Parallels Desktop 14 is the fastest, easiest, and most powerful application for running Windows applications on a Mac without rebooting. Optimized for macOS Mojave, Parallels Desktop 14 for Mac lets you save up to 20 GB disk space and start Windows and applications up to 35% faster. Parallels Desktop 12 review: A nearly perfect blend of Windows and Mac. But the 2016 editions are somewhat more subdued by comparison. VMware marked the occasion by launching Fusion 8.5, a.
- Pros
Fast and reliable. Sandboxed security. Free version includes easy downloads of Linux and other free OS guests. Simple interface.
- Cons
Minimal integration between host OS X and guest Windows or Linux system. No drag-and-dropping between host and guest. Only one shared folder for Windows guests.
- Bottom Line
Veertu is a minimalist virtualization app for running Windows, Linux, and a few other operating systems under OS X. It lacks some features offered by the competition, but it's got excellent sandboxed security built in.
Like Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion, virtualization app Veertu runs Windows or Linux on a Mac, with the Windows or Linux guest system running in a window or full-screen under OS X. But Veertu is as different from Fusion and Parallels as an app can be while still doing basically the same job. Where Fusion and Parallels are feature-laden apps with dozens of configuration options and deep integration between OS X and its Windows or Linux guest systems, Veertu takes a minimalist approach to virtualization. This makes it a less powerful and flexible app overall, but sometimes minimal may be all you need; when that's the case, Veertu is a very good choice.
- $79.99
- $79.99
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Pricing and Versions
The free version of Veertu only lets you use open-source guest systems downloaded from its online library. You'll need to buy the $39.99 premium version (available as an in-app purchase from within the free version) if you want to install a guest system from an ISO image, in the traditional way used by Fusion, Parallels, and the long-established open-source Oracle VM VirtualBox. This means you can only run Windows in Veertu if you pay for the upgrade. The premium version can also import existing guest machines created by Fusion or Parallels, but, in my testing, the import only worked with standard OSes like Windows and Linux, not with obscure OSes like Nextstep that Fusion supports but Veertu doesn't.
Note that you can only buy the software from the App Store. One disadvantage of this App-Store-only distribution is that you can't download a trial version; you need to buy the app (or stick to the open-source guest systems) in order to try it.
Speedy, Streamlined
Veertu runs Windows or Linux at about the same fast pace that Fusion and Parallel run them, but, unlike those high-powered rivals, Veertu won't let you do tricks like running a Windows mail app when you click on a mail link in OS X, and it won't display the same files on your OS X and Windows desktops. Instead, Veertu lets you share folders between OS X and the guest system as if they were both on the same network. It also lets you copy and paste text between OS X and the guest machine. But you can't drag and drop files from the OS X desktop to a guest desktop, as you can in Parallels and Fusion. From a Veertu Windows guest, you can access only one folder (and its subfolders) on the OS X host. From a Linux guest system, however, you can access the entire OS X host system.
Like Parallels, Veertu lets you download and install virtual machines running various flavors of Linux from a menu inside the app. Veertu and Parallels both offer Ubuntu, CentOS, and Debian. Parallels also offers Android, ChromeOS, a Windows 10 development environment, and an option (also available in VMware Fusion) to install a virtual copy of OS X using the recovery environment built into your Mac's OS X system. Veertu doesn't offer these, but it does offer OpenBSD, FreeBSD, and Boot2Docker for creating and using encapsulated single-purpose systems.
If you're familiar with Fusion, Parallels, or the freeware VirtualBox you may be surprised by what Veertu doesn't give you. If you're running Windows or Linux in a window on the OS X desktop, Fusion and Parallels let you resize the window on the fly by dragging on the window border. Veertu doesn't give you that option, so you'll have to use the control panel in the guest OS to set its screen resolution. Surprisingly, Veertu doesn't let you use your Mac's Command key as the Windows key in a Windows guest, so you'll need to click on the Start menu in the guest when you would normally use the Win key. I found the same problem in Linux guests. This is fairly serious limitation for anyone who relies on the keyboard.
High Security
The Veertu feature that outclasses Fusion, Parallels, and VirtualBox is invisible—it's Veertu's use of the hypervisor framework that Apple built into OS X starting with version 10.10 Yosemite, and it lets Veertu run without custom-built kernel extensions and other complexities required by rival products. It also means that Veertu satisfies all of Apple's security requirements, so that's why it's available from the OS X App Store.
Veertu's incomplete keyboard support makes it less useful than either Parallels or Fusion for anyone who wants to run Windows software on a Mac, and it doesn't match Fusion's and Parallels' ability to run a single Windows app in an OS X window. There's a free alternative in Oracle's VirtualBox, but VirtualBox doesn't provide Veertu's sandboxed security and convenient downloads of Linux guests, nor can it match Fusion's and Parallels' integration features. If you're just looking to run a few simple Windows apps or games, you might try Urge Software's Wineskin Winery; it's free, but it can be tricky to set up, and it didn't work well with complex apps in my testing.
Veertu isn't much cheaper than Parallels or Fusion, but its sandboxed security can make it attractive to testers or to anyone who prefers minimalist software to the intrusive thicket of integration features and marketing popups that can be annoying and distracting in Parallels. If you're willing to live with its limits, Veertu is worth exploring, but if you need to use Windows apps in OS X, then our Editors' Choice apps—Fusion and Parallels—are what you'll need.
Veertu (for Mac)
Bottom Line: Veertu is a minimalist virtualization app for running Windows, Linux, and a few other operating systems under OS X. It lacks some features offered by the competition, but it's got excellent sandboxed security built in.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.blog comments powered by Disqus Maybe it was the best-in-class build quality, or the pleasant MacOS user experience, but one way or another you decided to invest in a Mac.As enjoyable as MacOS is, a day will come when you might need to open up a Windows exclusive application. When that day comes, you’ll be faced with a decision. Do you partition your drive, fire up Boot Camp, and install a full-fledged version of Windows? Or do you just buy Parallels 13?
There are other solutions, but these two rise to the top of any Windows-on-Mac discussion. During our Parallels 13 review, we saw firsthand why that is — and why Parallels might be the best option for most people.
Parallels For Mac Home
Living in parallel
The divide between Windows and MacOS isn’t as stark as it used to be. Outside of gaming, you can find an analogous version of most Windows software nestled in the warm embrace of the MacOS App Store, or elsewhere online. All the major productivity suites are on MacOS and Windows — Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Cloud, and of course Google’s G Suite.
There’s still cases where you’ll need a regular install of Windows, though. A number of specialized software tools only support one platform or another, and software developers often need access to a Windows environment for testing. That’s where Parallels comes in.
Installation is quick and painless, and it doesn’t require any messing around with hard drive partitions or boot loaders. You install it like any other MacOS application — after you pay the entry fee of $80, or $100 per year, for the Pro version. Click through a few menus, and that’s it. The rest of the installation goes on auto-pilot, downloads Windows 10, and breezes right through all the setup.
Parallels is great at doing heavy lifting in the background, out of sight.
Installing a Twitter client requires more interaction than installing Parallels 13, and that’s a good thing. Parallels is great at doing heavy lifting in the background, out of sight.
Contrast the installation process to Boot Camp, and it’s easy to see why Parallels 13 is the more attractive — if expensive — option for some. To install Boot Camp, you’ll need partition your hard drive, reboot your Mac a few times, and then deal with installing Mac-specific drivers on your Windows install. Even then, the trackpad never feels quite right.
Windows when you want it, MacOS when you don’t
Once it’s installed, Parallels 13 offers the full functionality of Windows 10 in parallel with MacOS. You can fire up Parallels from your applications menu, or you can just click your new Windows folder from the dock, and jump right into any Windows app, as if it were just a part of your MacOS experience.
The seamless transition between Windows and MacOS has long been the draw of Parallels, and the latest version upholds that storied tradition. Windows 10 is never more than a click away, and your Windows apps even live in your dock, just like your MacOS apps.
On top of that, Parallels 13 goes one step further. With the “Coherence” mode, Parallels actually does a decent job of merging with MacOS proper. The Windows 10 panel goes away, and your Windows taskbar icons jump up on your MacOS menu bar. Your Windows apps even live inside your MacOS desktop environment, just like your regular MacOS apps.
All right, what’s the catch?
Parallels and its Coherence mode are very cool, but they require a substantial amount of system resources. We did our testing on a 2016 MacBook Pro 15 — with an Intel Core i7-6820HQ and 16GB of RAM — and Coherence mode caused significant slowdown over time. Sites had trouble loading, while Excel and Word started to cry for mercy, exhibiting substantial input delay.
Parallels For Mac Free
If you do need it, you’ll find Parallels 13 is nearly perfect solution.
That said, slowdown was the only real issue we encountered during our testing, and Parallels does an admirable job of managing system resources when you’re not actively running Windows apps. When you tab out of a Windows app, Parallels puts it on the back burner. Your Mac won’t be quite as slow, but there’s still a bit of input lag.
Other than that, Parallels ran every Windows 10 application flawlessly during our tests. Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and even Steam ran without any issues. In fact, when we had Photoshop open in MacOS and Windows 10 with Coherence mode active, it was hard to tell which one was which.
Parallels 12 For Mac Review
It’s important to point out that running Windows 10 through Parallels is a bit more limited than running Windows 10 through a Boot Camp install. Parallels is a virtual machine — an emulation of a Windows machine — and Boot Camp just installs a regular version of Windows 10 on your MacBook or iMac hardware.
The Boot Camp version of Windows 10 can interface directly with your hardware, so it’s always going to be a quicker, more robust option and the best option for gaming on a Mac or MacBook. Gaming through Parallels is… ill-advised.
Advanced, graphics-heavy games like Overwatch — if you can get them to run at all — will be unplayable. That’s not what Parallels is meant for, so remember that if you were hoping Parallels might offer an easy path to gaming on your Mac.
A solution in search of a problem
Overall, Parallels 13 does an excellent job of integrating Windows 10 into MacOS. It’s seamless, fast — usually — and reliable. If you need access to a Windows 10 environment for software testing, or just one or two applications, Parallels is an excellent choice.
With that said, for most users, the price of entry will be too high for what you get. Parallels 13 is an excellent piece of software, but the utility of the software for most users is debatable. Parallels targets a set of power users that need frequent access to both operating systems.
For most people, Parallels is an answer in search of a question – but if you do need it, you’ll find Parallels 13 is nearly perfect solution.