M1 and windows virtualization

[al404]

Just got a new MacBook Air M1 that replaced MacBook Pro 13
I also have an older MacBook ( 12 ) that I kept for portability but now is kind of redundant
I would sell it but since I have windows in dual boot that I need for testing / update driver of some device that doesn't play well with Mac, I was wondering what are the scenario for virtualization

If the only option would be Paralles with its annual upgrade push I guess it would be cheaper to keep my MacBook 😅

 

[mj_]

You cannot virtualize Windows on M1 Macs at all. The ISA is not x86-compatible and there's no viable emulation yet.

 

[theluggage]

I was wondering what are the scenario for virtualization

You can't directly boot - or virtualize - x86 Windows on a M1. The M1 Macs are never going to be viable as x86 Windows machines in the way Intel Macs were, and currently there's no solution for running Windows. In the future, it's possible that Windows 10 for ARM will be available - but that doesn't necessarily solve your problem.

In time, there will most likely be some way of running x86 Windows on M1 machines - such as running Windows 10 for ARM on Parallels and using the x86 emulator in Windows. It's also possible that UTM or QEMU will get ported. All those are fairly slow emulation, but might be OK for occasional, light use.

There are also early hints that Crossover/WINE will work on M1 via Rosetta (...Rosetta translates the binary to M1, WINE deals with the Windows system calls...) but the deal with Crossover, even on Intel, has always been that it works great with a limited number of well-supported/popular apps, but everything else is hit and miss.


NB: The "annual upgrade" thing with Parallels is slightly exaggerated - while Parallels will happily sell you an upgrade every year if you let them, I've been using it for years and its been a case of needing to upgrade for roughly every other MacOS release. Of course, we haven't seen their M1 offering yet, so they could make it subscription only - and their first products will probably be for (a) running ARM Linux


However, you mention hardware with Windows drivers, which I wouldn't guarantee would ever work under the above solutions.

I'd hang on to your old Intel Macbook for the moment. The M1 Macs sound great but - Windows aside - I wouldn't have one as my only machine until Apple have got the kinks out and everybody has released their M1-friendly software.

 

[ggibson913]

As others have said there is no way currently to run Windows on an M1 Mac. I struggled earlier in the year as I wanted to get portable but also knew the M1 would come out, I chose the Intel Mac.

 

[joevt]

There is Wine which can run Windows apps - it's not emulation or virtualization - it does use Rosetta 2 though since it's x86 code.

CrossOver Allows x86 Windows Apps to Run on Apple M1 Macs

Codeweavers posted a blog post and video tonight showing off CrossOver running on an Apple M1 MacBook Air. This video shows Team Fortress 2 running on a new M1 MacBook Air: CrossOver is software (based on Wine Project) that runs Microsoft Windows apps on the Mac by translating Windows APIs...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[al404]

Wine for me in not an option I need to test in a windows machine, it can be virtualization but needs to be on full windows

 

[ght56]

Wine for me in not an option I need to test in a windows machine, it can be virtualization but needs to be on full windows

Then you need an Intel Mac, at least for the foreseeable future.