Trial of Parallels Desktop and see if your desired game is supported.It was just about a year ago that I firstThe result is a PC gaming experience on Mac like no other and reason alone to upgrade to Parallels Desktop 17. I don’t know much about Parallels Parallels Desktop 17 is optimized for the latest macOS 12 Monterey with improved. I was able to figure out modding for OpenMW but no such luck with Oblivion as I believe Porting Kit is still being worked on. The only games I’ve played on Mac thus far have been Morrowind (OpenMW) and Oblivion (Porting Kit). I’m very new to computer gaming (not counting my late 90’s days of Freddie Fish and Age of Empires) and considering purchasing the Parallels Desktop for Mac for my M1 MacBook Air.As noted above the software also supports the Windows 10. The recent release of Parallels Desktop 3.0 is evidence of that: this first-ever paid upgrade has over 50 new or improved features.Parallels engineers worked with Blizzard Entertainment and optimized Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac to support smash PC title, Overwatch. But things are moving quickly in the virtualization arena, and much has changed in the last year. I found it to be a fast and versatile way to run Windows, Linux, and many other systems within OS X.
![]() For instance, I installed and tested Infogrames’BoarderZone, an older PC snowboarding game. The company providesOf games known to be compatible, though others may work as well. This feature is disabled by default, as it’s still somewhat experimental, but it can be easily enabled in the virtual machine’s preferences. Portable mac emulatorBut for those games that do work, the results can be good—especially for older games with less stringent graphics requirements. However, other games I tested, such as Microsoft’s Flight Simulator and Motocross Madness 2, didn’t run after installation. Neither is on Parallels’ list of tested games, but both worked quite well. The results could be improved, of course, by using a smaller window or lower quality graphics settings. They tested Doom 3 on a 2.16GHz iMac Core 2 Duo to see how well this graphically intensive game held up when run in Parallels.As you can see from the chart below, there’s a substantial performance hit for running either game under Parallels. I then copied a recorded demo file to all of these setups, and I ran a benchmark test using that demo file on each machine.The Macworld Lab performed a separate test. But if your gaming needs are mainly limited to older titles, or if you’re willing to play in a somewhat smaller window, Parallels 3 provides a usable solution, at least for some games, without rebooting.Gaming tests were not the only tests we performed. To play Prey via Parallels on that machine, both resolution and image quality would have to be reduced to get a usable frame rate.Doom 3 results on the iMac were similar to Prey on the MacBook Pro—you’d need to reduce the window size and graphic quality settings to get decent gameplay.If you want the best Windows gaming experience, use Boot Camp to turn your Mac into a real Windows PC. But Prey on the MacBook Pro is another story. At no time, though, did it feel unplayable. Prey tests ran in a window, with medium texture quality, highest shader detail, no anti-aliasing or vertical sync, and image anisotropy at 8x. Best result for each system inAll tests were run at 1,024 by 768 resolution. We are working with our colleagues at PC World to sort out the problems we’ve encountered with World Bench tests and hope to post results soon.Parallels Desktop 3.0 Game Tests Prey Time DemoHigher numbers are better. Some tests would not completely run other tests intermittently corrupted our versions of Windows. All systems were running Mac OS X 10.4.9. Doom 3 was set to use high video setting, 1,024 by 768 resolution, V-sync No, Antialiasing Off, and all other settings set to Yes. Figures are frames per second as reported by Prey. ![]() In Parallels 3, you can now also use a Vista Boot Camp partition, and the speed of mounting Boot Camp partitions is faster. Boot Camp partition supportParallels 2.5 added the ability to use your Boot Camp Windows XP partition as a Parallels virtual machine, eliminating the need for two separate Windows installations. Note that you cannot use both Undo Disks and Snapshots on the same virtual machine. In a lab setup, a feature like this can ensure that any changes made by students won’t survive beyond the next launch of Parallels. Free word and excel software for macCoherence modeIntroduced with Parallels 2.5, Coherence mode interleaves windows from both Windows and OS X. When this feature was first introduced in Parallels 2.5, users had some trouble with it, but it worked well for me in Parallels 3. The main limitation of this setup is that you won’t be able to create Snapshots or use Undo Disks on Boot Camp partitions. You can, however, use Command-Tab or the Dock to switch to a specific Windows application, as each gets its own icon in the switcher and the Dock. Instead, you click on the group of Windows windows in Exposé, and whatever application is frontmost becomes the frontmost open application after switching. As a result, you can’t choose a specific target application by using F9 and then clicking on the target program’s window. Exposé treats all open Windows windows as one window, and shows them grouped together when you press F9. The Windows taskbar will also be visible, so if you intend to use this mode, it’s best to move either the Dock or the Windows taskbar to the side of the screen, to avoid confusion.I ran a number of Windows and OS X applications side-by-side in Coherence mode, and everything worked as expected—except when I used Apple’s Exposé features. Switching between OS X and Windows applications is as simple as switching between OS X applications—just click the window you wish to use. For many common file formats, such as JPEG and TIFF, the list of entries on the Open With menu is already sizable with only OS X apps included adding more choices doesn’t do anything to help my productivity.Smart Select also features a special Shared Applications folder in the Windows Start menu. In practice, however, I found this feature confusing and not all that helpful. When you control-click a file in either OS, the Open With menu option will list both Mac and Windows programs that can open that file. Parallels Desktop 12 Gaming Full Windows OSIt’s a great tool for moving files to and from a virtual machine, especially when you need to get a file or folder in a hurry and don’t need the full Windows OS up and running.Parallels 3 features improved USB and USB 2.0 support. After sending an e-mail to Parallels’ tech support, I was told that a soon-to-be-released free update would take care of the problem.Parallels Explorer is a newly bundled application that lets you view and modify your Windows virtual machines without actually launching Parallels Desktop. In my testing, however, that was not the case—the huge list was still present regardless of my Security Manager settings. According to the manual, this feature can be disabled in the new Security Manager. I have hundreds of Mac apps, however, and seeing them all in one gargantuan menu really isn’t a benefit of any sort. ![]()
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