Back in 2020, Google worked with Parallels to let enterprise users run Windows and its apps on Chrome OS. Expanded hardware support arrived last year, and Parallels Desktop for Chromebooks now works with Intel Core i3 and AMD Ryzen 3 5000 processors.
At launch, your Chromebook needed an Intel Core i5 or i7 with 16GB of RAM and 128GB of storage to run Parallels Desktop. In April of 2021, the RAM recommendation dropped down to 8GB, while AMD Ryzen was introduced.
As of last week, Parallels Desktop now supports Chromebooks with 11th Gen Intel Core i3 and the new AMD Ryzen 3 5000 series. The RAM and storage requirements are unchanged, with the company targeting “affordable enterprise and education Chromebooks.” This guarantees “Minimum” performance and intended to run 1-2 simple applications.
Meanwhile, “Best Performance” with “active multitasking and resource-intensive applications” is achieved with fan cooling, 16GB+ RAM, and 256GB storage. This should expand availability beyond premium Chrome OS devices to more fleet-like laptops that don’t have top-of-the-line specifications, while Windows 11 support is explicitly noted.
Meanwhile, Parallels partnered with HP to offer a 1-year free license on its Chrome OS Enterprise devices, including “select” hardware:
- HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook Enterprise
- HP Elite c640 G3 Chromebook Enterprise
- HP Elite c645 G2 Chromebook Enterprise
- HP Pro c640 G2 Chromebook Enterprise
- HP Chromebox G3 Enterprise
It otherwise costs $69.99 annually per enterprise user, or $39.99 for education usage.
More on Chromebooks:
- This is the LumaFusion video editor running on a Chromebook [Video]
- Chromebooks get an official PWA for Webex Meetings [Video]
- Acer Chromebook Spin 514 gets Ryzen 5000 refresh from $579 – Here’s a first look [Gallery]
- Zoom app for Chromebooks gains better virtual background support, more
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