UPDATED: Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac Supports Both M1 and Intel Chips. We are beyond thankful for the feedback of more than 100,000 M1 Mac users that tested the Technical Preview of Parallels Desktop 16.5 for M1 Mac. They ran Microsoft’s Windows 10 on ARM Insider Preview, as well as tens of thousands of different Intel-based Windows applications—including Microsoft Office for Windows, Microsoft Visual Studio, SQL Server, Microsoft PowerBI and MetaTrader. – https://www.parallels.com/blogs/parallels-desktop-m1/
If you’re new to the world of Independent Adjusting, or a salty old veteran, you know about Xactimate. What you may not know, is that even though Xactware does not make a version of Xactimate for Mac, that doesn’t mean you can’t run it on your Mac. Confused? Hopefully we can help.
You’ve read forums and Facebook groups about the minimum requirements to run Xactimate, and the warnings that you need a powerful machine and it has to be a PC. Well, that’s only half true. If you have a MacBook Air or Pro, that’s up to date and 4 or 5 years old at the most, then you have enough juice under the hood to run Xactimate. If it’s a reliable machine, you don’t need to run out and drop $1,000 on a new laptop. Here’s what you need to run Xactimate on a MacBook.
Step one: Download Parallels for Mac. Parallels for Mac is, according to techtarget.com, a desktop virtualization software that allows Microsoft Windows, Linux and Google Chrome operating systems and applications to run on an Apple Mac computer. The software integrates the guest operating system (OS) into Mac OS X, allowing it to mimic native OS performance.
So, pretty self explanatory. It allows you to run Windows, and or Windows based programs on your Mac. It doesn’t replace your Mac operating system, you’ll always have that. In fact, it will run OS and Windows at the same time.
Download Parallels and utilize the free trial. This is great, because you can be sure that it works and runs Xactimate without issues before you have to pay for it. As of writing, the least expensive option that will do all you need is $79.99, much less expensive than a new laptop. When you download the trial, it will also download Windows for you. When the trial expires, you will also need to purchase Windows. A new copy of Windows will set you back $139.
Step two: Download and install Xactimate. You can download the program via your browser in the Mac OS or Windows, it doesn’t matter. And you’re probably wondering which Xactimate do you want? Xactware has released a new version called X1, however most carriers are still using Xactimate 28. Honesty, once you’re inside the program and estimating or sketching, there’s almost no difference between the two. If you’re new to adjusting, we recommend going with X1. Why? Clearly Xactware is moving away from the older version, and eventually it won’t be supported and carriers will start to move to the new version.
So, install Xactware while you have Parallels running and windows open. Fire up your demo and give it a test spin to see how it works. Once you’ve verified that everything is running smoothly, you can switch Parallels to “Coherence Mode”. According to Parallels “Coherence is a view mode that allows you to run Windows applications on your Mac, as though they were native Mac applications. In Coherence mode, you can use both your Windows and Mac applications at the same time without managing two separate desktops or rebooting. You can even load Windows applications directly from your Mac Dock or Mac desktop. In this mode, all Parallels Desktop controls, icons, and menus are hidden, except for the Parallels icon in the Mac menu bar and the Windows Applications folder in the Dock.” Now, running Xactimate in Mac feels nearly seamless.
So there you have it. For $220.00 you can run Xactimate on your Mac, and not have to buy an additional laptop. One less expense, one less thing to bring on deployment, one less thing to break and one less thing to worry about.
