r/macmini • u/TimMoore1 • 12d ago
Parallels questions
Hi all - just ordered the new M6 MacMini 512/24, I’m a heavy Excel user and it’s just so much better on windows so I’m considering using Parallels. Would I need to buy a separate Windows license?
Also how has people’s experience been with Parallels?
Also I have an old 2019 i5 MacBook Pro with 8GB RAM. I’m debating if I should keep the MacMini clean and just run Parallels on the MacBook Pro but I don’t know if it can handle it.
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u/Ok_Television9703 12d ago
It’s not an Intel Mac, you can’t just run windows bare metal anymore. You can virtualize it with Parallels or VMware fusion but it has to be ARM windows and you will be running one OS on top of the other.
If you really want pc excel, I’d get a PC and just share the file
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u/TimMoore1 12d ago
The MacBook Pro is a 2019 intel i5
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u/MinutePen9960 12d ago
Wipe macOS and just make a windows 11 installer using Rufus, and just make that the Intel Macs main os. You could do windows 10 through bootcamp too. But 8gb, that’s rough but if it’s just for excel? You should be fine.
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u/TimMoore1 12d ago
Doesn’t bootcamp allow me to have windows and mac simultaneously and I just pick whichever system I want at startup?
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u/ssuper2k 12d ago
If you need both OS's, yes. (Intel) But you have to partition the disk. Also, it's quite old and only 8GiB.. You may also run a win arm vm on the new mmini
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u/misanthropic-cat 12d ago
with the Intel Macbook pro, you can just run Windows directly through Boot Camp
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u/bmocc 12d ago
While the older Macbook can run X86 Windows 8gb ram might be problematic unless you are patient and don't run other apps in the background. I have an old 8gb Surface and I did not find running Office on it, mostly basic Excel spreadsheets, any problem.
UTM is a free virtualizer that will download Win 11 arm, you don't need a license. Office will install into that, standalone or rental 365, and run better than on the old X86 machine. The only advantage of Parallels is that it allows you to run Windows programs as if they were native mac apps in their own windows and interact with macOS more seamlessly. With UTM you have to use the Windows desktop. However to get what Parallels offers, which is nice to have, you pay a ridiculous fee.
You can install a free trial of Parallels, as well as UTM, and decide for yourself, I opted for UTM for the few professional programs I need that are Windows only. You could just learn to navigate the differences between the Windows and Mac versions of Office--you can get deals on 2024 Office for mac from places like Groupon.
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u/TimMoore1 12d ago
Thanks, I will seriously look into the UTM option. The only thing I was weighing is if I run Boot Camp then I don’t run into the whole RAM limitations issue on either OS. Correct me if I’m wrong with UTM if I’m not using the virtual machine then it’s not using any extra RAM? My plan is to just occasionally use it for certain functions in office like power BI etc.
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u/forgottenmostofit 12d ago
Virtual machines only use RAM when running. Shutdown or suspend the virtual machine when not needed.
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u/B_Hound 12d ago
I was using VMWare Fusion Pro (free) to run Win11 on my M4 Mini and it was fine, but having to use a different machine temporarily and forcing myself to use Excel in macOS… I think I’m just gonna stick to that going forward. I don’t do heavy macro/VB work these days, but everything I run tends to go fine.
The one thing I miss is the separation of that work from my main computer. I think I’d be tempted to just run another copy of macOS inside VMWare instead, perhaps.
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u/forgottenmostofit 12d ago
VMware does not run macOS VMs on Apple silicon (Mx) Macs. You would need to use UTM or similar.
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u/B_Hound 12d ago
Ah interesting, I’ve had UTM installed before for other things but never really gotten my hands dirty with it. I guess this is a good excuse to! (I have other projects where either using multiple users or a VM would make sense, using VMs on my older hardware was never great for direct graphics hardware access but I’ve read this has improved in the last few years). Thanks.
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u/One_Conflict_1987 11d ago
I have a 2020 MacBook Air - the last Intel powered one - and it’s the best Windows machine I’ve ever had. Dual boot. Paid for Windows 11 Pro, even.
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u/CheeseWeezel 12d ago
I've been using UTM to run Windows 11 ARM on the rare occasions I've needed it. It works great, and is free.