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2016 MacBook power for Windows VMs?

Hi,

Can anyone with actual experience let me know if the spring 2016 updated MacBooks have the power to run VMware Fusion and a 2 or 4 GB Windows 7 or 10 VM?

My local Apple Store have answers that differ with none of them honestly being VMware Fusion users or IT pros understanding my requirements to run VMware fat client and other not too demanding Windows applications.

As a point of reference, my "Mid 2011" i7 Air is sufficient. It looks like a new MacBook has faster memory and storage but maybe not the power of the older i7.

I don't want to waste the time and return a product if this is not going to work well so any insights would be appreciated.

Thank you.

I have the 2016 basic new model ; I had the basic 2015 model too, and Windows 10 was OK under VMware.

It depends on what you plan to do with your VM.

However, If I was you, I would prefer a "real" basic PC, powered with Teamviewer ; it's really more easy, this save your battery and SSD life.

As a point of reference, my "Mid 2011" i7 Air is sufficient. It looks like a new MacBook has faster memory and storage but maybe not the power of the older i7.

The mobile processors, M series, are no match for an i7.

If you're planning on running Windows virtually, you should option the MacBook for the maximum 8 GB of RAM.

Thank you. "OK" is what I need.

I have remote admin software mentioned (Citrix GoGoAssist), but what I need is a network and system's engineer tool. In those worst case scenarios a laptop with a wired NIC and Windows instance.

My interest in the small MacBook is all about an alternative to my Retina 15" 16 GB and 1 TB model.

Thanks again.

Update: You can only do so much testing in the Apple store.

I brought the m5 model home. It seems fine where installing Windows 7 and upgrading to 10 didn't make it any hotter or not as hot as my Retina 15 can get, nor did it slow down terribly. Now with a Windows VM running, Safari, Messages, Preview and App Store it's not at all hot or slow.

This may well be a keeper, but more importantly it appears to do just fine with software and things no one at the Apple Store, Business team or the "Genius" bar could say would work. The research and sales process proved again that Apple is too liberal with the title "Genius" but the stores and staff do a good job with consumer products and in general warranty repairs of Apple stuff.

I'll try to remember and report back on performance when I do more with the system as that might say whether or not the m5 over an m3 is really needed.

Would you have an update here with regards to your experiences running VM's on the m5?

@DKPM,

Performance is just fine for my needs the are mostly for VMware fat client, accounting software, occasional use of Office 365 desktop apps, Evernote, and Beyond Compare. A 4 GB Windows 10 VM.

I use VMware Fusion if that helps. Display quality is great. My Apple USB Ethernet adapter works fine with it, and so does my TRENDnet serial to USB adapter. This is done with Apple's 3 port USB, VGA and USB-C dongle.

Thanks. My main uses are SAP Netweaver, Excel, Project and Outlook. This will need to be running almost  the time. What are your thoughts with the m5? Also would running W7 or W8.1 help?

Reading the answers below yours, it looks like the m5 might be good enough. I think I'm going to take the plunge and try it out. Will report back.

Thanks for this response - it is really helpful! I'm about to jump into the fray with my 2016 m3, so we'll see what happens...

I have the 2016 m7 MacBook (1.3GHz/8GB RAM/256GB SSD) and run VMware Fusion 8 with a Windows 7 VM on a regular basis, due to the need to run some Windows-only proposal management software.  I can say that giving Windows 7 2GB is probably not adequate; I've found I have to give it 4GB for it to really run well if I'm using more than one piece of software under Win7.  (I would run Windows 10 but Windows 7 is the "corporate standard".)

Based on experiments with Windows 10 vs Windows 7 in a VM, Windows 10 does seem to be better behaved, but like Win7 it's better to give it 4GB of RAM.

Following-up on my post:

I tried running Win 10 home on my 2016 Macbook 12" (m3 1.1 / 8GB / 256GB) using VMWare Fusion 8. Set it up with 2GB ram dedicated to windows and 1 core.

Usable result, but really limits what you can do on both the instance of OS X and Win 10. Overall, the experience was poor enough trying to load Outlook + Excel in Win 10 that I think I'd need to up to 3-4GB at least, which would put me at essentially no RAM left for the applications I need to run in OSX.

Therefore, for anything substantial, I don't think the 8GB RAM on the 2015 and 2016 MacBooks works. Even with the m5 and m7, this 8GB will be the limiting factor for most activity I think.

Furthermore, the m3 was under considerable strain. Yes, it seemed to work OK but I noticed frame rates on transitions dropping to very low levels, which was distracting and overall made it difficult to manage my multiple windows. Just doesn't cut it... I went ahead and just bought a used i5 16GB 2015 Macbook Pro.

Hope this helps!

My June 8 reply says performance is just fine for my needs. A 4 GB Windows 10 VM runs VMware fat client, accounting software, Office 365 desktop apps, Evernote, Beyond Compare and some other programs. I can still run Mail, a browser and more in the host OS.

My concerns are long gone and I can recommend this laptop. It's not in the league of my MacBook Pro for power and I didn't expect that. It's a great productivity item that I can recommend. I've got no regrets choosing it over a tablet or other very portable laptops.

Fast forward about a year later. I am looking to build a Windows 10 VM on a baseline mid-2017 macbook using VMware fusion. How has this held up after about a year? My Windows 10 VM would be used for Visio, some VPN software, etc. Maybe the VMware client and a bunch of admin tools. Nothing too major. Any noticeable performance issues?

Also looking for an ethernet/vga or hdmi hub with passthrough for the USB-C power.

最后更新：2017-10-24 05:31:19

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