Using Virtual Machines on Apple Silicon (M3, M2, M1)

In this video, I will be looking over 3 virtualization software solutions available for the Apple Silicon Macs, and comparing them in terms of performance, ease of use, and cost.

Original title: The State of Virtualization on Apple Silicon M1

The 3 softwares tested are UTM, Parallels Desktop, and VMware Fusion Player. For the testing, I used a base model M1 MacBook Air (8GB RAM, 7-core GPU). Windows 11 (ARM64) (upgraded from Windows 10 on ARM) was used in Parallels Desktop only due to time constraints and software limitations. Alpine Linux was used as a benchmark on all 3 softwares.

Big thanks to my friend chrismin13 for the camera work!

-=-=-=Chapters=-=-=-
00:00 Introduction
01:26 Preface
02:20 UTM
07:27 Parallels Desktop
09:38 VMware Fusion
13:55 Conclusion

[TriStruggleBus]

Dude, 25 subscribers aren’t enough. This is a s very professional! Solid video! Keep it up.

[KalosLikesComputers]

An extra nerdy note:
The M1 supports operating systems with page sizes of either 4KB or 16KB. While most arm64 operating systems will work just fine in a virtual machine, OSes with page sizes other than 4K or 16K will not boot. One notable example is Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which on arm64 has a 64KB page size, and subsequently CentOS for the same reason.
This might be fixed in the next update of RHEL to achieve compatibility with M1.

EDIT: According to AwlsomeAlex in the replies below, RHEL9 is compiled with a 4KB kernel and works on Parallels now. Thanks, Alex!

[reneesquivel]

As a bona fide technologist, troubleshooter who has worked with virtual machines since the late 1990s, this video was very well done. I knew you would end up reaching the same conclusion I did in playing with the alternatives: there aren’t any. It’s really just parallels desktop. Which is OK because it’s a fantastic product. Now, virtual box is in beta form to support the M1 processor. I will be taking a look at that myself as well.

[TexanInParis]

I've been using Parallels ever since I switched to a Mac perhaps 10 years ago. Yes, it's a bit pricey, but it delivers a good-performing experience for any VM you might want to run on any Mac. Highly recommend it.

[Creator_of_Silversword_Lootbox]

Thank you very much! Parallels has turned my M1 into a gaming machine. Playing Anno 1800, ARK, Valheim... fanless. Feels. Just. Great.

[nickderrett]

Parallels is so rad. I can't believe how well it runs on my new M1 Pro versus my 2020 Intel MBP. The fans would go crazy on my Intel model when running Windows in Parallels. I haven't heard the fans once on the M1.
I'm a specific use case where I like to use a Mac for work, but there are 2 of my own company's proprietary Windows apps that I need to access in order to do product demos. These apps are running faster on my M1 Parallels instance than they do on my work-issued Lenovo Windows laptop.

[hpesojzenitram]

Excellent! Finally a good video that talks about VMs on M1.

In my case when a was thinking on move to the M1 knowing that i wouldn't can virtualize any OS the same way (on the same hardware), i did this:

1.- I bought a refurbished HP Tiny EliteDesk 800 G3.
2.- Then i upgraded the ram of HP to its max (32Gb), and also upgrade the internal storage with 256Gb ssd and a 512Gb M.2.
3.- I installed the free version of VMware ESXi on the HP as Hypervisor, and connect it to my local network.

And thats how i virtualize any OS now.

[khalifashuaib]

Fantastic video, finally an concise explanation on the entire virtualization space for M1 when I was just reconsidering my purchase

[Andy.Bennett]

Excellent video! I’ve been looking for a concise summary of virtualization on M1 hardware all across the internet (YouTube, Reddit, tech blogs, etc) and this is the only one that really answered my questions, nice job!!

[nterceptr]

I tried fusion a few weeks ago. It worked fine for me. The experience was similar to VMware player in windows. It looks like it's much better than when you tried it

[seatslider]

The YouTube algorithm fed this to me. Great timing for me and super excellent video! I can see why you’ve got 1580 subscribers already! Awesome style, edit and everything really. You’ve got a slick style that deserves to go far. 👏🏻👏🏻👌🏻

And a 80k views. It’s really excellent video. I hope the algorithm can understand this comment 👍🏻 and keep pushing it up the recommendations

[nyxy]

For all of that what you’d tested out, you’re a hero. A whole another level of patience-range.

[tonylancer]

Your channel is gonna go far! 😄
I really hope that with the upcoming WWDC, Apple changes and encourages (long-shot but worth a try) the developers to build tools for their ARM platform. I get the feeling that there's a lot of catching up to do and lots of research and development to tap into that ARM power on the Mac and I wonder if this catch up strategy that Apple constantly does is actually good for software.

I hope it gets better so that you can actually use one machine for all your needs.

[johalun]

Great video but don't be so quick to dismiss UTM/QEMU in favor of Parallels. They are for different purposes. Many including me, need to do Linux/x86 development on their Apple Silicon Macs and parallels not doing emulation makes that a no go directly. I use QEMU from the command line and sure, it's a bit slow, but can be sped up some with forced multithreading with the risk of some instability. Docker also works great out of the box for Linux/x86 development. Canonical's Multipass is also an option for virtualization but as of writing this they don't yet support emulation but are planning to add it. Many developers also don't care about graphics or GUIs, we SSH into the VMs and work 100% from the command line. For this QEMU excels and has everything we need :)

[morezco]

You had zero subscribers 10 months ago when you made this?

Oh boy did that change fast! Here’s another sub 🤝🏻

[PeterWitham]

One thing that always pops out to me when trying to make these things work in a usable way is something you say a lot about VMware Fusion. "I just couldn't be bothered to fix the error" when performance is terrible.

Thanks for putting this together.

[Emmhyr_]

Instant subscribe. I’ve been waiting someone to make a review on VM using M1 for a while now. Looking forward for more videos!

[Sin]

Great video! Even though I probably wouldn't buy M1 (or the newer Mac) but this video is still a great knowledge to have for me, because I'm interested in both the M1 architecture and virtualization tech. Keep up the good work!

[magsbayou]

My favorite part of this video was his voice getting louder but remaining professional but u can detect the frustration in evaluating that software! Another minute and the cursing would begin!!! I can relate to that feeling!

Thank u for a great overview as my current macbook is dying forcing me to upgrade and I don't want a linux or windows machine at this time but require a virtualization solution.

[imranbhatti]

I'm an IT professional since 10 years & I'm subscribing just now :) Great work.