Simple question - will remote login to Windows machines work on Apple silicon?

[Adelphos33]

I am working from home until September 30 at least, with more frequent work from home after that. I still haven’t been able to get clear answers to this question:

Most of my work from home is logging into my Windows machine at my office through Citrix - will I be able to do this on Apple Silicon Macs?

I don’t really care about the chips, so I am thinking about buying a MacBook now so I can stay on the current systems for a few more years until this is all sorted out...

 

[chrfr]

I am working from home until September 30 at least, with more frequent work from home after that. I still haven’t been able to get clear answers to this question:

Most of my work from home is logging into my Windows machine at my office through Citrix - will I be able to do this on Apple Silicon Macs?

I don’t really care about the chips, so I am thinking about buying a MacBook now so I can stay on the current systems for a few more years until this is all sorted out...

You might need an updated Citrix client but there's no inherent reason connecting won't work. Intel Macs running Big Sur might also need an updated client.

 

[mr_jomo]

Citrix Workspace has already been ported to Windows on ARM and iPadOS, so there are zero architectural limiters.

Also, Citrix Workspace is confirmed working on the current Big Sur-beta, so it works with the APIs in MacOS 11 as-is.

While nothing is 100% certain, above almost guarantees, within a reasonable doubt, that Citrix Workspace and similar technologies will be available on and function superbly on Apple chips and Big Sur come autumn.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

This is a question that should be directed to Citrix technical support. They would have the best idea of the timeline for an updated client that would allow such functionality on the upcoming Apple Silicon Macs.

No matter what, don't get rid of your functional system until you have verified with your own eyes that Citrix Workspace is running acceptably on Apple Silicon powered Macs.

As others have said, most of the major remote desktop apps have been running on iOS/iPadOS for years. The big boys like Microsoft and Citrix likely have DTK units in the hands of their engineers to port their Intel macOS apps to Apple Silicon macOS.

However, you are also highly advised to consult with your company's IT department. Your company provides the tools and environment for you to do your job. They're the ones who provide support for you. They could advise employees not to upgrade right away due to performance or reliability issues, or even a lack of critical features or security.

 

[jdb8167]

Even if Citrix is slow in updating to ASi, I imagine running the Citrix client under Rosetta will be adequate. Performance is mostly dictated by network performance not CPU speed.

 

[vigilant]

Citrix Workspace has already been ported to Windows on ARM and iPadOS, so there are zero architectural limiters.

Also, Citrix Workspace is confirmed working on the current Big Sur-beta, so it works with the APIs in MacOS 11 as-is.

While nothing is 100% certain, above almost guarantees, within a reasonable doubt, that Citrix Workspace and similar technologies will be available on and function superbly on Apple chips and Big Sur come autumn.

To add one thing further. Even in the off chance that Citrix isn't building for Apple Silicon, what we're seeing now with Geekbench leads me to believe that once the recompile happens you'd essentially have native binaries. Now, granted you are losing the advantage of using the low power cores, I'd bet that on production Apple Silicon it would be comparable to native experience.

The DTK doesn't appear to be a slouch so far. And don't get me wrong, the real benefit to the Apple Silicon in the DTK is having 8 cores running at once!

After seeing the abomination that is Intel Lakefield, I'd much rather have a laptop with the 2 year old A12x.