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Comment by huytersd | Hacker News Reader

I’m an Intel strangler because it’s the only way I can have Mac and Windows on the same machine. Am I the only person that really needs this? Parallels has trash performance.

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Hilarious typo — I picture someone throttling an Intel machine (which sadly throttles you right back).

Ha I just noticed it!

I bought a cheap Windows crapbook just to run the two Windows-only apps that I need (terrible apps for alarm systems and photovoltaic inverters).

Apple Silicon laptops are so much better than Intel-based machines, there is really no comparison.

There are PV inverters with Windows desktop apps instead of a mobile or web app? Can I ask which one?

(Just curious; I worked in the industry on the web app side)

I got a NUC for whenever I need windows and just RDP in it. It mostly collects dust.

I miss Boot Camp too. (Only really used it for gaming). But the M2 is so nice that I jumped ship despite knowing I'd no longer have Windows.

For the rare times I need it, I sometimes use a cloud VM (like Shadow.tech if you need a good GPU, otherwise any Windows VM I guess).

Also, for any GPU-intensive apps (not sure if CNC counts), it might be worth giving Game Porting Toolkit (the other GPT) and Whisky (a GUI on top of that) a shot? Might run better than Parallels.

You can run ARM Windows under Parallels, which is good enough for me.

Ah just updated my comment. I really dislike how slow Parallels is.

Funny, I never notice that.

For gaming sure... but anything else... hypervisors are very good these days.

I need it for windows only CNC software. It’s pretty terrible for that purpose.

Would that software perhaps work under WINE/Crossover?

Just throwing this out there: ARM Windows uses Microsoft's own ARM to x86 translation layer (like their Rosetta), which works surprisingly well for run-of-the-mill business apps and the like. 3D apps do take a big hit though.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/arm/apps-on-arm-x8...

I'm still running Windows on my Mac mini. I used to use Bootcamp but don't do so much Windows stuff now so can get away with VMWare. After June next year I can drop Windows completely so will likely upgrade then.

I'm not sure how VMWare compares to Parallels but performance isn't as good as Bootcamp. I wouldn't want to use it all day long.

Parallels is an overpriced rubbish with stupid limitations. I’m switching to WMWare or VMWare as of right now

Parallels used to be front-runner with better support for new macOS features. vmWare used to lag behind with weird issues. This is why I switched from vmWare Fusion to Parallels Desktop a few years back. What are these limitations you speak of? And what makes it rubbish?

Probably the biggest complaint is fusion is now free (for personal use) and Parallels is a subscription.

Also you can get other free vm managers on Macs now since it ships with a hypervisor and vm framework.

8 GB max of RAM is a software limitation not present in the more expensive tier. I suspect it is not a technical limitation, just greed.

have you tried using VMware Fusion at all?

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