I’m considering moving completely over to Mac, except for a small handful of PC-only programs I need. So I’m considering using something like Mac Parallels to run both Mac and PC on the same machine.
How does that work with Dorico? Will the licenser parse this easily? Will it require two seats?
Will it adversely affect performance?
AFAIK:
I’m referring to M4, not using Intel.
My mac mini is M4, too.
My 9-year-old GTX950 PC is now only for my occasional gaming purposes (COD: Warzone, Genshin Impact, Star Rail…).
If you still have some Windows-only apps to run, you can test it using VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop.
Maybe I’m missing something here, but doesn’t Dorico already support the Macintosh in both of its hardware incarnations? You could just run Dorico natively on Mac OS and not need to run it through a VM/Windows at all; it’s not a PC-only program.
The only way I could see the need for this arrangement is if you’re using an older version of Dorico that didn’t support the M-series processors.
There are times where I need to use some PC-only programs and go back and forth between them and Dorico. In those cases, it would be helpful to stay in PC world. Unless Parallels is smoother than I realize.
I see…like using the clipboard between Dorico and your virtualized programs? You might still be able to do this even if one of the programs is native, depending on what your VM software supports.
I don’t use a Mac, so I’m not familiar with Parallels. VMWare has had at least some support for this kind of thing for a long time, although you might have to install their tool-set inside your virtual machine after first setting it up. I can only assume that Parallels has something similar.
The whole point of Parallels is that Windows appears “as a window”, running inside MacOS. So you can drag stuff out of Windows, into the Mac environment, and used a shared clipboard.
Remember that because M4 isn’t Intel, you have to use Windows on ARM (unless Parallels have been very clever). I think that does offer some emulation of Intel apps, (similar to Rosetta), but then you’re piling on layers of pretending.
To answer the license question: if you activate Dorico in a virtual machine on the same computer where it’s also natively activated, that counts as two activations, because it looks like two different computers.
Intel emulation in Parallels is in some kind of early stage. There is a KB article describing the preview.
Dan,
Parallels is something I use also on my 2023 Mac M3 Max Macbook Pro with 48 GB of RAM since there are a few Windows programs I need. It is seamless to go back and forth.
I think you’d want to keep Dorico on the Mac side. One engraver who works on Windows sends me Dorico files, but when he adjusts the distances between staves on his Windows machine, those changes do not appear the same on my Mac (we’ve shared screenshots trying to figure it out, but unsuccessfully).
It can be a little fiddly getting Parallels set up (IIRC), but once you are up and running, it’s great. Parallels does hog RAM, though, IMO. Sometimes I shut off the Windows side to free up some RAM when things get slightly sluggish on the Mac side. Of course sometimes I go days/weeks/months on end without restarting the Mac, but when I do restart that sluggishness also goes away for a while.
Thanks all, it seems like Parallels will be just trine for me. I’ll give it a trial run.
@dan_kreider Keep in mind that, at the moment, you will run Windows on Arms in the Parallels VM and Dorico is not native for Arms CPUS.
@dspreadbury has explained in a different thread (sorry, haven’t found it) that it might cause some problems with playback.
Edit: just found it Dorico on WOA (Windows On ARM) systems - #11 by dspreadbury
Me too - I haven’t tried Dorico yet and I know it’s not the response you’re after, but you can drag and drop between the two systems so wonder if running it natively is a better solution?
VMWare Fusion is free for personal use. I just installed Windows 11 on it, which was done in less then 15 minutes and runs smoothly on M4.
Parallels is really slick! I think this is the way to go. Because it’s so easy to use, I don’t see any reason to run Dorico in the emulator (or whatever it’s called). I’ll just use Parallels for Font Creator and a couple other apps I need to use on Windows.
Just ordered a Mac Mini. 
UPDATE: Parallels continues to impress. If a file needs to be opened in Windows, when I double-click on it, Parallels remembers my choice and automatically launches the emulator, along with the software!