Download Parallels System Monitor (Mac) – Download Free

Apple likes things to run smoothly without users needing to know what’s going on behind the scenes. The downside, of course, is that it makes your life much more difficult every time you actually need to see what the hardware is doing.

Parallels System MonitorFrom the renowned developer of virtualization software designed to make it easier to monitor your resource usage directly from the menu bar. It’s a simple app without too many features to complicate things.

Once activated, the application will only run on the menu bar. Multiple trackers can be activated to monitor your CPU, RAM and network usage, free space and battery status. These indicators are very minimalist and match the macOS aesthetic.

When you click on any of these metrics, you get a more detailed breakdown, although not much additional information is shown. In most cases, you can check readings by simply browsing the menu bar without opening a menu.

Another feature worth mentioning is the app’s ability to provide notifications in certain situations. For example, when your battery is low, your storage is almost full, or your memory is full. However, the notification threshold cannot be changed.

Visually, there aren’t any customization options other than disabling app icons in the menu bar and turning off unnecessary indicators. But if you want simplicity, this can be a good thing.

Parallels System Monitor does its job effortlessly, although it doesn’t bring anything new to the table either. If you don’t already have System Monitor, it should work just fine, but if you’re already using an app with more features, you may not have a good reason to switch to this app.