VMware Fusion 10
Run Windows and macOS side by side
$79 ($49 to upgrade from Fusion 7 or later) From VMware, vmware.com Needs Any Mac from 2011 or later except 2012 Mac Pro (with Intel Xeon W3565), OS X 10.11 or later
We reviewed Parallels Desktop in Mac|Life 134. This month we’re turning our attention to Fusion, its main commercial competitor.
Installation is a breeze, once you’ve authorized an extension that’s needed and macOS High Sierra blocks. It should complete in less than a minute, and even installing Windows — which takes a while longer — is almost entirely automated. Stick with the defaults as far as you can and leave it alone for half an hour, and when you return the guest OS will be up and running.
It’s not only cheaper, but also less hassle than buying a PC. Windows apps are snappy on a 2012 Mac mini, both inside the Windows environment and when running as floating macOS windows, and with your networking settings carrying through you should be able to get online right away. You can also access commonly-used Windows apps by rightclicking the Fusion icon on the macOS Dock. The only real disappointment is that when Windows is running in full screen you can’t sit another app beside it in Split View.
This version’s reduced power consumption will appeal if you use a MacBook — as will Touch Bar support, which gives anyone with the latest MacBook Pro direct access to commonly-used controls. Support for Apple’s Metal Graphics should be of broader interest, promising more accurate rendering and enhanced gaming performance.
Yet Fusion suffers from a problem common to many mature products: it’s difficult to know what else to add to justify the price of an upgrade. Naturally there’s support for the latest versions of Windows and macOS, but many of the other improvements are aimed at power users, such as integrating automation tools for use in testing pipelines, the option to simulate data loss and network latency, copying guest data, and enabling Windows Virtualization Based Security, which protects the operating system kernel from malware. These are all valuable additions, but few of them will help you to justify the outlay if you simply want to run Windows on your Mac at home or in a small business environment.
The bottom line. Fusion won’t cause any confusion if you’ve never used virtualization software before. If you’re a power user it’s a solid upgrade. But you may find that existing versions meet your needs.