Parallels Desktop alternatives for macOS?

[creat0r]

What are some easy to use alternatives to Parallels Desktop for macOS in 2023?

 

Parallels is a in my opinion a bad company, they harass you with “please subscribe”-notifications when you’ve bought an expensive perpetual license of their software, and it’s impossible to come in contact with their support if you don’t have social media and the subscription version of their software.

 

I want something as easy to use as possible, it’s for my young brother who will use it primarily for running Windows games on his Mac (he needs a Mac for multiple reasons). I’ve looked at some of the alternatives that want you to download the Windows version of Steam to macOS and then running the games by translating them. It kind of seems complicated to be honest, Parallels was extremely easy to use for him while it worked since he just had to click the Parallels Desktop-icon in the dock and click on the game he wanted to play on the Windows desktop. He uses a Mac with M1 by the way.

 

It’s a shame Boot Camp was removed…

[Kilrah]

The closest is VmWare Fusion. Otherwise there's UTM but it's more "techy" than consumer-focused.

[mMontana]

Boot camp is not there because of ARM.

AFAIK only other options currently seems VMWare Fusion, but Parallels received... a bit more support form Cupertino.

 

If you need windows "often"... buy a not overpriced computer (like MacIntel were after 2015)

 

[creat0r]

Thank you for your answers. I've looked at VMWare Fusion but recent reviews are very mixed... I might still have to go that way in the end, but does anyone have any experience with running Windows games from Steam via CrossOver on M1 (https://www.codeweavers.com/crossover)? Yes, the perpetual license is expensive but it's also for lifetime and is much cheaper than Parallels in the long term. Also I don't have to buy a Windows license unlike Parallels and VMWare and CrossOver claims to have the best performance.

[mMontana]

Do not compare spoons with forks. Crossover is not a virtualizer, but... something like WINE. Not the same sauce.

 

Also: gaming steam on Mac M1 via Crossover?? Did you ever try to use forklifters as racing cars? Or a speedster as a lorry? Long story short: currently any kind of gaming on Mac with ARM SoC is possible only with... Apple provided games, which might not be that interesting. If you have another computer and you would like to remotely game on that, probably parallels  Parsec will help you.

 

You want a gaming only device? Steamdeck is not the best but might enable you what you're looking for: Steam.

[thevictor390]

Nothing, actually nothing, replicates the functionality of Parallels. Crossover can be a workable solution for running individual apps, but compatibility is very spotty, and it can often require obscure fixes. Especially if a game or launcher gets an update and suddenly what worked fine before is now completely broken.

Overall, Mac is not the machine for "easy to use" gaming unless you limit yourself to compatible games.

[creat0r]

Thank you for your replies. VmWare Fusion doesn't interest me since they also have expensive licensing and no real perpetual license alternative while at the same time being worse than Parallels. Parallels is the best solution for running Windows on Mac since it's supported by both Apple and Microsoft (recommended by Microsoft, sold in some physical Apple Stores by Apple). However, I don't think that Crossover is necessarily a bad option if you know what games you want to run (which I do). Setting it up is also not as bad as I thought. Crossover have a very good, supportive and active community and a very good compatibility list: https://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility I'll give CrossOver a try, on their compatibility list the games I want to run (I only play a few older titles) have very good ratings. If the free Crossover trial doesn't make me happy, I'll turn to GeForce NOW (the electricity bill in Sweden is absolutely insane so I'll actually save A LOT of money by using GeForce NOW instead of having a power hungry GPU in my house).

[mMontana]

1 minute ago, creat0r said:

I don't think that Crossover is necessarily a bad option if you know what games you want to run (which I do).

I'd like to know what will be your expeerience with Crossover.

[maplepants]

OP, you and the other posters are right that CrossOver is *the* way to play Windows games on a Mac.

 

The other option though, is to buy him a couple of Mac native games. I mostly play games on my Windows PC, but when I play on my M1 Max Mac Studio Dead Cells, Cuphead, Minecraft, No Man's Sky, Spiritfarer, and Stardew Valley all play like a dream. They're all Mac native (though not ARM) and run perfectly.