M1 devices are well known for their image-processing capabilities, with many reviewers noting the significant speed advantages they have in rendering video, even compared with the high-end Intel devices they replaced.
As far as compatibility is concerned, Apple has focused heavily on optimizing the performance of its Intel library of apps through its Rosetta 2 compatibility layer, which offers near-native performance for macOS applications built for Intel processors.
There have been some notable challenges from a software standpoint, with applications like Docker and Box and important developer tools like Homebrew facing some initial growing pains in the early months of the M1 product cycle. But in the nearly two years since Apple silicon was first announced, most developers have largely transitioned to offering Apple-native versions of their applications — and the ones that haven’t still work well, thanks to Rosetta 2.
One of the developers to jump on early was Parallels, which prioritized creating a virtualization tool for Apple silicon, notes Prashant Ketkar, CTO and product officer at Corel, Parallels’ parent company.
“The Parallels team has worked to enable M1 Mac users to run Windows and its applications as soon as possible and with the best quality possible,” Ketkar says. “In fact, re-engineering Parallels Desktop for the M1 and making it a universal binary was a very large engineering effort and a key aspect of enabling our integrated Parallels’ vision for the future.”
What Should IT Teams Know About Moving to Apple Silicon?
While the benefits of Apple silicon are plentiful, they don’t come without questions for IT departments that may face significant technical debt from their investments in Intel-based Macs.
IDC’s Hochmuth says that the shift away from Intel will definitely cause disruption for organizations that are more reliant on legacy Intel-based applications for non-Mac platforms, which previously could be accessed through means like Boot Camp, a tool that made it possible to install Microsoft Windows on Mac hardware, and through virtualization tools like Parallels.
“That said, businesses should focus more on supporting and enabling native macOS endpoints and user experiences, rather than trying to force-fit Windows/non-macOS environments onto end-user Mac devices,” he says.
With the move to web-based and mobile applications, this approach is easier than it might have been a few years ago. And, given that Apple silicon devices can run iOS apps natively, it could provide a path forward from a custom-applications standpoint.
Naturally, given the size of organizations and concerns about compatibility, there may be a continued need to have some Intel-based Mac devices around and to continue to maintain them.
MORE FROM BIZTECH: Defend your organization against common vulnerabilities.
At this time, Parallels is the best option on the M1 for cross-platform access, as it currently supports virtualizing the ARM-based versions of Linux and Windows. But that comes with a caveat: While the ARM version of Windows is constantly improving, the operating system does not fully support x86 applications at this time, and only began support for 64-bit Windows applications last year.
“However, the latter translation is in active development, so even if an app does not run today, it may run tomorrow,” Corel’s Ketkar says. “We are constantly working on our engineering efforts to improve the value proposition and surface area of our feature set for customers.”
For IT departments, the bigger challenge may be considering how to manage an ecosystem of different machines within an organization. Creative Strategies’ Bajarin notes that there is a budding trend of giving employees choice over what devices they use — both between Macs and PCs and within the Windows ecosystem itself.
“When it comes to the software, I think the main thing is really just software updates, operating system updates, and how to manage that in a dual environment between Windows and Mac,” Bajarin says. “It becomes a little bit more complex for them, because they don’t want to update users’ software in two different ways.”
While Apple notably ended software support for PowerPC Macs in 2009, just three years after the release of its first Intel Macs, the company has gained a more recent reputation for supporting Macs, along with iPhone and iPad devices, for five years or longer with software updates. Additionally, the company is still selling several high-end Intel devices that will likely require years of support, such as the Mac Pro.
No matter what your IT department decides about making an upgrade, there are options for every organization.
