VMware Fusion Review: New Features in Fusion 13

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For years Parallels Desktop and VMWare Fusion fought a long battle to create the best virtualization software for Mac users who needed to run Windows software on their Macs. Every time Apple released a new version of macOS, we’d see Parallels and VMWare releasing updates of their own, and this competition was great for Mac users because it meant both programs were updated every year with new features and updates. Offered to improve performance. In recent years, however, VMWare has seemed to focus more on its high-end corporate products, and since the introduction of Apple silicon in 2020, Fusion doesn’t really compete with Parallels Desktop’s annual updates.

Both programs work in basically the same way, allowing you to create a virtual machine (VM) that runs on your Mac like any other Mac application. This virtual machine emulates the functioning of a Windows PC, allowing you to install a full copy of Windows on the virtual machine and then run any Windows software or games you need to use. And, crucially, you can run your Windows apps side-by-side with your existing Mac apps — instead of switching back and forth between Mac and Windows as you have to do when using Boot Camp on an Intel Mac ( And, of course, Boot Camp is no longer available on Macs with Apple silicon at all). Both programs also allow you to create virtual machines that also run different versions of Linux, which is a useful feature for many developers and students.

Fusion 13 meets Windows 11

Fusion’s last major update was version 12 in 2021, but Fusion 12 didn’t support Apple’s new M1 or M2 processors, so it would only run on older Macs that still had Intel processors. And, in fact, it didn’t officially support Windows 11 as a guest operating system for your Windows Virtual Machines. But, to try and entice people away from Parallels Desktop, VMWare announced a free version of the program – called Fusion Player – available for ‘non-commercial’ use, such as home Users or students who only need to use Windows apps on their Mac from time to time.

You need a MyVMware account to take advantage of the free version and you shouldn’t be using it for commercial reasons. Register here for your free personal use license.

This is still the case today with the new Fusion 13, which is available as a free download for non-commercial use, although business users who want to use Fusion more regularly at work may need to download a commercial version of Fusion Player. Will have to pay for a license, which costs $149/£127.49. There is also a version called Fusion Pro, which offers more advanced features for large organizations and IT managers, priced at $199/£169.16.

New updates may have been coming more slowly than they have been over the years, but VMWare has a small group – called ‘TeamFusion’ – led by Michael Roy (blogs.vmware.com/teamfusion/ ) and continue to work on improving Fusion A preview version of Fusion was released about a year ago that introduced support for both Apple silicon and Windows 11, but it was not until late 2022 that Fusion The final version of 13 was released.

When you download Fusion 13, it provides a single universal file that can run natively on both Intel Macs and Macs with Apple Silicon processors. The only limitation is that Fusion now requires a Mac running MacOS 12 (Monterey) or later (whereas Parallels Desktop will run on macOS going back to Catalina 10.15).

When running on a Mac with an Intel processor, Fusion continues to work just as it always has. You can assign up to 32 processor cores and up to 128GB of memory to your virtual machines, to fine-tune the performance of your virtual machines as needed.

Fusion also has a viewing mode called Unity — which is similar to Parallels Desktop’s Coherence mode — that hides the Windows desktop on your virtual machines and allows individual Windows apps to appear on the Mac desktop right next to all your other Mac apps. allowed to sit.

Apple Windows on Silicon

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Macs with Apple Silicon processors have more limited features available when running Fusion 13. These Macs require a special version of Windows 11 called Windows 11 on Arm, and Michael Roy says Fusion 13 is “our first round of features for Windows 11 on Arm”. This means that the process of setting up and running Windows 11 on a Mac with Apple silicon has some rough edges.

Parallels Desktop includes the option to automatically download and purchase Windows 11 on Arm when creating a new virtual machine, but VMWare simply told us that it’s up to the user to purchase a license from Microsoft. Unfortunately, it’s not an easy task, as Windows 11 on Arm is primarily intended for sale to PC makers rather than individual users, so VMware needed to make Fusion a bit more user-friendly for those who Don’t understand the intricacies of Microsoft. Licensing Policies. Fusion also has a tendency to throw a lot of complicated jargon at you — like “side channel mitigation” — that only corporate IT managers are likely to understand.

There are also some technical limitations. When running on Macs with Intel processors, Fusion provides hardware acceleration for 3D graphics in Windows games and design software that uses DirectX and OpenGL 4.3. But, while running on Apple silicon, Fusion only supports OpenGL for virtual machines using Linux – Windows support is still in development.

To be fair, the high performance of Apple’s M1 and M2 processors means that your Windows virtual machines should be able to handle regular tasks such as web browsing or running the Windows version of Microsoft Office without much trouble – and even That too at 4K resolution. However, gamers who are hoping to play Elden Ring or Diablo IV this summer may be disappointed.

So while Fusion 13 still lags behind Parallels Desktop when it comes to Apple silicon and support for Windows 11 on Arm, it’s good to see that VMware isn’t letting Fusion fade away. And, of course, the ability to use the free Fusion Player will be a real money-saver for many home users and students—especially if they’re still using Intel-based Macs that actually run Windows software. Make full use of Fusion. and play.