Anyone familiar with this product? I've always been a PC guy and have no problem sticking with Windows. I currently have a Surface Pro 6 that's 4-1/2 years old so I'm starting to think about when to replace it. It was top of the line back then but you know how these things go.

I'm a self employed accountant and use Excel pretty hard but that aside increasingly my world is cloud based. I use Egnyte to manage client files and their virtual drive doesn't like MacOS. I've always said I'd never get a Mac but I really like iPhone and have no desire to get away from that and there are things like texting on the desktop that I'd get from a Mac that I can't get from a PC. I work from home and have three monitors which is a hugely nice thing I won't give up.

I recently learned about Parallels from a client and I'm curious about it as a way of having the personal side of a Mac while still having a Windows machine for work.

Thanks!

I use an MBP with windows 10 on bootcamp. I use fusion to run the bootcamp partition as a VM. Also have an Ubuntu VM. Both work well. Use windows to run cad software and manage external drives. Also run three external monitors with OSX and Windows. The transition from screen to scree and between OS is seemless. Imessage on your work computer is a game changer and air drop is nice too. If you have an apple watch it will automatically unlock your mac when you sit down at your desk.

Parallels works well. I haven't had any issues with it. It works with Apple silicon macs as well as Intel. Excel on windows works fine in parallels.

FreeLunch said:

---

Parallels works well. I haven't had any issues with it. It works with Apple silicon macs as well as Intel. Excel on windows works fine in parallels.

---

Good to know, thanks. I'm guessing a new machine is a late year purchase so I'll have to give a serious look at a Mac. Only question left is the three monitors. I've been reading up on some Mac docking stations and some of the reviews say certain Mac chips only push one or two external monitors. Not sure what to make of that yet either.

Parallels works great on M1 and M2. Microsoft and Parallels just announced a partnership. It's been in beta so Windows 11 is free but they may move to requiring a license. Parallels is a subscription so you'll be paying an annual fee. It's been great for running windows applications. Sometimes you can get games running through Steam. The Xbox app is terrible though as some games don't work and it crashes.
Parallels works like it did on Intel, you can have hybrid windows so Windows overlays on MacOS or you can have a VM window. It can share the same file system too.

Yea, for monitors the Air has a limit of like 2. The MacBook Pros can do more.

Pman17 said:

---

Parallels works great on M1 and M2. Microsoft and Parallels just announced a partnership. It's been in beta so Windows 11 is free but they may move to requiring a license. Parallels is a subscription so you'll be paying an annual fee. It's been great for running windows applications. Sometimes you can get games running through Steam. The Xbox app is terrible though as some games don't work and it crashes.
Parallels works like it did on Intel, you can have hybrid windows so Windows overlays on MacOS or you can have a VM window. It can share the same file system too.

Yea, for monitors the Air has a limit of like 2. The MacBook Pros can do more.

---

Appreciate the feedback on the difference with regard to monitors. That's a big deal for me. I knew Parallels required a subscription, that doesn't bother me. I just don't want to get $2000 into this thing and figure out it won't do what I want it to do.

The UTM app on the Mac App Store helps install QEMU, which is like VirtualBox but can also emulate any CPU (even old PowerPC chips). I have the free Windows 11 beta version running on an M1 Mac. No Parallels subscription needed.

Fusion is free for personal use but requires a subscription for Comercial use. It was still cheaper than parallels when I decided to go that route.

There are rumors that Apple will release a 15" MacBook Air in April and there could be a M2 Pro option.

it sounds like the only reason you're considering mac is for imessage feature. Im probably in the minority but I find it incredibly distracting and ended up disabling it completely.

the bang for your buck favors the pc world big time. I picked up a new m2 mini and the price really climbs once configured with a realistic modern amount of ram and storage. it wouldnt take many years of parallels fees to pay for an equivalent windows machine

80085 said:

---

it sounds like the only reason you're considering mac is for imessage feature. Im probably in the minority but I find it incredibly distracting and ended up disabling it completely.

the bang for your buck favors the pc world big time. I picked up a new m2 mini and the price really climbs once configured with a realistic modern amount of ram and storage. it wouldnt take many years of parallels fees to pay for an equivalent windows machine

---

Thank you for the challenge. I think iMessage is a sizable part of the analysis but let me explain. I think I said earlier I'm a self employed accountant. My company supports small business owners with the financial side of their businesses. It's a regular occurrence that I get text messages with images that I'm reading from to enter data into QuickBooks or an excel sheet or somehow use in a PC setting. I have Egnyte as a file share and all clients have their own "inbox" but with small business owners you're often talking about people not accustomed to technology and figuring out how to use the mobile app for that when they only use it for one thing in their life has proved challenging to be nice. Everyone is used to snapping a picture and texting and since it's better to have the info than not I've let it happen and don't see it changing.

Recently I bought a phone stand and a Bluetooth keyboard that is paired with my PC and iPhone so I can switch back and forth to type text messages and it's better than picking it up every time but still not as good as if it were on my desktop. This is the one thing about Android and Mighty Text I REALLY miss but the family really likes me on iPhone and I do like that phone. I'd gladly pay Apple $5 or $10 a month for messages in a PC app. For perspective I may get 10 text messages a day. Or I may get 50. Just the nature of the client base.

You ain't wrong on price. I looked at the maxed out MacBook and it's like $2500 while a similar MS laptop is $1000 less. That's bitter pill for sure. I think the three monitors is going to require the M2 chip at least that's what I think I've read. I have a lot to learn here and I'm not in a hurry. It's probably an October decision I just want to get the "is this possible" part out of the way.

Thanks for the feedback.

aggieforester05 said:

---

Fusion is free for personal use but requires a subscription for Comercial use. It was still cheaper than parallels when I decided to go that route.

---

Good to know. Ill give it a look. That's I guess the next step is what are the options other than parallels. I typically don't do free solutions for anything tech that's important to me but if there's a paid version I'll do that with the expectation that it's a better product.

Thanks!

probably easier said than done, but maybe request your clients use an agnostic/secure app like WhatsApp/GroupMe/etc. during your onboarding with them.

That way, you'll be able to seamlessly communicate on desktop/mobile no matter what platform you're on.

I'm sure you could use the encryption/security vulnerabilities of standard text to convince most people to add an app.