I'd say if you're serious about gaming, and the cost isn't an issue then bite the bullet and get a decent desktop Windows PC - save yourself the pain of playing games in less than optimal ways. You'll find it much more capable of playing the library of games you have without having to resort to resource-dividing emulation or compatibility layers like WINE.

I should add, I've not tried Parallels for a long time so can't really comment too much about how it performs these days. Andrew Tsai's videos on YouTube are a helpful way of seeing it in action with games if you're curious.

Assuming the PC is reasonably specified, you'll have access to a greater library of titles which will run better than anything via Parallels (or any other similar Hyper Visor) - better framerates, resolution and graphical fidelity etc. The possible downsides to the PC are the extra space needed for it, any extra monitor and peripheral costs plus the level of ambient noise they naturally tend to put out. On the plus side you'll have an upgradeable machine without soldered-in storage/RAM that should last you some time and be a little more expandable as time goes by.

I also think the larger your game library, the more sense it makes to also have a PC. You can enjoy the Mac for what it's good at - nice OS, form-factor, lower energy use, quiet and cool operation for a lot of uses and so on, but for purely dedicated gaming, you're better of with something else unfortunately. That said, the native Mac performance of Resident Evil Village (from the Apple App Store) is encouraging and good to see. It looks like Apple are making things a little easier for devs with their Metal 3 API and scaling tech in Ventura. Whether it'll be enough to entice Devs to more fully work on Mac games remains to be seen.

It's good to have the best of both worlds :)

You can try the free demo for two weeks and decide.

Sadly I did and for some reason parallels refused to give me a key.

Originally posted by Homy:

You can try the free demo for two weeks and decide.

Originally posted by idkemily:

Sadly I did and for some reason parallels refused to give me a key.

Originally posted by Homy:

You can try the free demo for two weeks and decide.

You don't need a license key for free trial. You click the "Try free for 14 days" button: https://kb.parallels.com/en/124227

I did and downloaded it and windows was up and running but I couldn’t play anything tbh.

Originally posted by Homy:

Originally posted by idkemily:

Sadly I did and for some reason parallels refused to give me a key.

You don't need a license key for free trial. You click the "Try free for 14 days" button: https://kb.parallels.com/en/124227

I agree with Beetroot Bertie, if you can afford it, buy a windows machine for gaming. Especially if you own a M1-Macbook like I do. On the Intel-Based Macs Parallels was an option, but now - said after many hours trying to bring things to work - it ain´t.

To run Windows Games on Win11 over Parallels with this processor is like entering the hell of software, especially of the insufficient support you get. If things are not working - and the chance, that they fail is bigger than that something works smooth - you spend tons of time to solve them. Usually you get support from other kind players, but the companies like Steam or Ubisoft do not even answer you to problems regarding running der products in a Parallels-Environment.

Originally posted by florifix:

I agree with Beetroot Bertie, if you can afford it, buy a windows machine for gaming. Especially if you own a M1-Macbook like I do. On the Intel-Based Macs Parallels was an option, but now - said after many hours trying to bring things to work - it ain´t.

To run Windows Games on Win11 over Parallels with this processor is like entering the hell of software, especially of the insufficient support you get. If things are not working - and the chance, that they fail is bigger than that something works smooth - you spend tons of time to solve them. Usually you get support from other kind players, but the companies like Steam or Ubisoft do not even answer you to problems regarding running der products in a Parallels-Environment.

Looks like I’ll be getting a windows laptop! Thanks!

Parallels on M3 MacBook Pro does a really good job of running Windows 11 for you to play Windows games. Since some resources are allocated to Windows (it's not an emulator) you need double the RAM that you want the "PC" to be able to use.

It will NOT currently run DirectX 12 games, so many modern AAA games are out. Some still have DirectX 11 fallback mode, but not many of them. A few games/apps don't run on ARM chips (but Windows 11 has gotten good at running them on ARM over the past few years).

I also have CrossOver. For what it runs it's good (and Talos 2 would not run on Parallels (DirectX 12) but did on CrossOver). Most games that I would expect to run on CrossOver have disappointed me and either not run, or had graphical or play issues.

I finally bought a Steam Deck OLED (waiting for it to be delivered as I write this). I am hoping that between Parallels and the Steam Deck I'll be able to play most Steam games that look good to me. I'll probably give up on CrossOver. Too bad Steam does not release Proton for Mac, but then they'd probably sell fewer Steam Decks.