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Parallels Desktop 16’s Control Center under macOS Big Sur.
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Big Sur is of course also supported as a virtual machine.
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Pro users can call custom networks.
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There is a menu for developers to make some tasks easier.
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You can compress and export virtual machines.
Parallels Desktop 16 launched today on the Mac. It is the latest major release of software used by developers and others to run Windows, Linux, and macOS applications and virtual machines under macOS. The most notable offering is full support for macOS Big Sur.
According to Parallels representatives talking to Ars, Big Sur support was no small task: Big Sur ended support for the third-party kernel extensions that Parallels built on. That meant an enormous amount of work was needed to play nicely with Big Sur – 25 human years of engineering work, they claimed.
In addition to supporting Big Sur for both host machines and virtual machines, Parallels Desktop 16 has a slightly different look to match the different look that Apple has gone with in Big Sur.
While Big Sur support here is the flagship feature, there is a laundry list with minor improvements in this release. For example, Parallels Desktop 16 supports 3D in Metal applications when running a macOS Big Sur virtual machine on a macOS Big Sur host.
Printers can be shared between host and virtual machines across operating systems, and support has been added for zoom and rotation files on multitouch trackpads for Windows apps that have zoom / rotation functionality. Parallels Desktop 16 also promises faster performance than the previous version; it claims to launch twice as fast and offers a 20 percent improvement in DirectX performance, as well as 75 percent faster “git status” in Linux virtual machines. Support for newer versions of OpenGL has been extended which Windows apps will run in a virtual machine via Parallels.
Pro Edition users can now name their custom networks, and they can export virtual machines in a compressed format that Parallels claims is a fraction of their pre-compression size. Parallels has also launched a plug-in for Microsoft Visual Studio to simplify testing on multiple OSes.
We asked about all the plans for Windows to support Apple Silicon in Big Sur, but Parallels reps declined to talk about it, saying they will discuss it at a later date.
Parallels Desktop 16 will be available today. The standard edition is a one-time purchase at $ 99.99, while the Pro and Business Editions require a $ 99.99 per year subscription. Upgrading from Parallels Desktop 14 or 15 to the new version costs $ 49.99 once for the standard edition.
That package includes Parallels Toolbox, which was also recently updated with new tools and features. These include a track-break tracker, a device converter, and display options for desktops and windows manager for Macs.
Image of list by Apple
