I am requesting a MacBook from my state's vocational rehabilitation agency, and I would like to figure out the minimum specifications I should ask for, in case they would like me to negotiate that or need stronger reasons for a more expensive model. One of the hard requirements for me is being able to run virtual machines well, because there are tasks that I find a lot easier to do on Windows than on MacOS, some applications that only run on Windows, and some applications/websites that are more accessible on Windows than on MacOS. The same thing is true of Linux. Since there is no Bootcamp on Apple Silicon, the only way for me to run Windows would be in a virtual machine.
How much RAM and CPU do I need to be able to run Windows in a virtual machine with JAWS, since JAWS is a bit less responsive than NVDA, and some applications open, let's say Word, Outlook, and Microsoft Edge, where JAWS is still responsive and snappy? That is a scenario that could easily happen at least a few times a week. Or what if I add some Mac applications open at the same time, maybe Voice Dream Reader for reading a textbook, and Drafts for keeping notes? And on top of that, how about if I add a Linux VM running at the same time, maybe editing code in Emacs while some documentation is open in Firefox, and then compiling the project? A good test would be if I leave the compilation process running in the background, and switch to Windows to type in Word, then switch to Drafts to look something up, would JAWS and VoiceOver still be just as responsive as before?
For virtualization software, I'm thinking of using VMWare Fusion for Windows since its free, accessible, and supports 3D acceleration to move graphics processing off of the CPU, and UTM for Linux with Apple's Virtualization Framework, since it probably has the best performance for running Linux VMs. But these are not strong preferences. I'm mostly looking for a good ballpark estimate because these things are hard to figure out without actually testing it.
Comments
virtual machine performance
It sounds like you have a rather heavy workload. that being said, I'd say aim for the highest specs you can get away with. The starting amount of RAM is 16 gb, up from the measly 7 that used to be standared, but with the scenario you outlined above, maybe try for 32 g instead. As for SSD storage, more is always better. As for the VM itself, I'm typing this on a VM in VMWare fusion and it outclasses my actual windows machine by miles. I've not run into anything that really causes it to slow down. However, I usually turn VoiceOver off when running a VM, but I doubt VoiceOver response would be much impaired.
Why the Mac then?
Hi,
the subject says it all. Why do you want a Macbook if all the tasks are better working on Windows? If you plan on working mostly in another environment than Mac OS then just go for a Windows Laptop which would safe the state money.
@Tayo
Thanks for your response. From what you've said it seems like the RAM will be more important than the CPU if you're getting performance/responsiveness way better than your actual Windows machine. 32 GB is what I thought of too.
@Dennis Westphal
Because I don't intend to do everything on Windows, I intend to use MacOS a lot as well. For a long time I have had both Windows and Linux installed and used them for different things, and I expect MacOS to fall into this. For example, I want to develop an iOS app possibly in the near future, there are some apps like Voice Dream Reader, Mona, Drafts, VOCR, ETC that it would be very nice to have on my laptop, and I expect to use the continuity features like messaging and calling from MacOS a lot. I just need to make sure Windows runs well, because if I'm working in Pages and I run into something that's a lot easier to do in Word, or if a website doesn't work well in Safari, or if I want to scan something in OpenBook with the Pearl camera, I will have that option available to me. Also I can't find anything better than Apple Silicon for a laptop right now. MacBooks get way better battery life than Intel/AMD laptops, and the performance of the high-end processors is significantly beyond the best Intel and AMD laptop processors, as well as the currently released Snapdragon ones.
Don't worry about windows performance
I use my windows VM on VMWARE on an m4 pro macbook pro with 12-core cpu and 24 gb ram, it runs faster than my hp spectre x360 with i7 155H processor, which was released in Dec 2023. There is just a slight audio/keyboard lag, but it has nothing to do with the actual performance itself, the only thing you couldn't really trust your VM would be during audio/video editing I guess. BUT windows runs very, very fast on my mac.
HP is bad and their best…
HP is bad and their best laptop was like in 2016 or so with the first specter x360s. I have a zbook 14u g6 and it's generally bad. I tend to ditch windows laptops but the real problem is Intel, choose AMD for laptops if you can.
I have the same use case for my mac, m2 pro base model unfortunately but it stil runs vm great. I was using wsl a lot on windows and linux virtual machines and have a pi400 a well and had a vps in the past as well. I have problem with vim on mac personally but having a built-in terminal that's generally quite good with VoiceOver is invaluable.
I also have a question. Do we actually have official windows server for ARM? Like I intend to pursue a computer science degree, Montreal college/university. Linux? No problem at all, worst case utm works well with linux virtual machines and ssh is my friend. But I wonder if Windows Server is actually usable / exist on ARM? Otherwise I'll probably have to lose money again to get just a decent enough windows laptop for vM of windows servers.
Get an M4 pro or M4 Max if…
Get an M4 pro or M4 Max if you can, 32 GB of RAM minimum, SSD storage as needed. For keyboard lag you can always use an external keyboard or sound card or both, either of which reduce lag, but both of which working together pretty much almost eliminate it
Thanks
Thank you for your responses. If I end up getting one I'll write a review after I set everything up and figure things out.