Is Windows text quality at retina levels on Retina Mac VM?

[InfoTime]

Looking to run Windows 7 under VMware Fusion on a new Retina iMac. The main thing we're after is to get excellent text quality for Windows applications. From the way I understand it VMware Fusion will scale Windows so that the size of the text is relative to the effective resolution.

In other words, if I ran Windows 7 under VMware Fusion and set it to full screen. I'd see the effective resolution of 2560x1600, but the text would be nice and crisp just like it is on other Mac apps. Correct?

 

[nerowolfe]

I've been using another virtualization solution "Parallels" but I suspect Fusion is no different.

Windows as a whole looks and feels better. Crisp text, icons, everything basically,, without being small and straining your eyes. The usual better trackpad and scrolling out of the box. Shortcuts. Integration. Safer. Better experience overall than that under Boot Camp.

Cons.

Slower than Boot Camp (still snappy.) 3D Gaming, in particular latest games pretty much run 2x faster under boot camp. DX11 games won't run at all or run slowly using a workaround.

The odd old program here and there with blurry text (very few.)


For general use, virtualization under OSX is the way to go. For gaming, and extremely cpu and gpu-intensive tasks, boot up via boot camp.

 

[InfoTime]

Thanks for your response. The key thing you said is that it looks better under a VM than it does in Boot Camp. That tells me that the Mac display driver and the VM's display driver are working in concert with one another to fill in the pixels to make the Windows text as crisp as native Mac text. Is that a fair and accurate way to describe it?

 

[nerowolfe]

Correct, it looks just like any other mac app that supports retina. Parallels Desktop even offers an option to enable/disable retina support for each virtual machine you install. I haven't used Fusion so I can't affirm that it offers the same feature, but my thinking is that it's a competing product and should be no different given it being sold at the same price range.

You can download the trial version of both to evaluate and install the preview version of Windows and see for yourself which product meets your expectations best.

 

[InfoTime]

I actually own VMware Fusion 7 Pro and have used prior versions for a long time. Tried Parallels way back when too. I might give Parallels another look. My problem right now is I don't have a Retina based Mac to try this. Too bad I can't download a Retina iMac for a free trial

 

[Steveatesh]

Correct, it looks just like any other mac app that supports retina. Parallels Desktop even offers an option to enable/disable retina support for each virtual machine you install. I haven't used Fusion so I can't affirm that it offers the same feature, but my thinking is that it's a competing product and should be no different given it being sold at the same price range.

You can download the trial version of both to evaluate and install the preview version of Windows and see for yourself which product meets your expectations best.

I'm using parallels 10 too, whilst Windows itself is ok I mainly wanted it for Corels Paintshop Pro X6. I find the tools and menu items appear with very small text, is there a way to make them appear correctly? The main editing window is fine in the program, it's just the tools and tool bars that are too small.

Base retina machine.

 

[nerowolfe]

Good luck deciding which one to use InfoTime.

Steveatesh, an older version of Corel Essentials I use has been suffering from a similar issue as well. I suspect upgrading to the latest version is the easiest way to solve the problem. There might be other solutions to try out, but I haven't bothered to look for one yet.

 

[Steveatesh]

Good luck deciding which one to use InfoTime.

Steveatesh, an older version of Corel Essentials I use has been suffering from a similar issue as well. I suspect upgrading to the latest version is the easiest way to solve the problem. There might be other solutions to try out, but I haven't bothered to look for one yet.

Ok thanks, I tried the latest PSP X7 on the trial version of Parallels and it was just the same. I imagine Corel aren't in a hurry to alter their program to be user defined to meet a retina display. I wish they'd get their act together and release it for the Mac, it's a fantastic alternative to Paint shop.

Thanks for your advice. Steve.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Little off topic but,

I found the text on Windows 7 hard to deal with when using Bootcamp on my 15" Pro Retina. It was so bad I went to a MBAir 13". I lost screen size but the text is much nicer.

If they get this fixed, I would love to go back to the Pro 15" retina.

 

[InfoTime]

Newtons Apple - I think you could go back to a 15" Retina if you ran Windows under a virtual machine like VMware Fusion or Parallels.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Newtons Apple - I think you could go back to a 15" Retina if you ran Windows under a virtual machine like VMware Fusion or Parallels.

Maybe so. I was told that Bootcamp had better performance and have always pick it.

Are you saying the text would be more readable.

 

[InfoTime]

Maybe so. I was told that Bootcamp had better performance and have always pick it.

Are you saying the text would be more readable.

Yes, I believe that is true.