Does Parallels virtualization software work with MacBook Neo? The short answer for now is that the company isn’t sure yet. The official line as of March 5 is that support has not actually been confirmed yet:
Parallels Desktop allows users to run virtualized operating systems, like compatible versions of Windows, on the Mac. The company behind the app hasn’t confirmed whether or not the software is compatible with MacBook Neo:
At the time of publication, MacBook Neo compatibility with Parallels Desktop has not yet been officially confirmed.
It sounds like Parallels intends to complete extensive testing before making any compatibility claims. In the meantime, the company explains why the MacBook Neo should be considered not yet officially supported for now:
MacBook Neo uses Apple’s A18 Pro chip, which is ARM-based Apple silicon but is not part of the M-series chip family and may not provide hardware support for virtual machines. […]
Parallels Desktop is a local Mac hypervisor: it runs virtual machines directly on your Mac’s hardware using macOS virtualization APIs. Those APIs are tied to the host chip architecture.
On Mac computers with M-series chips, Parallels Desktop powers ARM-based virtual machines through the chip’s hardware virtualization support. While the A18 Pro chip shares the same ARM architecture, the Parallels Engineering team is yet to verify if the chip provides the required virtualization support to run virtual machines.
A18 Pro side, only having 8GB RAM is the other factor that would affect performance but not necessarily compatibility. The MacBook Neo is hardly Apple’s only modern Mac with 8GB RAM, but Apple did raise the floor to 16GB memory across the board on new Macs sold in 2024. MacBook Neo resets the memory bar to 8GB RAM, but with a $599 price tag that can’t be ignored.
We’ll watch this space and update our coverage as answers around virtualization on MacBook Neo become available. In the meantime, you can catch up with the Parallels official support document tracking support here.
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