# Parallels Desktop

26 Hacker News commenters recommended Parallels Desktop and 13 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Mac virtualization app for running Windows, Linux and macOS guests, valued for near-native speed and GPU acceleration. Critics point to the subscription pricing and limited copy-and-paste.

## Why people recommend it

- Runs Windows and Linux near native speed (6 comments): "windows on Arm in a parallels VM runs better on my macbook pro than it does natively on an x86 laptop" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46165486)) "arm native linux or windows installations in utm/parallels/whatever run damn near native speed" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47735245)) "I used to run Win 10 in Parallels on MacOS and it was excellent" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46684294))
- GPU acceleration for graphics apps (4 comments): "Parallels is way better if you need any GPU, which you do, since everything uses that these days." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47959012)) "SOLIDWORKS is usable on a windows VM via Parallels thanks to their GPU acceleration" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47507581)) "Parallels' proprietary GPU driver is the only reason to pay for it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47368416))
- Seen as best option for Windows (4 comments): "if you want acceleration to work better in a VM you should use Parallels instead" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49884129)) "in my experience Parallels still works better than the alternatives for Windows" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47953333)) "Parallels is going to be your best bet." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50259623))

## What people warn about

- Costly license and subscription model (2 comments): "Few will buy a cheap computer and then pay what Parallels charges for a license" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47366836)) "they both switched to a subscription model, which is an immediate nope" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49219112))
- Limited copy and paste between systems (2 comments): "Parallels does not have copy-and-paste for M1-on-M1 macOS-on-macOS virtualization" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47952819)) "bidirectional shared clipboard is an explicit non-feature at this time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47954980))
- Weaker performance than some alternatives (2 comments): "they may lead to better performance than Parallels" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47386343)) "running a 1997 game in Parallels sucks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49874499))

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.parallels.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Parallels Desktop", https://hackerapproved.com/p/parallels/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).