Announced on August 18, Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac brings a host of new features to the popular virtualization software, including expanded support for PC games and a host of new features designed to make life easier for virtual machine users, according to MacWorld.
Available today for current subscribers and August 23 for new customers, Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac boasts expanded support for PC gaming, including games available via Microsoft’s Windows 10 Xbox app, and Blizzard’s blockbuster team-shooter Overwatch.
Additionally, Parallels Desktop 12 is bundled with a brand new set of tools called Parallels Toolbox.
Parallels Toolbox is an app which contains over 20 new utilities designed to make virtualization a little easier, and a little more user-friendly. The utilities themselves offer some added functionality independent of the Parallels Desktop virtual machine. The Toolbox includes utilities which streamline some everyday tasks, like password-protecting individual files, downloading videos from sites like Facebook and Vimeo, and recording desktop screencasts.
The Parallels Toolbox is available bundled with Parallels Desktop 12, or on its own for $10 a year.
The latest Parallels also boasts a revamped pricing model, which includes some deep discounts for current subscribers. Parallels Desktop 12 retails for $80, while existing Parallels customers, who purchased Parallels 10 or 11, will be able to upgrade for $50. Parallels also offers subscription models for the two premium flavors of Parallels, Pro and Business, for $100 per year.
Parallels Desktop 12 is available in three different versions, Desktop, Pro and Business. Pro and Business customers enjoy expanded technical support as well as a complimentary copy of Parallels Access, to remotely access up to five Macs or PCs from anywhere.
Parallels Desktop 12 also includes a full year of Acronis True Image cloud backup, with 500GB of storage to backup your virtual machine, whether incrementally or all at once.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.