Hi everyone,
I'm considering switching to a Mac Mini for my Windows needs by running Windows on ARM through VMware Fusion (or a similar hypervisor). I’d like to avoid Parallels because of the recurring subscription cost.
For those using a similar setup, how well does it work for you?
I’m particularly interested in NVDA's performance as well as the audio latency.
If audio is delayed, I'll write this off immediately, which is one of the reasons I'm asking.
Thanks for the help.
Comments
Additional Information
I forgot to include the fact that I'm using an Astro A50 headset and I can connect to the VM exclusively if needed, so long as connecting USB peripherals is stable.
Parallels has a perpetual option
Just thought you should know. You don't have to go subscription if you don't want to, although perpetual which is standard, will limit you to 8gigs of ram.
With that being said, fusion is solid. It’ll work, but do note that you will manually need to go to their site and check for updates, given that this has been broken for months now, so program won't check for updates automatically. You might also need to rely on sighted assistance, assuming you do not have a USB to headphone jack dongle, for the first phase of installation, I.E, selecting language, keyboard, etc. This due to something that Microsoft messed up within the Windows iso itself, not sure if that's already fixed. Other than that it works well.
UTM is another alternative you could look into, though you'll run into the same problem as in fusion; you might need to rely on sighted help for the first instal phaze of windows.
Additionally, what are you going to be using the virtual machine for? I ask because if you’re planning on playing somewhat intensive games, I.e, games which require 3-D acceleration, VMware fusion or parallels will be your best bet given that they support 3-D acceleration, UTM does not. If its mainly for productivety, any of the three, utm, parallels or fusion should sute you well whichever you go for.
Windows on a base Mac Mini with Fusion.
That's what I'm running, in particular an M2 with 8 GB RAM. It could maybe be a bit faster, but games play. I haven't tried stuff like Slay the Spire or any Steam games yet, not enough memory at least to run Spire, I don't think. But the mud client works, BK3 works, Ball Bouncer, I forget what else I've tried. I imagine most audio games would work just fine, and it seems obvious to me that it should work better whenever I upgrade and get more machine.
I can't help you with most mainstream games, every time I think about running one it's OCR this and maybe you get menus that, and it just sounds like way too much work to worry about. Plus my old Windows machine wouldn't handle something like Forza anyway. But if your VM solution of choice supports what they need, then I'd imagine it's just making sure they get enough resources to run, like anything else really.
Anyway this is just to say that I'm running Windows on pretty minimal Mac hardware, and it works fine for audio games at least anyway.
Fusion VoiceOver Bug
Does VmWare Fusion still have that bug where you must turn off VoiceOver before you start a VM, and if you turn VoiceOver on while a VM is running, it crashes Fusion? This would make multi-tasking between Windows and MacOS programs impossible.
Thanks Guys
Thanks everyone for the information.
I'm not a gamer, so I don't have to worry about that. My main concern was how well NVDA would run, and if I'd be dealing with audio latency. It's pretty bad when running VMs on Windows with Workstation, and I'm hoping it's better on Mac.
UTM definitely sounds like something I'll try out as well.
re Fusion VoiceOver Bug
I'm honestly not sure as I ditched fusion for parallels so cant say but at least from what i've read it should in theory, be fixed as far as I know.
As far as nvda and audio delay, at least per experience I'll say that if nvda works great, no problems. Audio delay... If you have some, it’s imperceptible at least from experience, if there's even delay at all, tbh. Cant say i've noticed delay from my side.