{"slug": "parallels", "name": "Parallels", "category": "infra", "category_name": "Infrastructure and DevOps", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 8, "warners": 2, "score": 1.421, "rising": 1.67, "first": "2025-11-10", "latest": "2026-09-28", "why": "I used to run Win 10 in Parallels on MacOS and it was excellent", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1, "compare": 2, "warn": 2}, "spark": [0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I used to run Win 10 in Parallels on MacOS and it was excellent", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.parallels.com", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Parallels"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 791640528, "item_id": 49477533, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49477533", "by": "api", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Parallels on macOS for this but any VM will do.", "excerpt": "I run these things in VMs, and as a user in the VM, and give them access to just the tree I want to work on via mounting. I use Parallels on macOS for this but any VM will do. That way my actual primary machine is at least strongly isolated. I also run them on VMs on my home Proxmox box. Zed, as an IDE, can connect to a VM via ssh and both edit and run things like Claude or its built-in agentic harness on your code w", "context": "", "use_case": "isolating AI agents in VMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI Agent Has Root"}, {"id": 790955514, "item_id": 49434719, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49434719", "by": "jlokier", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "some proprietary (VMware Fusion, Parallels)", "excerpt": "You can't run Linux directly on these. Asahi Linux supports up to M2 only. Linux runs very well in a VM on macOS. There are many good options for this, some free and open source (QEMU, UTM, Lima, Colima), some proprietary (VMware Fusion, Parallels). But Linux in a VM doesn't get access to the real GPU, so model performance is limited. Those running on the CPU perform well, and those needing the GPU don't. However, ma", "context": "", "use_case": "running Linux VMs on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 746948704, "item_id": 46684294, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46684294", "by": "darkteflon", "date": "2026-01-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used to run Win 10 in Parallels on MacOS and it was excellent", "excerpt": "Ffs. Alright, what\u2019s the best way for me to run Silverblue on Mac hardware these days with a full GPU-accelerated desktop experience? Is UTM any good? Any alternatives? I used to run Win 10 in Parallels on MacOS and it was excellent - that\u2019s the level of virtualisation polish I\u2019m going for. After 25+ years, I see the direction of travel - I\u2019m done with this bullshit. Yesterday my MacBook started ringing loudly in the", "context": "Mac developer, 25+ years on Apple", "use_case": "running Windows VM on Mac", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple testing new App Store design that blurs the line between ads and results"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 797991984, "item_id": 49874499, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49874499", "by": "sitsitstay", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "warn", "quote": "running a 1997 game in Parallels sucks", "excerpt": "Not complete yet, but now you can play it on a Mac, Linux, etc. I'm very happy with it. I've also got crossplay working between this and the original game, which is something I feel quite proud of - but was an absolute nightmare. The whole thing stemmed out of trying to rebuild a dead online service by guessing/reverse engineering the client to design a new server, sight unseen - but then I switched to MacOS life - a", "context": "developer porting a 1997 game to macOS", "use_case": "running old Windows game on Mac", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open Annihilation \u2013 Spent the GDP of a Small Nation Remaking a Classic 90s Game"}, {"id": 787505794, "item_id": 49219112, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49219112", "by": "SanjayMehta", "date": "2026-08-07", "stance": "warn", "quote": "they both switched to a subscription model, which is an immediate nope", "excerpt": "SuperDuper! is one of those gems which I will happily pay to upgrade every release without a second thought. 1Password used to be in that list, as was Parallels before it, but they both switched to a subscription model, which is an immediate nope. Pleasantly surprised that I qualified for a free upgrade here from 3 to 4. Good old shareware days come to mind, I miss those developers.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "SupererDuperer"}]}], "who": [{"by": "darkteflon", "context": "Mac developer, 25+ years on Apple", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46684294", "date": "2026-01-19"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["running old windows game on mac", "isolating ai agents in vms", "running linux vms on macos", "windows and ubuntu vms", "linux vm on macos", "running windows vm on mac"], "compared": [{"slug": "utm", "name": "UTM", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "vmware-fusion", "name": "VMware Fusion", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49873895", "title": "Open Annihilation \u2013 Spent the GDP of a Small Nation Remaking a Classic 90s Game", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49477311", "title": "AI Agent Has Root", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49433292", "title": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49135261", "title": "SupererDuperer", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47951037", "title": "Virtualisation on Apple Silicon Macs is different", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46726016", "title": "Ask HN: What's the best virtual Linux desktop experience on macOS for devs?", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"compare": 1}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1, "compare": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"warn": 1, "recommend": 2}, "2026-09": {"warn": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 797991984, "item_id": 49874499, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49874499", "by": "sitsitstay", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "warn", "quote": "running a 1997 game in Parallels sucks", "excerpt": "Not complete yet, but now you can play it on a Mac, Linux, etc. I'm very happy with it. I've also got crossplay working between this and the original game, which is something I feel quite proud of - but was an absolute nightmare. The whole thing stemmed out of trying to rebuild a dead online service by guessing/reverse engineering the client to design a new server, sight unseen - but then I switched to MacOS life - a", "context": "developer porting a 1997 game to macOS", "use_case": "running old Windows game on Mac", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open Annihilation \u2013 Spent the GDP of a Small Nation Remaking a Classic 90s Game"}, {"id": 791640528, "item_id": 49477533, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49477533", "by": "api", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Parallels on macOS for this but any VM will do.", "excerpt": "I run these things in VMs, and as a user in the VM, and give them access to just the tree I want to work on via mounting. I use Parallels on macOS for this but any VM will do. That way my actual primary machine is at least strongly isolated. I also run them on VMs on my home Proxmox box. Zed, as an IDE, can connect to a VM via ssh and both edit and run things like Claude or its built-in agentic harness on your code w", "context": "", "use_case": "isolating AI agents in VMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI Agent Has Root"}, {"id": 790955514, "item_id": 49434719, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49434719", "by": "jlokier", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "some proprietary (VMware Fusion, Parallels)", "excerpt": "You can't run Linux directly on these. Asahi Linux supports up to M2 only. Linux runs very well in a VM on macOS. There are many good options for this, some free and open source (QEMU, UTM, Lima, Colima), some proprietary (VMware Fusion, Parallels). But Linux in a VM doesn't get access to the real GPU, so model performance is limited. Those running on the CPU perform well, and those needing the GPU don't. However, ma", "context": "", "use_case": "running Linux VMs on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 787505794, "item_id": 49219112, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49219112", "by": "SanjayMehta", "date": "2026-08-07", "stance": "warn", "quote": "they both switched to a subscription model, which is an immediate nope", "excerpt": "SuperDuper! is one of those gems which I will happily pay to upgrade every release without a second thought. 1Password used to be in that list, as was Parallels before it, but they both switched to a subscription model, which is an immediate nope. Pleasantly surprised that I qualified for a free upgrade here from 3 to 4. Good old shareware days come to mind, I miss those developers.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "SupererDuperer"}, {"id": 767344401, "item_id": 47959025, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47959025", "by": "fragmede", "date": "2026-04-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use parallels for windows and Ubuntu", "excerpt": "No mention of http://tart.run? I use parallels for windows and Ubuntu, but for macOS, tart has been great!", "context": "", "use_case": "Windows and Ubuntu VMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Virtualisation on Apple Silicon Macs is different"}, {"id": 747641138, "item_id": 46727571, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46727571", "by": "andrewbastin", "date": "2026-01-22", "stance": "compare", "quote": "I have tested Fusion, Parallels and UTM and Fusion seemed to be the most stable for me.", "excerpt": "I run NixOS within VMWare Fusion (Mitchell Hashimoto has posted something similar https://github.com/mitchellh/nixos-config) in my M4 Max MBP. It runs pretty well but may hit the battery life sometimes. There are some weird stuff that happens with their GPU accelaration and random Fusion crashes sometimes. I patched Hyprland locally in my config due to a weird (but documented) issue with their GPU accelaration implem", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux VM on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What's the best virtual Linux desktop experience on macOS for devs?"}, {"id": 746948704, "item_id": 46684294, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46684294", "by": "darkteflon", "date": "2026-01-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used to run Win 10 in Parallels on MacOS and it was excellent", "excerpt": "Ffs. Alright, what\u2019s the best way for me to run Silverblue on Mac hardware these days with a full GPU-accelerated desktop experience? Is UTM any good? Any alternatives? I used to run Win 10 in Parallels on MacOS and it was excellent - that\u2019s the level of virtualisation polish I\u2019m going for. After 25+ years, I see the direction of travel - I\u2019m done with this bullshit. Yesterday my MacBook started ringing loudly in the", "context": "Mac developer, 25+ years on Apple", "use_case": "running Windows VM on Mac", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple testing new App Store design that blurs the line between ads and results"}, {"id": 733996162, "item_id": 45874760, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45874760", "by": "SomeUserName432", "date": "2025-11-10", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Also with parallels, but that's a whole new price range for just using Notepad++", "excerpt": "Should run just fine with Whisky (free) or Crossover ($74/yr). (Also with parallels, but that's a whole new price range for just using Notepad++)", "context": "", "use_case": "running Notepad++ on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Windows/Linux software that has no real equivalent on macOS?"}]}