Parallels today announced Parallels Desktop 14 for Mac, bringing significant performance and storage savings improvements. It’s also natively compatible with macOS Mojave, which Apple plans to release in September.

“Millions of Parallels Desktop customers highly value performance and efficiency,” Parallels president Jack Zubarev says in a prepared statement. “With Parallels Desktop 14, we’ve taken those to the next level by focusing on graphics and storage, allowing customers to save as much as 20 GB of disk space while enjoying the best-ever performance. Personal productivity enhancements include more Windows features available on Mac devices.”

I spoke with Parallels last week about the new version and will be reviewing it soon. But as you may recall, I’ve long preferred Parallels Desktop over competing Mac virtualization solutions. And for the past three years, at least, I’ve found that the performance and utility of this solution, not to mention the ways in which you can integrate Windows applications on the Mac, make it preferable to alternatives like Boot Camp.

For version 14, Parallels is further refining the product, in particular, its Windows/Mac integration capabilities. You can now use Windows Ink in Windows applications like Microsoft Office, Microsoft Edge, CorelDRAW, Fresh Paint, Leonardo, openCanvas, and Photoshop, with pressure sensitivity, using a Wacom-style tablet or even the Mac’s touchpad. Parallels has also added Touch Bar support for many more Windows applications and it provides a wizard so customers can make their own.

And in a fun twist, Parallels Desktop 14 supports the new Dark Mode in macOS Mojave. So when you make the Mac desktop dark, your Windows applications will behave in kind (assuming they support Windows 10’s dark mode). The firm also added Windows quick actions when you examine a file with Quick Look.

At a lower level, Parallels Desktop 14 also amps up the efficiency. After upgrading, customers can use a new Free Up Disk Space tool to realize storage savings of up to 20 GB per virtual machine. Windows virtual machines boot about 10 percent faster, and Windows applications launch up to 80 percent faster.

As with previous versions, Parallels Desktop 14 costs $80 for an annual subscription or $100 for a perpetual license. If you own version 12 or 13, you can upgrade for $50. Parallels also sells Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition and Business Edition to new customers for $100 per year.

I will be writing more about Parallels Desktop for Mac, and related tools like Parallels Toolbox and Parallels Access, soon. In the meantime, check out the Parallels website for more information.

Tagged with Parallels, virtualization