To learn more about Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac and macOS Sierra compatibility, read KB 123971. Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac The latest update of Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac supports macOS Sierra and addresses most compatibility issues. Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac supports macOS Sierra and the hit game Overwatch Parallels also announced Parallels Toolbox, a standalone app that puts shortcuts for common tasks in your menu bar.
![For For](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/e_JZQgjDSmY-iPdeP0aDlNJqg_M=/0x0:2880x1800/1200x800/filters:focal(1182x1210:1642x1670)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/51077235/Win10_2C_20Win8_2C_20and_20Win7_20in_20Parallels_20Desktop_2012.0.png)
I’m writing this paragraph in Word for Windows on Windows 10. Google drive app for mac and android going away. The process is as smooth as you’d expect on PC hardware built for Windows, with no hesitation or freezing, and all the features are enabled. But I’m not using a Windows PC; I’m using a three-year-old MacBook Air.
And I haven’t had to give over the Air entirely to Windows. Instead, I’m running Windows 10 and its apps concurrently with the brand-new macOS Sierra.
For instance, the Windows version of Word is running in its own window, right alongside open Mac apps, including Apple Mail and Safari. I’m doing this all with the new version of a 10-year-old program, Parallels Desktop, from a Seattle-area company of the same name, which came out last month for $80.
It’s faster and smoother than ever, and has some new tricks, including a new Mac utility suite that’s also sold separately. With ParalleIs Desktop, I can hop back and forth between Sierra and Windows 10 — and even between individual apps — with ease. I just copied and pasted the paragraph above into Apple’s proprietary Notes app, exactly as I could from a native Mac app.
And I wrote this sentence in Notes and copied and pasted it back into the Windows version of Word. Then I copied and pasted the whole thing again from Word for Windows into Google Docs running in Safari natively on the Mac. Windows 10, windowed, on a three-year-old MacBook Air Through all this, the aging Air performed smoothly and quickly, even though I’m now running three Windows apps and 11 Mac apps, including two browsers — Microsoft Edge and Apple Safari — with about 15 tabs open, total.
That includes two instances of the constantly updating TweetDeck app for Twitter power users. The only sign of strain is the constant, low whir of the fans.
But, to be honest, my faithful Air cranks up the fans pretty often these days even when running just macOS, and did so even before Sierra. (God, I hope Apple gives the Air a power bump, and soon.) When Parallels first came out, in 2006, I called it and “the best of both worlds.” After using this new version, Parallels 12, I can say with confidence that, in my tests, it still is. If you love and use the Mac, but need to use a few Windows apps, Parallels does the trick. The world has changed However, the world has changed a lot since then, and the need for Parallels has diminished for average Mac users. When it was launched, shortly after Apple switched the Mac to the same Intel processors that Windows used, it was a big deal, because there were still lots of apps only available for Windows, or which — like Microsoft Office — were vastly better on Windows. Parallels also offered a smoother solution than Apple’s own method for solving this problem: a feature called Boot Camp that’s still built into the Mac. Boot Camp also allowed running Windows on a Mac, but it required you to carve out a separate Windows partition on your hard disk, and you could only run one OS at a time.
You had to reboot each time you wanted to switch. Mac-native and web-based apps are more ubiquitous now than in 2006 Now, however, the web and web apps have drastically reduced Mac users’ need to run local Windows apps. Macs have become more common (though still a minority of PCs) and app makers have produced many more good Mac-native apps than existed in 2006. Even Microsoft has brought the native Mac version of Office with the Windows version. Perhaps even more important has been the rise of smartphones and tablets, where Apple maintains a strong position. Many PC use cases have moved to mobile apps, and Apple’s iOS mobile operating system gets excellent versions of these apps, and often gets them first.