Potential Buyer - Windows on Mac *confused*

[WiiDSmoker]

Firstly, I apologize if this has already been discussed. I am highly thinking about getting a new iMac or the MacBook Pro, but I have many applications that are only built for windows. So my question is, on the new Macs, Can I run a virtual that boots into windows 10 64 bit? And to add to that I would need to be able to run multiple virtual.

Thank you for your responses and I hope that I am able to do this because I am dying to get one of those new Macs ?

 

[Boyd01]

For the new "Apple Silicon" Macs, see this thread:

What are the disadvantages in running Windows 10/11 on Arm based MacBook Pro?

Besides possible slower performance, are there other disadvantages running Windows 10 or 11 on Arm based MacBook Pro? I think unlike Bootcamp, we need the Arm version of Windows to run on M1 based MAc. Any compatibility issue with Windows software??

forums.macrumors.com

I have a 2018 Intel Mini and run Windows 10 in a virtual machine with Parallels. It's very stable and works great for my use. It has replaced my 10-year-old HP desktop Windows computer, it's faster and a much better experience due to the integration with MacOS. Clearly, I could not do this on the new Apple Silicon Macs - or at least, not yet.

 

[Cayenne1]

Similar to Boyd01, I've been running Win10 and WinXP for years with Parallels. I've used it for Windows based Photoshop CS6 (licensed, not subscription), Visio, Acrobat X Pro, Office, etc. I run Windows and MacOS concurrently and seamlessly.

Actually, I'm running Visio 2007 (WinXP) at the moment when I saw this post browsing MacRumors. Visio just appears as another window on my desktop and I copy/paste items back and forth seamlessly. Same with using printers. Also, I run no AV in the XP VM as it has no connection to the internet. If it ever got corrupted, I'd just restore a backup of the VM as it is just a file. It's just a base to run very old apps. My Win10 64bit VM is connected to the internet and operates as any PC.

However.... the new Macs use an Apple M1 chip vs. an Intel chip that made Windows VMs easier to emulate. I believe but cannot verify the current Parallels can run Windows 10 (Ten) on an M1 chip. If you''re a Windows gamer, I'm not sure of the performance.

An issue does appear with Windows 11. It apparently requires a new PC with a security chip (TPM). Parallels 17.1 has a virtual implementation (vTPM) to run Win11. Jury is out on this Win VM version:

Parallels 17.1 Update Improves Windows 11 Support on Intel and M1 Macs

Bottom line, search MacRumors for comments on Parallels / M1 Mac implementations. Also, make sure there's enough memory to hold multiple VMs.

 

[WiiDSmoker]

Similar to Boyd01, I've been running Win10 and WinXP for years with Parallels. I've used it for Windows based Photoshop CS6 (licensed, not subscription), Visio, Acrobat X Pro, Office, etc. I run Windows and MacOS concurrently and seamlessly.

Actually, I'm running Visio 2007 (WinXP) at the moment when I saw this post browsing MacRumors. Visio just appears as another window on my desktop and I copy/paste items back and forth seamlessly. Same with using printers. Also, I run no AV in the XP VM as it has no connection to the internet. If it ever got corrupted, I'd just restore a backup of the VM as it is just a file. It's just a base to run very old apps. My Win10 64bit VM is connected to the internet and operates as any PC.

However.... the new Macs use an Apple M1 chip vs. an Intel chip that made Windows VMs easier to emulate. I believe but cannot verify the current Parallels can run Windows 10 (Ten) on an M1 chip. If you''re a Windows gamer, I'm not sure of the performance.

An issue does appear with Windows 11. It apparently requires a new PC with a security chip (TPM). Parallels 17.1 has a virtual implementation (vTPM) to run Win11. Jury is out on this Win VM version:

Parallels 17.1 Update Improves Windows 11 Support on Intel and M1 Macs

Bottom line, search MacRumors for comments on Parallels / M1 Mac implementations. Also, make sure there's enough memory to hold multiple VMs.

Absolutely great post, thank you very much!!

 

[david0128]

I've been using Parallels Win10 [Intel] virtual machines for years too - most recently on the MacBook Pro16 i9. (This is the machine that can't connect to external monitors without the fans ramping up - can't wait to replace it - it's awful.)

As far as I know, there's no practical way to virtualise the Windows 10 Intel environment on non-intel hardware. If you read the Parallels blogs, their only suggestion is to install the version of windows that's built for ARM hardware. This isn't officially for sale as a standalone version of windows, it's only licensed for pre-install on ARM notebooks. This means you have to install the "insider" version which isn't fully supported. Really not a great solution considering that hardly any windows software is written for Arm and you can't migrate existing VMs into ARM format, it's a complete rebuild required.

Anyhow, I took the approach of recently purchasing a base edition Mac mini 2018 (the i5 version - £1,099). It can run a parallels VM just as quickly as the MacBook Pro i9 that cost £3,700 - there's probably 5 seconds difference in the windows boot time. My plan is to keep the Mac mini for running Parallels which should be good for the next five years. In the meantime this gives me the flexibility to replace the god-awful MacBook Pro with an apple silicon device.