I don't know the first thing about Mac but am aware they moved to a new (M1) processor that is a game changer.

The wife MUST run a windows program for work but otherwise the rest of her stuff is web based.

I've heard of programs that let you run virtual machines under Mac OS but don't know if they already caught up with the M1 gen.

0-0

Parallels is supposed to work good with the M1 chip machines.

These days, most of what you want that runs on a PC is also available to run on a MAC. Years ago I tried a partition, and quickly came to the conclusion that it was a stupid idea, and abandoned it. When I moved to Mac, all the issues and headaches I had with computers went away...and my Mac lasted a LOT longer.

The only things I really needed to run on the mac that were windows based were the office products, particularly word. Now it's all available for Mac.

In the past few years, there were one or two things I did that required a windows based PC, and for that, I just picked up a laptop to run those items on, and did everything else on the mac. I'm definitely not partitioning my drive to put a windows operating system on there...which is the door to so many computer problems.

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
These days, most of what you want that runs on a PC is also available to run on a MAC. Years ago I tried a partition, and quickly came to the conclusion that it was a stupid idea, and abandoned it. When I moved to Mac, all the issues and headaches I had with computers went away...and my Mac lasted a LOT longer.

The only things I really needed to run on the mac that were windows based were the office products, particularly word. Now it's all available for Mac.

In the past few years, there were one or two things I did that required a windows based PC, and for that, I just picked up a laptop to run those items on, and did everything else on the mac. I'm definitely not partitioning my drive to put a windows operating system on there...which is the door to so many computer problems.

No need for a partition. I use Mac for everything except two programs that require a Windows environment: QuickBooks (yes, there are Mac versions available, but they suck, and I definitely do not want to use the cloud version of financial software that I use for business), and Medlin Payroll. The Windows environment for those two is provided via a Virtual Machine. The most popular commercial VM software packages are Parallels, and VMware Fusion, pretty similar except for licensing. Parallels requires a license per computer. The Fusion license allows you to buy one copy and install it on multiple computers, so I use Fusion. If you like to play with software and don't want to pay for a VM, Virtual Box is free, but not as polished as the commercial products that I mentioned.

None of these require any sort of partition. I have been using Fusion to run my business for many years, more than ten years, with absolutely no problems whatsoever, other than problems caused by Intuit and / or Microsoft, but these problems would have occurred on a plain old Windows machine, and had nothing to to with the fact that the programs were running on a VM in a Mac host.

There are also Virtual Box and xhyve hypervisors for macOS. Both free of licensing fees. The latter for certain supports Win10 guests. One of my clients has been running their Win10 business accounting software under bhyve (the parent of xhyve) for a couple of years now without a hiccup.

VMware Fusion currently has a free "for home use only" license!

I've worked with VirtualBox for years and it's just been unstable in various installs, Fusion has been rock solid doing the same things for me.

I have a Macbook 2013 (2018), 16Gb quad i7, running BigSur 11.2.1 and use Parallels 15, with Win10, Ubuntu and Kali Linux.

NO issues, no problems.

The 16Gb of memory makes for a better experience. I would suggest additional memory .

Parallels have released their Parallels 16 Technical Preview 2 Update for M1 Macs.

Uses the ARM based Windows version.
From the Windows Insider program.
Some limitations ...

So maybe wait a bit if you must have an M1 Mac.
Or look at the current Macbook range ...


--chris

quote:

Originally posted by K0ZZZ:

VMware Fusion currently has a free "for home use only" license!

I read that and got all excited. Then, I looked at the VMware website, system requirements for this. Minimum hardware is 2012 or later Mac. Damn! Missed it by that much. My MacBook Pro is early 2011 model. Still running strong, no reason to replace it.

The iMac at the hangar office is mid 2011, so that won't work either. :sad: :very sad:

Sorry 0-0. Nothing available yet. Additionally, if you even did get the Parallels version of Windows working on an M1, you’d need a version of that app for Windows Arm I suspect. (Like the “Oops I downloaded Itanium version on accident!” days of old)

I just need working Box Drive and Crowdstrike clients and I can issue M1 machines to my fleet.

For what it’s worth, the M1 is indeed a game changer. I’m running circles around my coworker’s 8 core 16” MBP and I have the 13” 8g/256g base fanless air. Granted, neither of us do any sustained rendering or compiling but no one in our company does.

Another option I’ve suggested is getting a Dell Optiplex refurb for about $200, setting it up headless in the basement, and using the Mac remote client to connect to it. When doing this, you wouldn’t know you aren’t running Windows locally. This has the advantage of coming with a Win 10 Pro license, which can be expensive if you want a registered install.

Jumping into the Mac wagon is a HUGE investment down here being unable to travel and just buy an expensive one.

Wife has no time to spare to operate a remote machine. Trust me on this one. At met her at her office like 30 years ago and she wouldn't let me near her machine. I was the office IT guy.

Hasn't changed a byte

If and when, will be going for an M1. Otherwise little or no resale value if we fecide not to keep it.

As a CPA, she's stuck with the local IRS default crappy windows program that is not even W8 or newer friendly. Sucks on a good day. Can't remember if it has to go run on backward compatibility mode.

I think i'll have to be patient on this one. Wait until i can get a bulletproof VM for the M1.
.

Thank you very, very much.

0-0

These new macs don’t natively have capability to boot camp Windows anymore?