it was possible to install and run the ARM “insider edition” version of Windows 11 in Parallels, but it was not supported. I used the insider edition on my Mac Studio with Parallels.
Now you can download the ARM version of Windows 11 directly through Parallels and install it. To activate Windows, you must either already possess a Windows 11 license or buy one. Note that to run apps on Windows, you don’t have to have a license.
Using Parallels Desktop, you can share files and folders, copy and paste images and text, and drag and drop files and content between Mac and Windows applications. You can run Windows 11 in a Mac window, or use Coherence Mode. Coherence is a view mode that allows you to run Windows applications on your Mac, as though they were native Mac applications. You can even load Windows applications directly from your Mac Dock or Mac desktop.
My experience is that Windows performance is not as good as it was running natively in Boot Camp. However, it is much faster running in Parallels on my Apple Silicon machine than it was running in Parallels on my Intel iMac. I assume this is due to the much-increased processing power of Apple Silicon.
Graphic-intensive games that I had to run in Boot Camp before now run acceptably in Parallels on my Mac Studio. Of course, the specs of the Mac make a big difference in how quickly games run in Parallels. I’m using a Mac Studio with an M1 Max processor, with 64 GB of RAM.
Other Options to Parallels Desktop?
While there are other options for running Windows 11 apps on a Silicon Mac, none are as fast or comprehensive as Parallels Desktop. Parallels Desktop is the clear leader in this area. In addition, none of the other options are supported by Microsoft.
VMware Fusion Pro
The only real Mac app rival to Parallels Desktop is VMware Fusion Pro for Intel or Apple Silicon Macs. I’ve tried it in the past, and it was much slower and had very limited features compared to Parallels Desktop. My impression is that this is still accurate.
Streaming Services
There are also several streaming services that you can subscribe to that allow you to run Windows applications on the web. Of course, you need a fast internet connection for these to run properly.
1. Windows 365 Cloud allows you to configure a remote PC the way you want, and run Windows 11 programs. The cost is $31-$66 per month, depending upon the specifications of the web computer you are using.
2. For gamers, the option I’ve experimented with is NVIDIA GeForce NOW. It’s worked very well on my Mac using Safari. It costs between $9.99 and $19.99 per month, but only supports a limited number of games. In addition, those must be games that you’ve purchased from an existing game store or publisher account (like Steam or Epic). My sense is that for graphic-intensive gaming the $9.99 level is marginal, so you’d probably need to subscribe to the $19.99 level (which I did for a while on a monthly basis).
Give Parallels Desktop a Try if You Need to Run Windows 11
In my experience, the best overall solution to a need to run Windows 11 on a silicon Mac (and least expensive) is to run Parallels Desktop. With Parallels, you can install Windows 11 and use Windows apps and games.
Parallels Desktop is not cheap, but it’s much less expensive than buying an acceptable PC. It’s also less expensive than subscribing to an acceptable level of a streaming service.
An annual subscription is $99.99 a year for the standard edition and $119.99 for the Pro edition. Compared to the annual subscription rates for Windows 365 cloud ($372-$792) or GeForce Now for gaming ($119.88-$239.88) that’s a great price.
To download a free trial of Parallels Desktop for silicon Mac, go to the Parallels website and press the “Download Free Trial” button. After testing it out, you’ll be able to tell if it will meet your needs or if you’ll have to use another solution.