The VM is a sandbox with its own memory, storage, processor space, and operating system. Running Windows on a virtual machineĪ Virtual Machine (VM) is a handy tool for any PC user, as it’s a PC within a PC. The downside is that your Mac has to have at least 64GB (and preferably 128GB or more) of free storage space to install and run Windows. If you run particularly demanding apps like games or CAD software, you won’t run into performance issues from software-side complications. The biggest advantage of Boot Camp is that it’s the fastest way to run Windows on your Mac-there are no extra steps for your PC to manage (like running two OSes or translating a non-macOS-native program) while it’s running software. If you manage to do something sketchy in Windows, the Mac side of your drive won’t be affected and vice versa. It’s safe to use, and all you need to do to switch operating systems is restart your Mac and hold down the Option key while it boots. However, Apple does not support Boot Camp for its Apple Silicon-based Macs.īoot Camp lets you install Windows on your Mac by splitting your storage drive into two or more partitions, which keeps the macOS side and the Windows side of your drive separate. Can I still use Boot Camp with an Intel-based Mac?Ībsolutely! Boot Camp is a free multi-boot utility made by Apple so you could run Windows and macOS on the same PC. Parallels, a paid software that runs Windows on Macs via a Virtual Machine, does this by emulating a TPM chip. To run Windows 11 on a PC without this chip, you’ll have to trick the OS into thinking the PC has a TPM chip. TPM chips are common in Windows PCs made in the past five years, but they have never existed in Apple-made PCs.

The second issue with Windows 11 is that it requires a TPM 2.0 module to run.

If it doesn’t, you’ll have to use a PC with an x86-based processor. This version of Windows 11 can run on Apple Silicon, but an Arm-based Windows will still have compatibility issues with some applications, so you need to check if your specific application works with it. As a result, Microsoft has an incentive to develop an Arm-compatible version of Windows: Windows 11 for Arm (Microsoft started its efforts with an Arm-friendly Windows 10 OS, but that project was scrapped to focus on Windows 11). ARM got its start with mobile processors commonly used in smartphones and tablets.

This gives the processors a big edge when it comes to efficiency and heat, but it also runs differently from x86-based processors (the architecture Intel and AMD processors use) that applications need to be heavily revised if they’re being translated from x86 to Arm.īut Apple Silicon isn’t the only Arm-based processor out there. These Macs use Apple Silicon processors, which run on Arm-based architecture.

Bootcamp m1 macbook air