Windows 11 ARM (virtualized in UTM) on M1 Macbook Air benchmarked

[igor_kavinski]

Win11 ARM running virtualized in UTM on M1 Macbook Air: https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/compare/16649379?baseline=16632958

The single thread performance is ok. This run was with GB6 pegged to one core so that might explain the really bad multicore performance.

I will run GB6 again with all eight cores to see if the performance is better.

Here are some videos (sorry for the low quality):

Unless some application needs low level direct access to hardware or using uncommon code that is not translated properly by the Microsoft PRISM emulator, I think it should work fine.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I just discovered that Windows ARM is built on a really shaky foundation.

Normally, if you install a vcredist package over the ARM one, it won't let you install the x64 version. But I used an AIO vcredist installer that silently installed the x64 DLLs. Now only the x86/x64 visual studio compiled programs are executing. If I try to run anything that requires the Visual Studio ARM vcredist, it no longer runs. That includes even Geekbench!

In the end, I had to delete the VM and restore my backup copy of it.

 

[Grimlakin]

That is interesting. I've been looking at the MacBook pro's more and more. But my current laptop probably has at least another two years in it. If you consider I can get a pretty top of the line current gen macbook pro... OR a 5090... yeesh.

 

[LazyGamer]

That is interesting. I've been looking at the MacBook pro's more and more. But my current laptop probably has at least another two years in it. If you consider I can get a pretty top of the line current gen macbook pro... OR a 5090... yeesh.

My aging XPS 9500 is on it's last physical legs - it's down to one port for charging and data, and it's one of the ones with a slightly 'loose' trackpad (apparently can be fixed if reinforcement is added in the right place), and the battery is almost dead.

When it dies, a 14" Macbook Pro is the replacement. 99% of what I do is either web-based, or content creation, and having a reliable laptop with decent hardware and battery life is more important than really anything else.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Beware that using Win11 ARM in UTM maxes out P-core usage. You might easily suffer a loss of battery life anywhere from an hour to two hours or more. Seems QEMU (which is what UTM is based on) uses extra cores to compile ahead or something as it was using two P-cores even when I was benchmarking a single core. During Cinebench R23, at one point, all four P-cores started being used but the test was the single threaded one, not the MT one.