VMware Fusion for Mac
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Editors' Review
by
Clifford Colby
/ September 04, 2015
With VMware Fusion, you can run Windows and OS X applications side by side on your Mac. The virtualization software provides lots of installation options and many ways to integrate Windows into your Mac workflow.
Pros
Installation options: VMware Fusion offers a handful of options for creating a virtual machine on your Mac. You of course can create a virtual machine from scratch with a Windows 10 disk image. If you previously installed Apple's Boot Camp, you can create a virtual machine that directly uses your Boot Camp volume, or you can copy your Boot Camp volume to a new virtual machine. You can also import into Fusion virtual machines you've created with Parallels Desktop and Microsoft Windows Virtual PC.
Migration help: VMware Fusion includes a migration assistant to move your apps, settings, and documents from a Windows computer to a virtual machine.
Run Mac and Windows side by side: You don't need to reboot to change operating systems, as you must with Apple's Boot Camp. With Fusion, you can run both OSes at the same time. And unlike Boot Camp, you can run Fusion and the virtual machine from an external drive. (Boot Camp needs to be installed on an internal hard drive.) You aren't limited to Windows, either; you can run another version of OS X or Linux in Fusion as well.
Well integrated: Copy and paste or drag and drop files between Mac and Windows environments, and copy and paste between Mac and Windows apps. You can use the Windows 10 Store, the Edge browser, and Cortana. Fusion includes support for DirectX 10 and OpenGL 3.3.
Multiple ways to work in Windows: You can run Windows full screen or side by side with the Mac environment. Or you can keep it out of sight and access it from a Windows Start menu from the Mac menu bar and launch Windows apps from the dock.
Cons
Resource intensive: Running a virtual machine strains system resources, so you'll see overall operational degradation if you don't have a moderately well-equipped and current Mac.
Bottom line
VMware Fusion is a thoroughly capable virtualization application that lets you run Windows and OS X. With a handful of options for using Windows and OS X apps side by side, Fusion makes its easy to use the two operating systems in tandem.
