M1 Mac virtualizes ARM Windows 10 nearly 2x faster than Surface Pro X can run it natively

YouTube user Martin Nobel shared a video outlining the process of running an ARM Windows 10 virtualization on an M1 Mac while offering a real-world look at the performance vs. Microsoft’s Surface Pro X.

Microsoft’s Surface Pro X does not fare well. In GeekBench 5, the M1 Mac mini scores 1,515 in single-core and 4,998 in multi-core vs. Surface Pro X’s anemic 793 and 3,113, respectively.

Top: Apple M1 Mac mini ARM Windows virtualization Geekbench scores. Bottom: Microsoft's Surface Pro X scores
Top: Apple M1 Mac mini ARM Windows virtualization Geekbench scores. Bottom: Microsoft’s Surface Pro X scores

Michael Potuck for 9to5Mac:

Impressively, the Martin’s M1 Mac mini benchmarked much higher than Microsoft’s Surface Pro X… almost doubling the single-core score, and coming in almost 2,000 higher in the multi-core score…

You can get about the same performance from the $999 M1 MacBook Air, a closer competitor to the $999 Surface Pro X.

MacDailyNews Take: We’re surprised Microsoft’s overpriced, and obviously woefully underspec’d, Surface Pro Slo X even did that well.

8 Comments

  1. Microsoft might want to think about having a pre-installed boot camp option available for all Apple’s new silicon Macs. Having said that, their sales of Windows on Mac (at least with Apple’s current market penetration, which the new silicon might change) will still be a small percentage of their total sales of Windows. Parallels might not like it, but having a virtual machine option they could offer would be preferable for many (like me) as compared to re-booting into each OS.

    At the very least, Windows should do what they did for Intel Macs – make the ARM version licensable for boot camp or for virtual machines running on the new ARM Macs, and work with Apple on the port.

    Does anyone know how many x86 Windows programs are running on Window’s ARM version? Do they have a (very rough) equivalent to Rosetta?

    1. I don’t think it’s in Apples interest to have a pre installed Windows boot camp,option.

      The M1 chip is a distinctly different processor offering unique advantages. It would be better to incentivise developers to produce application which run properly on ARM than to accommodate them merely running their existing Windows code.

      If you want to take advantage of M1, you need to code for it. Anything else is a poor compromise.

  2. I really don’t know anyone who would care about Windows on ARM.
    The M1 will signal a paradigm shift to SoC, which is hardly Apple alone.
    Other vendors will align to create a new standard whereby the SoC can be swapped out, leaving the rest of the machine alone. Whether Intel or MS get screwed is another matter. Who cares.

  3. I’m secretly a Windows user, the Mac side of my life is just for art. I’m really an artist, an actor, you never know who the real me is. My artwork is anti-family, talks about aliens and stuff but I am really a Buddhist who believes in reincarnation and the karma-sutra, where karma isn’t a b!tch.

    Just know that I’m special.

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