4 ms·

Last time I dug into this, the conclusion seemed to be that Windows' translation layer, built in cooperation with Qualcom themselves, is actually quite competit

Last time I dug into this, the conclusion seemed to be that Windows' translation layer, built in cooperation with Qualcom themselves, is actually quite competitive. Performance numbers weren't that far off from Rosetta for desktop applications, with an estimated performance 0-15% lower than Rosetta, which is quite low for a platform without x64 memory model optimisations. The first release could only do one architecture (32 bit or 64 bit, I'm not sure) but its capabilities have been expanded. A lot of benchmarks are outdated and it seems like nobody has been paying much attention to it in a while now. The biggest problem with Windows on ARM doesn't seem to he the binary translation, but the slow SoCs the translation is running on. The most important tools (browsers, Office) work fine on ARM without translation. The translation layer is necessary, but I'm not sure if common use cases will see all that much use for most people.

unix_fan 3y ago
On windows for ARM there are quite a few bugs during emulation that I don’t get on an x64 based system, even while using effectively the same settings for the program. Software using custom installers will be the biggest issue, and this is significantly more common on windows than on macOS
johnwalkr 3y ago
It’s definitely performant. I’ve been using it for mofe than a year under parallels on an M1pro macbook to run solidworks. It runs solidworks about as well as my 2019 13” intel MacBook running bootcamp. It runs non-GPU intensive stuff much better.
- seec 3y ago
  I don't know exactly what model you had, but the truth is 13" models from that time were a complete joke in terms of power for the price. Beating this in a thicker chassis with a more efficient processor is not exactly an achievement. Non optioned 13" models still suck in terms of power for money, but at least in the Apple Silicon age they are less ridiculous. But if you don't fanboy and don't need the battery life you should realize they are still are very bad deal in term of capabilities.

unix_fan 3y ago

On windows for ARM there are quite a few bugs during emulation that I don’t get on an x64 based system, even while using effectively the same settings for the program. Software using custom installers will be the biggest issue, and this is significantly more common on windows than on macOS

johnwalkr 3y ago

It’s definitely performant. I’ve been using it for mofe than a year under parallels on an M1pro macbook to run solidworks. It runs solidworks about as well as my 2019 13” intel MacBook running bootcamp. It runs non-GPU intensive stuff much better.

seec 3y ago
I don't know exactly what model you had, but the truth is 13" models from that time were a complete joke in terms of power for the price. Beating this in a thicker chassis with a more efficient processor is not exactly an achievement. Non optioned 13" models still suck in terms of power for money, but at least in the Apple Silicon age they are less ridiculous. But if you don't fanboy and don't need the battery life you should realize they are still are very bad deal in term of capabilities.