Hi.

Is anybody using Parallels Desktop 13? How fast is it compared to the previous version?
I consider upgrading as vs12 is awfully slow on my Mac Mini (despite 16 GB RAM). They promise 47% faster access to Windows files. The rest of the new features (Touchbar and Retina support, Clean Drive, GIF creation???) wouldn't make me pay almost 50 Euro.

TIA, Franz

I upgraded from v12 to v13 a few weeks ago. I run a Windows 10 PVM on Parallels, use it most of the day, and have had no issues with Parallels itself. I have no idea what their "faster access to Windows files" promise is supposed to mean or how an ordinary user would prove it one way or the other. As far as I can tell v13 isn't faster and it isn't slower than the previous version and has no obvious changes in the way it operates.

Franz Grieser wrote:

Hi.

Is anybody using Parallels Desktop 13? How fast is it compared to the
previous version?
I consider upgrading as vs12 is awfully slow on my Mac Mini (despite 16
GB RAM). They promise 47% faster access to Windows files. The rest of
the new features (Touchbar and Retina support, Clean Drive, GIF
creation???) wouldn't make me pay almost 50 Euro.

TIA, Franz

Thanks Paul.
(Not the answer I hoped for - but that's not your fault :-) )

I could have mentioned there is a bit of good news in v13. If you use Parallels on a Retina display, Windows 10 no longer struggles to present itself with a proper resolution. The Picture-in-Picture mode is useful if you have a large monitor and want to keep track of what Windows is doing. And Coherence is much improved -- under v12, Coherence was broken and useless. Are these worth the price of admission -- not really, but they are nice to have.

Franz Grieser wrote:

Thanks Paul.
(Not the answer I hoped for - but that's not your fault :-)

Steve, I run a similar set-up to yours (Mac Mini plus 16Gb of RAM) although your Mac Mini may be more recent than mine. I used to run Parallels with Windows 8, Dragon Dictate and Word on it. It worked very well for a time. I gave up when it all slowed it up unacceptably under (IIRC) Parallels 11, and Parallels 12 did nothing to improve things (made them worse in fact). I'm therefore sceptical about the claims of Parallels 13, but I suppose a breakthrough in speed is possible.

The most annoying thing for me is that despite half-promises there's as yet no Mac Mini hardware upgrade from Apple on the immediate horizon (which, if it does happen, is I suspect the most likely way we'll get the speed increases necessary to make these high RAM and processor loads viable).

Thanks Ken.
I didn't know about the improved Coherence mode. In fact, it was useless in vs12. If it works in vs13, that's good news and might be worth the update.

Hugh wrote:

Steve, I run a similar set-up to yours (Mac Mini plus 16Gb of RAM)
although your Mac Mini may be more recent than mine. I used to run
Parallels with Windows 8, Dragon Dictate and Word on it. It worked very
well for a time. I gave up when it all slowed it up unacceptably under
(IIRC) Parallels 11, and Parallels 12 did nothing to improve things
(made them worse in fact). I'm therefore sceptical about the claims of
Parallels 13, but I suppose a breakthrough in speed is possible.

The most annoying thing for me is that despite half-promises there's as
yet no Mac Mini hardware upgrade from Apple on the immediate horizon
(which, if it does happen, is I suspect the most likely way we'll get
the speed increases necessary to make these high RAM and processor loads
viable).

Many apologies, Franz - the above should of course have started with your name.

No problem, Hugh.
Being confused with Steven is no offence, it's flattery :-)

Thanks, Paul.

I upgraded. Coherence mode works, and my word-processor Textmaker does not seem to be as sluggish as Word 2016 (for Windows) used to be in Parallels 12.
Almost 50% speed increase in Windows? I don't think so.
Anyway, I am satisfied.