I just got a M3 Max and I can’t use it

[zach-coleman]

I wasn’t really interested in the platform problem. Some people might be Apple fans, others might suggest using dedicated windows hardware.

My point (and original intent is to help OP) is that all this is missing the forest for the trees.

The software does not scale.

Until that is solved, any proposed hardware based solution here is just a stopgap. The growing requirements for OP’s business are exceeding the limits of the software’s abilities.

It wouldn’t matter if it _did_ run on macOS. It’s still a time bomb if the vendor doesn’t provide better software.

Luckily, I’m sure OP can just spin up a development team to write a new niche piece of software with an audience of 1 to solve this problem. Maybe a team of lawyers to stop the lawsuit of them violating some random patent they’ll surely infringe. Certainly more achievable than just throwing more computing power at it. Surely!

 

[DENZIE]

Just live with 2 computers? Turn the old mac into a dedicated windows box with boot camp?

 

[Bustermd]

Astounding amount of bad advice in this thread:

"no x86 software can work on Mac"

"Get a new job even though you're retiring in a few years"

"Name and shame the vendor even though there are already two people in this thread wondering if they are indeed the vendor you're talking about"

"Build a desktop PC even though you're doing this work remotely out in the field"

"Use a low powered windows laptop even though you said it's very heavy computing tasks that you're trying to speed up"

"Use different software even though there literally isn't an alternative"

"Remote into a windows computer even though a) you're out where there's no internet and b) the computer has to plug directly into a licence dongle and an instrument"

My advice to the OP is to stop paying the vendor and use the money to build a time machine so you can go back and not make this thread

You've summarized the situation quite well.

And there is only one actual solution but it is one the OP rejected outright: just get a powerful windows laptop to run the damn machine or whatever it is.

 

[Queen6]

I own the company so there is no one but me. A dirt cheap laptop won't run this program effectively. They recommend 64 GB ram and I have seen it run on high powered windows desktops. It takes a lot of computing HP.

As this is directly related to income and profitability of your company the clear answer is change to a Windows PC. You may not like Windows, equally struggling on with an aging Mac that appears to be underpowered doesn't make sense.

TBH I had to move to Windows for similar reasons. I still use the Mac, although professionally I just need a smaller portable for the usual productivity tasks. The engineering and heavy workloads are picked up by the PC. Just use it for the given tasks and be done with it. Should be a straight forward business decision, no more, no less...

Q-6

 

[teh_hunterer]

You've summarized the situation quite well.

And there is only one actual solution but it is one the OP rejected outright: just get a powerful windows laptop to run the damn machine or whatever it is.

Yeah, I think you're right. But I can sympathise with the OP's disappointment after going through all the excitement of getting the M3 Max. Most software does work in Parallels, so it's a bitter pill to swallow that his doesn't.

I tried to make a 14" MacBook Pro work gaming for over a year before just giving up and ordering a gaming laptop so I could play the games I want to play. When you get into Apple silicon it is hard to process going back to something else. It took me a year, so it might take the OP some time.

But I think that's the best advice. If you write it off as a work tool, business expense, I think it's the easiest way to accept it.

 

[masotime]

Luckily, I’m sure OP can just spin up a development team to write a new niche piece of software with an audience of 1 to solve this problem. Maybe a team of lawyers to stop the lawsuit of them violating some random patent they’ll surely infringe. Certainly more achievable than just throwing more computing power at it. Surely!

That pretty much misses the point I’m making. It’s just a long term view of the situation, and the original comment was made before it was clear to me that OP actually owns the business.

If the problem is reframed as “OP surviving in the business until retirement” then yes, buy a windows machine and “hope” it will scale. I don’t disagree, but I would also be looking for other options to make it to retirement, because that’s not guaranteed to work, it’s just a guess that it will work… for now.

 

[masotime]

Astounding amount of bad advice in this thread:

"Get a new job even though you're retiring in a few years"

This is taken remarkably out of context. There was no context in the OP’s original post that they were

* going to retire
* actually own the business

These factors obviously make the original suggestion to get a new job inapplicable. The key issue still remains - the software does not scale.

 

[teh_hunterer]

The key issue still remains - the software does not scale.

I'm not sure what you mean here. If you take the OP's word for it, the instrument they are using for this task is so specialised that there actually is no alternative anyway.

Plus they're looking to retire in 5 years - a powerful Windows laptop will probably see them through that 5 years and then the whole issue is moot anyway.

 

[nottorp]

Eh. Lots of weird advice here.

Basically if you make money with that software, get it a beefy Wintel laptop. RDP into it if you like to use Mac OS for all the other tasks.

I'm kinda doing the same thing, I do tasks on Linux/Windows/Mac OS but the only machine with a monitor/keyboard is my Mac, I remote into the others.

 

[veena3]

The software is made by a company that makes some engineering type instruments that I use for work. The software interfaces with these instruments and processes the data they collect. The company is still in business and updates their instruments but their point of view is the software works so why change it.

The data processing part is pretty computer intensive. The last data set I did took about three hours to complete. If I could get this running on a faster computer it would greatly help me. Our current client wants reports delivered daily so I work all day collecting the data and then am up late at night processing the data.

So you need a powerful Windows running computer for running that Windosw app and you want to have a convenience of your Mac.

So if MBP 2019 is not enough powerful for running your Windows app (even with bootcamp) I'd suggest to you:
1)
- sell your MBP 2019
- return or sell your newly bought M3 MBP

- buy powerful Windows laptop you can run Windows on and that app
- buy cheap MB Air M1

Your workflow:
- Capture data on your Windows laptop in the field
- When you need to work with your data connect from your MB Air to your Windows laptop through locally created Wifi network or Ethernet cable (with dongles for your laptops)

2)
Talk to your software vendors and ask them if they can support Windows 11 ARM

 

[gsurf123]

Or just buy a windows NUC and Remote Desktop into it. No need for a laptop to lug around.

 

[ipaqrat]

Or just buy a windows NUC and Remote Desktop into it. No need for a laptop to lug around.

Nope, OP advised that his use case is to physically connect the laptop to the instrument controllers in the field to acquire data. After THAT point, the windows machine could be parked in a corner and accessed via RDP on the Mac, just to preserve the OP's comfort/convenience using the Mac all for the rest of his workflows.

It's fascinating how meta this thread beceme - back and forth bickering, blatantly ignorant commentary, repetitive advice, and semantic rephrasing. This is all due to: (A.) responders not deep reading the entire thread and (B.) OP withholding substantive information for reasons of his own.

Though this thread probably became pointless to the OP by page 3, WE continue to reiterate the classic problem of our human condition, jumping to pattern-matched conclusions without actually LISTENING. Fascinating.

 

[JustAnExpat]

This post (thread? conversation?) has become very strange, with lots of bad advice. Or potentially AI hallucinations?

My advice to the original poster is simple: The equipment won't work with a Mac. With your needs, don't bother trying to hack together something using software. Contact the vendor, ask them what computer they recommend. Listen to their recommendation, and buy that computer (it'll probably be something like a Panasonic Toughbook).

View the computer as part of the equipment. When you retire, sell the computer and the equipment as a single package.

Computers are a tool, and not a religion.

 

[Patrick.Molloy]

Another vote here for Microsoft Remote Desktop. Free and very easy to set it up. I have two links..one a small window, the other a full window. My Mac's trackpad and keyboard work seamlessly plus I can copy/Paste from a Mac doc to a windows doc.
I'm a radio amateur and pretty much all my app are windows only. I don't want, nor need, to use apps like parallel since this remote access is perfect. Of course, I do have a windows PC .

 

[seek3r]

Another vote here for Microsoft Remote Desktop. Free and very easy to set it up. I have two links..one a small window, the other a full window. My Mac's trackpad and keyboard work seamlessly plus I can copy/Paste from a Mac doc to a windows doc.
I'm a radio amateur and pretty much all my app are windows only. I don't want, nor need, to use apps like parallel since this remote access is perfect. Of course, I do have a windows PC .

Another reminder from this thread that based on the OP’s use case this wont work unless he’s doing some low level work to forward local USB devices somehow to the remote machine because he needs windows to access the hardware on site

Either he needs to do a lot of work with emulation, a lot of work with network forwarding of low level devices (if that’s even remotely doable with this gear, pun maybe intended), or he needs to use a windows laptop on site. The last option is by far the easiest but also the only one he categorically ruled out

 

[surfzen21]

AI has an article titled:

"Soon, you'll be able to stream Windows through a Microsoft app on iPad, Mac, and iPhone"​

This may be a future workaround that the OP can use to run his Windows only program.

 

[mrmister]

This post (thread? conversation?) has become very strange, with lots of bad advice. Or potentially AI hallucinations?

My advice to the original poster is simple: The equipment won't work with a Mac. With your needs, don't bother trying to hack together something using software. Contact the vendor, ask them what computer they recommend. Listen to their recommendation, and buy that computer (it'll probably be something like a Panasonic Toughbook).

View the computer as part of the equipment. When you retire, sell the computer and the equipment as a single package.

Computers are a tool, and not a religion.

I liked this, but I just wanted to reiterate that it's great advice for this.

 

[jakey rolling]

AI has an article titled:

"Soon, you'll be able to stream Windows through a Microsoft app on iPad, Mac, and iPhone"​

This may be a future workaround that the OP can use to run his Windows only program.

Not a useful work around in this case. Windows needs to be running on whatever device is connected to his equipment - it can't be streamed from some remote computer.

 

[surfzen21]

Not a useful work around in this case. Windows needs to be running on whatever device is connected to his equipment - it can't be streamed from some remote computer.

Aah. That sucks

 

[teh_hunterer]

Another reminder from this thread that based on the OP’s use case this wont work unless he’s doing some low level work to forward local USB devices somehow to the remote machine because he needs windows to access the hardware on site

Either he needs to do a lot of work with emulation, a lot of work with network forwarding of low level devices (if that’s even remotely doable with this gear, pun maybe intended), or he needs to use a windows laptop on site. The last option is by far the easiest but also the only one he categorically ruled out

Pretty sure they meant remote desktop into the Windows laptop that's plugged into the instrument and license dongle.

 

[seek3r]

Pretty sure they meant remote desktop into the Windows laptop that's plugged into the instrument and license dongle.

It’s doesnt appear to be a license dongle, it’s equipment used on site. Read the thread…

 

[teh_hunterer]

It’s doesnt appear to be a license dongle, it’s equipment used on site. Read the thread…

Take your own advice and read the thread, because there is a USB license dongle.

Yes it is equipment used on site. They could plug a Windows laptop into the equipment and the license dongle, and remote into it from their Mac. Maybe it's not worth the hassle but it would certainly be possible.

 

[throAU]

I am not sure if this is the right place for this or not but I am really bummed out. I have been using a 2019 MBP that I bought new and it has been great. There is some really niche proprietary software that I use daily for my work that only runs on windows. There are no alternatives to this software and probably less than 500 people in the world use it and the developers will not update it. They haven’t made any changes since 2015.

Anyway I have used this software on my 2019 MBP with windows running on fusion and it works great and has for years. I got my new M3 Max and this software will not run on it. I tried parallels and fusion and it will not work.

I am so disappointed and am at a loss on what to do. I have been using Mac since 2012 for everything except for a couple windows only programs. The data that this one program uses is getting bigger and bigger with time and I really need a newer faster computer but I think I already have the fastest intel MBP.

It seems my options are either stick with my old 2019 MBP or switch over to a windows laptop. I am not all excited about that. I use this one program 30-40 hours a week and am constantly copying and pasting info to and from it. I do everything aside from this program on the Mac side.

You'll need to run the ARM version of Windows in either Fusion or Parallels, which can in turn run x86/x64 software.


edit:
bummer, proprietary hardware driver will do it. that won't work on real windows ARM hardware either however. You'll need an x86 machine sounds like. There are a few edge cases like this - e.g., there's no yubikey mini driver for ARM windows yet, which means I can't log into my Windows 11 ARM VM with my PIV yubikey.

If you can wait - there may be light at the end of the tunnel but no immediate short term time-frame - as Microsoft themselves are pushing ahead with ARM machines too.

However for old Windows x86/x64 proprietary software your best bet will always be an actual x86/x64 windows machine.

 

[Ethosik]

Just get a dedicated Windows computer that runs nothing but that one piece of software. When you have specialized tools and software, you have to think of the computer as a part of that package.

If you’re heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem, and your productivity is really good with macOS, then you’ll just need to have two devices. Maybe you can get by with a 15 inch MacBook Air, if the windows machine is doing most of the heavy lifting. Or maybe not, maybe you’ll just have to have a Windows laptop and a MacBook Pro that you carry around in your truck.

Having two devices, each dedicated for the job they do, seems like the best option. Trying to force software to work on something it’s not designed for, or getting frustrated trying to use windows with your daily tasks, does it not make sense. In short, just plan on using two devices. It doesn’t make sense to force everything onto one.

(any chance you can just skip the Windows machine, use your 2019 MacBook Pro for the special application, and then use your M3 Max for everything else?)

Yep agreed! I have 8 computers in my workflow!

 

[Ethosik]

You've summarized the situation quite well.

And there is only one actual solution but it is one the OP rejected outright: just get a powerful windows laptop to run the damn machine or whatever it is.

As someone else pointed out in this thread, but I question if this software and drivers for the dongle would work with even Windows 11.