Windows on Macs with Apple Silicon runs flawlessly
However, its official arrival is in sight
One of the biggest drawbacks of the new Macs with Apple Silicon chips is their different architecture. Because of this, we’ve lost the ability to install Windows, which until recently could easily run alongside macOS. You had to choose which system to boot each time you turned on the device.
Apple users had a straightforward and native method, which they, unfortunately, lost by switching from Intel to Apple Silicon processors. Fortunately, some developers have kept up and have still managed to bring us methods to indulge Windows on newer Macs.
In this case, we have to rely on the so-called virtualization of a particular operating system. So the system does not run independently, as it did in Boot Camp, but only within macOS, specifically within the virtualization software as a virtual machine.
Windows on Mac with Apple Silicon
The most popular solution to get Windows on Macs with Apple Silicon is the software known as Parallels Desktop. This is a virtualization program that can create the aforementioned virtual machines and therefore run foreign operating systems. But the question is also why an Apple user would be interested in running Windows when they can overwhelmingly get by with macOS.
There’s no denying that Windows holds the largest market share and is, therefore, the most widely used operating system in the world, which developers are naturally adapting to with their apps. Therefore, sometimes a user may need a competing OS to run specific applications.
What is more interesting, however, is that even though virtualization, Windows runs virtually flawlessly. This was recently tested by the YouTube channel Max Tech, which took a new MacBook Air with an M2 chip (2022) and virtualized Windows 11 via Parallels 18.
Air scored 1681 points in the single-core test, while in the multi-core test, it scored 7260 points. For comparison’s sake, the same benchmark was run on a Dell XPS Plus Windows laptop, which is even more expensive than MacBook Air. When the test was done without connecting the laptop to power, the device scored just 1182 and 5476 points, respectively, losing quite a bit to the Apple representative.
On the other hand, when the charger was connected, it scored 1548 points on a single core and 8103 points on multiple cores. From this test, we can perfectly see the major dominance of Apple Silicon. The performance of these chips is virtually consistent, regardless of whether the laptop in question is connected to a power supply.
On the other hand, the aforementioned Dell XPS Plus is no longer so lucky, as it has a power-hungry processor running in its guts, which understandably takes a lot of stamina anyway. At the same time, it must be taken into account that Windows on the Dell laptop ran natively, while in the case of the MacBook Air, it was virtualized through third-party software.
Windows support for Apple Silicon
Since the launch of the first Macs with Apple Silicon, there has been speculation over when we will see official Windows support for the respective Apple computers. Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten any solid answers since the beginning, and it’s still unclear if that option will ever come.
During this, it was also revealed that Microsoft had allegedly struck an exclusivity deal with Qualcomm, under which the ARM version of Windows (which would need Apple Silicon Macs) would be available exclusively for computers with Qualcomm’s chip.
We have no choice but to hope for a relatively early arrival or accept that we won’t see native Windows support for Macs with Apple Silicon. Do you believe in the arrival of Windows, or do you think it is not that important?
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