Top of the features list is Touch Bar support, enabling owners of compatible MacBook Pros to use the OLED strip with Microsoft Outlook, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as additional integration for the Windows Start Menu and Desktop, including Cortana, Task View, and Taskbar pinned elements. A Touch Bar Wizard also allows users to customize the Touch Bar and add their favorite Windows applications.
New dynamic resolution support mean users can change the window size of their Windows session, with booting and rebooting speed said to be faster and smoother as a result. Meanwhile, enhanced support for Retina displays should see better scaling of Windows applications on Mac screens.
More generally, Parallels claims over 47 percent faster access to Windows files and documents compared to the previous version, faster file transfers over USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt SSD devices, and up to 32 vCPU and 128GB vRAM per virtual machine with Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition, with code for all new versions optimized for macOS High Sierra (10.13) and Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.
Elsewhere, Parallels claims over 30 new additional tools can be found in version 13 that simplify everyday tasks on Mac and Windows. They include a drive cleaner, video conversion, a file archiver, a GIF creator, a video downloader, Do Not Sleep and Do Not Disturb modes, a Lock Screen, and the ability to temporarily hide files on the desktop, amongst many others.
Parallels Desktop 13 for Mac costs $79.99 for a new license. Existing users of Parallels Desktop for Home and Student can upgrade to V13 for $49.99, with a time-limited offer enabling users of the Desktop Pro Edition to upgrade for the same price (usually $99.99). For more pricing details, see the Parallels website.
(Thanks, Ulric!)
Parallels For Mac
I’ve been running with Parallels for a while on my new Mac Intel system, and am really happy with it. But I really wish I could cut and paste between the Windows apps and the Mac apps, wish it would sync to the correct time, and so on. Is there some sort of Parallels equivalent to the old VMware “helper apps” that you’d install within the guest operating system? I’m running Windows XP.
There is indeed a helper application that you really do need to install if you’re running Parallels Desktop on your Intel Mac system, called, ingeniously enough, Parallels Tools.
To install it, start up Parallels Desktop on your Mac OS X system (if you don’t yet have this Intel Mac only tool, you can get a working demo copy of Parallels online: download the Parallels demo). You’ll need to have configured your virtual OS to include support for a CD/DVD drive, then log in to Windows XP as an administrator. Buy parallels for mac. If you don’t know what I mean, you probably are the admin for the WinXP system!
Now you’ll want to select “Install Parallels Tools…” from the VM toolbar that’s part of the Mac side of Parallels Desktop (that is, it’s not part of your guest OS):
As I indicated, you definitely need to be logged in to your guest OS. Parallels reaffirms that with its warning message:
Just “OK” past that — since you are already logged in to WinXP, aren’t you? — and the next thing you’ll see is the Installer running within Windows for this particular application:
At this point you’ll be clicking Next a few times to let it tell you about the installation options, etc. The first time you click it’ll warn you that they haven’t gone through the Microsoft verification process for the extensions so you’ll possibly see some warnings, but they’re safely ignored:
I didn’t find that anything needed to be changed along the way. You’ll be asked if you want to install “complete” or “custom”: I recommend you install the complete Parallels Tools package.
Finally, installation complete, you’ll want to restart your guest operating system (e.g., Windows XP, not your Mac):
Once it starts up again, you’ll have a new icon in the clock tray, right next to the time display itself:
That’s the shortcut for Parallels Tools. Click on it and you’ll be able to configure and modify all of the many utilities included in this useful package:
Delete Parallels From Mac
Without a doubt, if you’re running Parallels Desktop you want to also install Parallels Tools too!
Note: If you haven’t yet delved into the world of virtualization on Intel-based Macs, please read How to install Parallels Desktop and Windows XP on your Intel Mac OS X System.