VMware Fusion 13 Now Available With Native Support for Apple Silicon Macs

[MacRumors]

VMware today announced the launch of Fusion 13, the latest major update to the Fusion virtualization software. For those unfamiliar with Fusion, it is designed to allow Mac users to operate virtual machines to run non-macOS operating systems like Windows 11.

Fusion 13 Pro and Fusion 13 Player are compatible with both Intel Macs and Apple silicon Macs equipped with M-series chips, offering native support. VMware has been testing Apple silicon support for several months now ahead of the launch of the latest version of Fusion.

With Fusion 13, Intel and Apple silicon Mac users can access Windows 11 virtual machines. Intel Macs offer full support for Windows 11, while on Apple silicon, VMware says there is a first round of features for Windows 11 on Arm.

VMware Tools provides virtual graphics and networking, and more is still to come. With certified and signed drivers Windows 11 looks fantastic, and adjust the resolution to 4K and beyond! Note that Fusion on Apple Silicon must run the Arm variant of Windows 11, and it does not support the x86/Intel version of Windows.

Users who need to run traditional win32 and x64 apps can do so through built-in emulation.

Fusion 13 also includes a TPM 2.0 virtual device that can be added to any VM, storing contents in an encrypted section of the virtual machine files and offering hardware-tpm functionality parity. To support this feature, Fusion 13 uses a fast encryption type that encrypts only the parts of the VM necessary to support the TPM device for performance and security.

The software supports OpenGL 4.3 in Windows and Linux VMs on Intel and in Linux VMs on Apple silicon.

Fusion 13 Player is free for personal use, and commercial licenses for both versions are available at a 30 percent discount to celebrate the launch. VMware Fusion 13 Player is priced at $104.30, and VMware Fusion Pro is priced at $139.30. Upgrades from prior versions are also available at a lower cost.

Article Link: VMware Fusion 13 Now Available With Native Support for Apple Silicon Macs

 

[iAppleOrchard]

Finally, competition for Parallels who charges a monthly fee. I hope they sorted out the major problems that VMware Fusion 13 Beta had.

 

[Villarrealadrian]

Fanally!! Great news!!

 

[TSE]

How does this compare to Parallels? I'd love to dump that company out on the street but in past versions they just didn't compare, Parallels was way better! Especially with 3D stuff!

 

[Veeper]

I can’t wait to start arguing with my engineering staff again about how this time they should be able to boot/run their x86 VMs.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

That took awhile.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

is it truly free ? how can it be possible

 

[Wokis]

Sounds awesome! Didn't want to pay for sub or a static version of parallels as I wouldn't use this feature often enough to justify it. Glad I can now hopefully forget about it and go with a personal license on Player.

 

[kozz]

Free...for home use seems too good to be true..

 

[brofkand]

Free...for home use seems too good to be true..

That’s VMWare Player, always been a free product as far as I’m aware. It does have some restrictions.

 

[CalMin]

Free...for home use seems too good to be true..

The Intel version has been for some time. It was my goto before I went all in on Apple Silicon.

 

[TheDailyApple]

So the Apple Silicon version can only run Windows 11 Arm, but CAN emulate x64 apps. Or am I reading it wrong?

I wonder what its limitations are, because currently I keep my 2017 MacBook Pro around solely for virtualization.

 

[mansplains]

is it truly free ? how can it be possible

Free...for home use seems too good to be true..

See here

 

[joloriquelme]

Question:

Do you know if I can put a VM (or at least the virtual HDD) on a external device like a USB-C SSD?

 

[AlexisV]

So the Apple Silicon version can only run Windows 11 Arm, but CAN emulate x64 apps. Or am I reading it wrong?

I wonder what its limitations are, because currently I keep my 2017 MacBook Pro around solely for virtualization.

Windows 11 ARM has inbuilt emulation for win32 and x64 programs.

 

[AlexisV]

How does this compare to Parallels? I'd love to dump that company out on the street but in past versions they just didn't compare, Parallels was way better! Especially with 3D stuff!

Depends what you want to do, but it doesn't support DirectX 12 on Apple silicon for some reason, which was kind of one of the points of Metal3.

 

[vegetassj4]

To quote Master Beavis,

Yesssssss! Yessssss!

William S. Preston Esq. and Theodore Logan

 

[Kierkegaarden]

How does this compare to Parallels? I'd love to dump that company out on the street but in past versions they just didn't compare, Parallels was way better! Especially with 3D stuff!

Exactly the same question I have. I have a family member that still uses Windows, so being able to run Windows 11 would move then towards the wonderful magical world of Mac.

 

[TheDailyApple]

is it truly free ? how can it be possible

Free...for home use seems too good to be true..

It’s true. I bought 11 when it came out, but starting with 12, they named the standard version “player” and made it free for personal use. The pro version doesn’t have many features your average home user would need, so player is all you really need.

My guess is that since (I believe) VMware makes most their money from enterprise clients and large infrastructure deployments, they were never making much money from home users anyway. Plus people who start with VMware products because they’re free are likely to us VMware products when they need a paid solution.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

It’s true. I bought 11 when it came out, but starting with 12, they named the standard version “player” and made it free for personal use. The pro version doesn’t have many features your average home user would need, so player is all you really need.

My guess is that since (I believe) VMware makes most their money from enterprise clients and large infrastructure deployments, they were never making much money from home users anyway. Plus people who start with VMware products because they’re free are likely to us VMware products when they need a paid solution.

thanks !

you downloaded win11 for ARM from here right ? https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windowsinsiderpreviewARM64

 

[vitamanic]

Curious if this is

Finally, competition for Parallels who charges a monthly fee. I hope they sorted out the major problems that VMware Fusion 13 Beta had.

Parallels is either a one time purchase lifetime license or a yearly license with upgrades to future versions. AFAIK you can't pay monthly.

How does this compare to Parallels? I'd love to dump that company out on the street but in past versions they just didn't compare, Parallels was way better! Especially with 3D stuff!

Same experience for me. VMware performance was absolutely miserable for the last version. My i9 16 inch MBP with 32GB of RAM struggled and heavily stuttered during tasks like scrolling the start menu or a webpage!

 

[CYB3RBYTE]

Not to be “that” guy, but I wonder if gaming performance will be decent. Looking to move to an M1 Max machine for windows gaming, primarily older FPS games and Warzone.

 

[rmcq]

Windows 11 ARM has inbuilt emulation for win32 and x64 programs.

Yes it can run x64 Windows apps well. The biggest issue for me is the pathetic driver support. Very few (any?) printer companies provide ARM drivers, so you’re left with either no support or just basic generic driver support.

Note that you can’t use x64 drivers.

For me that was a deal breaker since my printer had multiple trays.

 

[cjamescook]

Okay, I'll be "that guy": What do I do if I want to run MacOS High Sierra on Mac Silicon?

 

[Mr. Dee]

I've dumped VirtualBox, version 7.0 have become extremely buggy. Switched to VirtualPlayer 17.0 and it works perfect!