MACAIR 8GB, 512GB SSD, BIG ENOUGH TO RUN parallels

RosaAlba wrote:

Parallels will not run on a MacBook Air at all as it requires a Mac with a discrete GPU....

Absolutely wrong!

Parallels Desktop Mac 17 supports all M1 Macs and can run ARM64 versions of Linux, Windows 10 and 11 ARM developers preview, and macOS Monterey. Just look at the Parallels Desktop Mac site and see for yourself!

I am running Parallels Desktop Mac 17 with a couple different flavors of Linux and had worked with Win10 ARM for a bit and all run exceedingly well.

The only caveat is on all M1 Macs, is you cannot run any version of an Intel OS on an M1 Mac and of course you cannot run any ARM64 OS on an Intel.

Parallels will not run on a MacBook Air at all as it requires a Mac with a discrete GPU, which the Air doesn't have. It will also struggle on a system of any variety with only 8GB RAM. For best performance a Mac with at least 16GB RAM is required.

A MacBook Air will never have the advertised amount of RAM, because it shares it with the on-board GPU, so there is never 8GB available to files and apps.

If you know you need to run Parallels you will need to buy a 14" M1 Pro or better. The Air is really only suitable for light tasks, like office work, it isn't designed for heavy usage. It doesn't have a fan.