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Core M and Parallels 10?

M

macbookj0e

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 10, 2015
225
450
Ok I'm interested in the new 2015 Macbook Apple announced yesterday but I will need to run Parallels (or any other Virtual machine software) on it and am concerned about the processor being able to cope!

I would get the upgraded 1.3Ghz Core M processor and obviously the 8Gb RAM is sufficient but wondered if the machine would cope running Parallels 10 and Windows 7 as I appreciate it's mobile chip and not necessarily the most powerful?

Anyone have an idea if it will or not? Thanks :)

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By the way I have contacted Parallels support and the guy in India didn't have a clue! :rolleyes:
 
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It should do just fine. I ran Windows 7 X64 in a Paralells VM for years on my Late 2008 MacBook. It had a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo that benchmarks under the Core M. In fact, from just a benchmark standpoint, it's 2x faster.

I had no issues running Yosemite along with Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 on that machine (with a SSD that is). So you should be just fine.
 
brand said:
Why would he when the computer hasn't even been released yet. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Because you would think if you're a software vendor that to maximise sales you would know about upcoming hardware and whether or not your software would a) run on said hardware or b) be otherwise compatible.

It's not like this is some unknown hardware that's come out of nowhere from a small company. It's developed by Intel, one of, if not the largest, chip making corporations. The chip is on a device made by Apple which is Parallels exact target audience so yes I would think support may possibly know the answer to this question seeing as millions of new Macbooks are likely to be sold along with many copies of Parallels...

You not think?

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BrettApple said:
It should do just fine. I ran Windows 7 X64 in a Paralells VM for years on my Late 2008 MacBook. It had a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo that benchmarks under the Core M. In fact, from just a benchmark standpoint, it's 2x faster.

I had no issues running Yosemite along with Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 on that machine (with a SSD that is). So you should be just fine.
Click to expand...

Cool thanks for your input. That pretty much puts rest the only concern I had with the new MB.

Now I just have to count down the days to getting one! ;)
 
Yes it'll cope just fine. However, you'll get better performance running a Windows 8.1 VM as 8.1 is optimised for Virtualization whereas Windows 7 isn't.
 
Steve121178 said:
Yes it'll cope just fine. However, you'll get better performance running a Windows 8.1 VM as 8.1 is optimised for Virtualization whereas Windows 7 isn't.
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Thanks Steve, I didn't realise W7 was not optimised for a VM.

Thing is I have another licence for W7 available but W8 would be an extra cost so I'll probably stick with 7 for now!
 
macbookj0e said:
Anyone have an idea if it will or not? Thanks :)
Click to expand...


Of course it'll work, and work just fine. Check out the minimum specs for windows, and parallels (or my preference vmware fusion)... you've got plenty of specs.

I've been running windows on macs for years and never had an issue. I usually get mid-spec machines, but any are fine.

The industry has marketed well for consumers to think they need to keep upgrading their computers to be able to keep upgrading their software, and in most cases it's simply not true. A 5 year old Macbook Pro will run Photoshop (or Windows) just fine, as will a brand new 2015 Macbook Pro. LOL

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macbookj0e said:
Thanks Steve, I didn't realise W7 was not optimised for a VM.
Click to expand...

Windows 7 works fine in a VM environment, been running it for years. Maybe not as nice as 8, but who cares. Most people running virtual environments are doing so for the one-off times they use windows. If you're looking to use it as a primary OS, you should be doing it in Boot Camp, or just buy a windows computer. I know it sounds silly, but the main reason Mac is so appealing to most is for the OS. You can get identical hardware on a PC anywhere.
 
macbookj0e said:
Thanks Steve, I didn't realise W7 was not optimised for a VM.

Thing is I have another licence for W7 available but W8 would be an extra cost so I'll probably stick with 7 for now!
Click to expand...

Windows 7 runs ok as a VM, but 8.1 really does fly. Everything about 8.1 is far more efficient and quicker. I tend to allocate 2 virtual cores and 4GB to my Windows VM's.

I agree that it's not worth the cost if you have no issues with your current VM.
 
shenan1982 said:
Of course it'll work, and work just fine. Check out the minimum specs for windows, and parallels (or my preference vmware fusion)... you've got plenty of specs.

I've been running windows on macs for years and never had an issue. I usually get mid-spec machines, but any are fine.

The industry has marketed well for consumers to think they need to keep upgrading their computers to be able to keep upgrading their software, and in most cases it's simply not true. A 5 year old Macbook Pro will run Photoshop (or Windows) just fine, as will a brand new 2015 Macbook Pro. LOL
Click to expand...

Very true, think I may have fallen for that marketing myself on occasion! :eek:
 
macbookj0e said:
Very true, think I may have fallen for that marketing myself on occasion! :eek:
Click to expand...

Believe me, we ALL have, admit it or not. My last Air I bought (2014) I did the "Ultimate" ... I wanted the 8GB ram, so it was built to order. Then I figured oh just imagine how much snappier it'll be if I do the processor bump... and how great it'll be to bump to the 512 gb flash.... so I did.

Well it's my "travel computer" ... I use it for Facebook, and to check email and surf the web looking for a good deal on a hotel. I have 400 GB of that 512GB flash available.

Yeah, I so didn't need ANY of those specs. But I FELT like I did, haha.
 
shenan1982 said:
Of course it'll work, and work just fine. Check out the minimum specs for windows, and parallels (or my preference vmware fusion)... you've got plenty of specs.

I've been running windows on macs for years and never had an issue. I usually get mid-spec machines, but any are fine.

The industry has marketed well for consumers to think they need to keep upgrading their computers to be able to keep upgrading their software, and in most cases it's simply not true. A 5 year old Macbook Pro will run Photoshop (or Windows) just fine, as will a brand new 2015 Macbook Pro. LOL

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Windows 7 works fine in a VM environment, been running it for years. Maybe not as nice as 8, but who cares. Most people running virtual environments are doing so for the one-off times they use windows. If you're looking to use it as a primary OS, you should be doing it in Boot Camp, or just buy a windows computer. I know it sounds silly, but the main reason Mac is so appealing to most is for the OS. You can get identical hardware on a PC anywhere.
Click to expand...

Yeah agree. I am one of those that uses Windows solely for one piece of software that doesn't have an OSX version (yet) so am forced to run Windows.

If there was an OSX version then I'd be happy to never use Windows again as OSX is my main OS.

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shenan1982 said:
Believe me, we ALL have, admit it or not. My last Air I bought (2014) I did the "Ultimate" ... I wanted the 8GB ram, so it was built to order. Then I figured oh just imagine how much snappier it'll be if I do the processor bump... and how great it'll be to bump to the 512 gb flash.... so I did.

Well it's my "travel computer" ... I use it for Facebook, and to check email and surf the web looking for a good deal on a hotel. I have 400 GB of that 512GB flash available.

Yeah, I so didn't need ANY of those specs. But I FELT like I did, haha.
Click to expand...

lol, you sounded just like me when I ordered my new iMac last year...

"Of course I need the i7 and 24Gb of RAM" Not...!

At least our machines will be a little more future-proof! (listen to me trying to justify the extra expense :) )
 
macbookj0e said:
At least our machines will be a little more future-proof! (listen to me trying to justify the extra expense :) )
Click to expand...

HAHA, yeah, cause next year Apple might say "hey lets be sneaky and release an iPhoto app that'll only work on computers less than a year old who ordered with the top specs available, and we'll cut out everyone int he other 99.999% of our customer base" ... that's my real fear in life, and my driving force to buy unnecessary spec bumps, hahahaha
 
shenan1982 said:
HAHA, yeah, cause next year Apple might say "hey lets be sneaky and release an iPhoto app that'll only work on computers less than a year old who ordered with the top specs available, and we'll cut out everyone int he other 99.999% of our customer base" ... that's my real fear in life, and my driving force to buy unnecessary spec bumps, hahahaha
Click to expand...

haha so true! ;)
 
AFEPPL said:
Intels M-5Y70 based on the specs does not support VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d
Click to expand...

Good point, hardware virtualization that we take for granted in practically all notebooks nowadays is missing from the Core M and that would make a serious-enough performance drop when running anything more intensive than, say, Notepad.
 
it will be ok for Parallels...that app is RAM intensive and not so much cpu
so since macbook is 8gb ram standard it will just fine
 
All Broadwell-Y processors have Intel VT-d, VT-x and AES-NI instruction support, but only the top-of-the-line Core M-5Y70 features Intel vPro and TXT.

Parallels will run fine on it.
 
Steve121178 said:
you'll get better performance running a Windows 8.1 VM as 8.1 is optimised for Virtualization whereas Windows 7 isn't.
Click to expand...

In what ways is Windows 8.1 optimised for virtualisation? How has Microsoft done this?

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macbookj0e said:
Thing is I have another licence for W7 available but W8 would be an extra cost so I'll probably stick with 7 for now!
Click to expand...

You'll want to run Windows 8.1 (or 10) because it can handle the scaling of the retina screen properly. As far as I can tell, Windows 7 can't do this and will look pretty bad.
 
SlCKB0Y said:
In what ways is Windows 8.1 optimised for virtualisation? How has Microsoft done this?
Click to expand...


Well they want to push things like Hyper-V and did a lot of work to optimise Win8 not only for Virtualization but for physical installs also. There's less processes running and all sorts of other stuff that makes it more efficient.

Windows 7 huffs and puffs as it's based on code written in 2008/2009. I hate to use the term, but 8.1 is so much snappier.
 
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