VMware Fusion vs. VMware Workstation


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Lj2025

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Windows 11 Pro
Is it VMware Fusion for macOS the same as VMware Workstation for Windows? What about 3D Performance?

What do you think about Oracle VirtualBox? Is it VMware Workstation better?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
VMware is a far superior product than Virtual Box
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows11 Pro 26200.8524
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Alienware Aurora R16
    CPU
    Intel Core i9 14900F (24 -Core, 68 MB Total Cache)
    Motherboard
    Dell Alienware
    Memory
    32GB DDR5
    Graphics Card(s)
    RTX 4080 Super w/581.95
    Sound Card
    Realtec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Corsair XENEON 32QHD165
    Screen Resolution
    2560 X 1440
    Hard Drives
    1-2TB Samsung 990 Pro PCIe NVMe M2 SSD
    1-4TB Samsung 990 Pro PCIe NVMe M2 SSD
    PSU
    1000 Watt Platinum Dell
    Case
    Alienware
    Cooling
    Liquid Closed Loop
    Keyboard
    Logitech MK270 Wireless Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MK270 Wireless
    Internet Speed
    100Gb's Down-20 Up
    Browser
    Firefox 151.0.2
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    Very Quiet And Fast
    CyberPower UPS CP1500PFCLCD
  • Operating System
    PClinuxOS Mate (2025.7)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Intel
    CPU
    13th Gen Inter(R) Core(TM) i3-1315U
    Motherboard
    Intel
    Memory
    64 GB DDR4 @3200 MHz.
    Graphics card(s)
    Internal
    Sound Card
    None
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 2419HGCF
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080
    Hard Drives
    SAMSUNG 980 PRO SSD 2TB, PCIe 4.0 M.2 2280
    PSU
    Chicony 30 Watt
    Case
    Small
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Mouse
    Razor
    Internet Speed
    1GB
    Browser
    Slimjet
www.vmware.com

Fusion and Workstation | VMware

VMware Workstation and VMware Fusion desktop hypervisors are the industry leaders in local virtualization. Learn how VMware’s local virtualization solutions provide an easier way to build, test and deliver any app for any device or cloud.
www.vmware.com www.vmware.com
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 25H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Intel NUC12WSHi7
    CPU
    12th Gen Core i7-1260P
    Motherboard
    NUC12WSBi7
    Memory
    64 GB Micron PC4-25600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
    Sound Card
    on-board Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell U3219Q
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 990 PRO 1TB
    Crucial MX500 2 TB
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
Josey Wales said:
VMware is a far superior product than Virtual Box
Click to expand...
Huh - I can barely tell the difference for the free versions both in terms of features, ease of use, benchmarking etc.

On the other hand, specifically for Windows Guests (except Home), Hyper-V slaughters both in terms of performamce.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro + Win11 Canary VM.
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Zenbook 14
    CPU
    I9 13th gen i9-13900H 2.60 GHZ
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB soldered
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop OLED screen
    Screen Resolution
    2880x1800 touchscreen
    Hard Drives
    1 TB NVME SSD (only weakness is only one slot)
    PSU
    Internal + 65W thunderbolt USB4 charger
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois (UK pint cans - 568 ml) - extra cost.
    Keyboard
    Built in UK keybd
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wireless dongled, wired
    Internet Speed
    900 mbs (ethernet), wifi 6 typical 350-450 mb/s both up and down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0, 2xUSB4 thunderbolt, 1xUsb3 (usb a), 1xUsb-c, hdmi out, 3.5 mm audio out/in combo, ASUS backlit trackpad (inc. switchable number pad)

    Macrium Reflect Home V8
    Office 365 Family (6 users each 1TB onedrive space)
    Hyper-V (a vm runs almost as fast as my older laptop)
I have had zero problems using Fusion with Mac, IMHO Parallels is still the way to go when running Windows VM's with Mac as a guest but it obviously comes with a cost whereas Fusion Pro is now on a free licence. At present I'm running Windows 11 Dev 25H2 with Parallels.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro Beta, 11 Dev, W11 Canary
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Alienware M15 Ryzen Edition R6
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HX
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3070 8GB GDDR6
    Hard Drives
    1 x Samsung 980 Pro 1TB
    1 x Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB
CornishRattler said:
I have had zero problems using Fusion with Mac, IMHO Parallels is still the way to go when running Windows VM's with Mac as a guest but it obviously comes with a cost whereas Fusion Pro is now on a free licence. At present I'm running Windows 11 Dev 25H2 with Parallels.
Click to expand...
Since a Mac has a Unix like OS it might be possible to run the Linux KVM/QEMU on it which is a Free type 1 Hypervisor with extremely good performance. I don't know the capabilities of the Mac OS so not sure what can be done with it as far as installing / compiling user software on it though. The KVM/QEMU stuff is available in public domain and source code is available - but compling something like that !!!! - might be "do-able". I do know that Parallels running Windows on it works quite well though -- but as you say it's not free software.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP,11 Linux Fedora Rawhide pre-release 45
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    2 X Intel i7
    Screen Resolution
    4KUHD X 2
cereberus said:
Huh - I can barely tell the difference for the free versions both in terms of features, ease of use, benchmarking etc.

On the other hand, specifically for Windows Guests (except Home), Hyper-V slaughters both in terms of performamce.
Click to expand...
Well, the last time I used these VMware would permit full screen use while Virtual box did not.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows11 Pro 26200.8524
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Alienware Aurora R16
    CPU
    Intel Core i9 14900F (24 -Core, 68 MB Total Cache)
    Motherboard
    Dell Alienware
    Memory
    32GB DDR5
    Graphics Card(s)
    RTX 4080 Super w/581.95
    Sound Card
    Realtec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Corsair XENEON 32QHD165
    Screen Resolution
    2560 X 1440
    Hard Drives
    1-2TB Samsung 990 Pro PCIe NVMe M2 SSD
    1-4TB Samsung 990 Pro PCIe NVMe M2 SSD
    PSU
    1000 Watt Platinum Dell
    Case
    Alienware
    Cooling
    Liquid Closed Loop
    Keyboard
    Logitech MK270 Wireless Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MK270 Wireless
    Internet Speed
    100Gb's Down-20 Up
    Browser
    Firefox 151.0.2
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    Very Quiet And Fast
    CyberPower UPS CP1500PFCLCD
  • Operating System
    PClinuxOS Mate (2025.7)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Intel
    CPU
    13th Gen Inter(R) Core(TM) i3-1315U
    Motherboard
    Intel
    Memory
    64 GB DDR4 @3200 MHz.
    Graphics card(s)
    Internal
    Sound Card
    None
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 2419HGCF
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1080
    Hard Drives
    SAMSUNG 980 PRO SSD 2TB, PCIe 4.0 M.2 2280
    PSU
    Chicony 30 Watt
    Case
    Small
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Mouse
    Razor
    Internet Speed
    1GB
    Browser
    Slimjet
Windows 11 (Guest) crashing with 3D-Acceleration enabled in VirtualBox 7.2.2.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
When VMware Workstation 18 or there will be 17.6.5 or 17.7 next?

Latest version was in July (17.6.4).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
Lj2025 said:
When VMware Workstation 18 or there will be 17.6.5 or 17.7 next?

Latest version was in July (17.6.4).
Click to expand...
Who knows - ask Vendor?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro + Win11 Canary VM.
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Zenbook 14
    CPU
    I9 13th gen i9-13900H 2.60 GHZ
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB soldered
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop OLED screen
    Screen Resolution
    2880x1800 touchscreen
    Hard Drives
    1 TB NVME SSD (only weakness is only one slot)
    PSU
    Internal + 65W thunderbolt USB4 charger
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois (UK pint cans - 568 ml) - extra cost.
    Keyboard
    Built in UK keybd
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wireless dongled, wired
    Internet Speed
    900 mbs (ethernet), wifi 6 typical 350-450 mb/s both up and down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0, 2xUSB4 thunderbolt, 1xUsb3 (usb a), 1xUsb-c, hdmi out, 3.5 mm audio out/in combo, ASUS backlit trackpad (inc. switchable number pad)

    Macrium Reflect Home V8
    Office 365 Family (6 users each 1TB onedrive space)
    Hyper-V (a vm runs almost as fast as my older laptop)
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