Depends on the application. But for general stuff, it's not miserable. The M1 is the fastest ARM chip of its class around. So virtualizing ARM for Windows probably yields you a pretty fast "ARM PC". At that point, running x86 applications might still be faster than running them on, say, an ARM Surface.
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Parallels 16 for M1 Macs Now Available Through Technical Preview Program
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This looks like software that could run in Crossover
While possible. Pricing would have to come way down to make sense for a single user case like yours. The most reasonable price I found in a brief search is GoDaddy. 6 Core/12 Thread, 64GB RAM and 4TB HDD storage for $170 a month. I'm not sure if that would even give you the level of access you need. It also sounds like it would be quite slow for 7+ VMs. Most other hosts look much more expensive.
For the different price points. You could basically tailor build something. Something which'll be equal to or likely faster than the hosted server. That will pay for itself in three to four months. If you want remote access anywhere. You could configure everything with free software. Although that's a pain and I'd just spend $8 a month for Zoho.
If you look out to a year of hosting costs. You could build something vastly faster for your work.
What is the point if the software cannot run an Intel x86-based OS ?
Windows 10 on ARM can run a number of x86 and now x86-64 apps as well. I can confirm some x86 games work. I don't have the full library to try everything, but honestly, they work far better than I can remember Surface Pro X running.
So M1 + Parallels > Surface Pro X to me.
Could you specify what kind of games work?
And have you done that from 32Bit windows version or the new 64bit one?
I'm downloading the 64 bit one and I don't really know what to expect.
I've tried as far as Metal Fatigue (a very old game that uses a Voodoo wrapper to work) and Shenzhen I/O.
Downloading some others from my Gog library to test. I can set up Steam as well, but... I'm feeling so extremely lazy right now to be honest.
Seemed pretty clear to me!
Basically, if you sign up for a Windows Insider program, you can get access to Windows-on-ARM (64-bit), and can run it, but can't suspend/resume a running VM. Presumably, you can make changes to the VM state (e.g. install software) and then shut it down.
It's a step forward....
I would tend to agree with this. Most developers will choose Linux. However, being able to run Windows-on-ARM will help Microsoft by giving Windows developers a good platform on which to develop new software, which it desperately needs if it is to be successful. If Windows-on-ARM is successful, then more manufacturers will look seriously at developing ARM-hardware, and we all benefit.
Too bad. I thought the Parallels version was free for anyone but I get an activation key prompt whenever I try to start the Windows 10 VM
I wouldnt have thought it is mostly developers. I would have thought it was mainly people using enterprise software for work.
The activation code is on the same page where you download the Parallels beta.
I have no idea what I’m talking about. I just assumed that there were heaps of applications that are coded for ARM Windows, but I have nothing to back that up.
This is the only downside of the M1 switch. We've all been spoiled over the years to be able to run Windows natively on our Macs, and now we're going back to the days of Virtual PC - boy do I remember that painful experience.
Reran Geekbench with windows allocated 8 Core and 4 Gb Ram:
HOLY BACON
HOLY BACON
Parallels Parallels ARM Virtual Machine - Geekbench
Benchmark results for a Parallels Parallels ARM Virtual Machine with an Intel Pentium II/III processor.
browser.geekbench.com
It can run ARM versions of Linux. Very important to various people.
Ever consider that emulating an x86 OS on ARM is probably significantly more complicated than emulating another ARM OS, and that it probably makes the most sense to tackle ARM based OSes ASAP and then start tackling the x86 emulation challenge?
Virtualization is complicated, it's utterly unreasonable to expect products like Parallels to immediately work on a brand new platform as well as they did on the previous one.
Were you able to get networking to work? Windows tell me that no adapter driver was installed and so there's no networking.
Yeah, but wait til ARM Windows includes a built-in x86 emulator or translator for those binaries, which is totally in MSFT's character of providing eternal backwards compatibility.
Though, it would be out of character for them to do something that encourages purchasing Macs.