How fast is a macOS VM, and how small could it be?
A macOS virtual machine (VM) on Apple silicon demonstrates strong performance, achieving 98% of host CPU single-core speed and 95% GPU performance under test conditions. Even with minimal resources—2 virtual cores and 4 GB RAM—the VM remains usable for everyday tasks. Storage efficiency is improved via APFS sparse files, with a 100 GB VM using about 54 GB on disk.
- ▪The VM achieved a single-core CPU score of 3,855 compared to the host's 3,948, running at 98% efficiency.
- ▪Multi-core CPU performance was 13,222 for the VM versus 23,342 on the host, though direct comparison is limited by core count differences.
- ▪GPU Metal performance reached 95% of the host's capability in the VM.
- ▪The virtual neural engine lagged significantly behind the host in half-precision and quantised AI tasks.
- ▪A macOS VM with as little as 2 virtual cores and 4 GB RAM can handle lightweight tasks like web browsing and system settings.
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hoakley May 2, 2026 Macs, Technology How fast is a macOS VM, and how small could it be? In my review of macOS virtualisation on Apple silicon, I quoted performance figures that were obtained some time ago, and didn’t consider minimum specifications for a usable VM. Given current interest in running a VM on a MacBook Neo, I thought it would be worth examining these afresh, from macOS Tahoe. How fast? Using the same host, a Mac mini M4 Pro, this time running macOS 26.4.1 on its 14 cores (10 P + 4 E) with 48 GB RAM and a 2 TB internal SSD, Geekbench 6.7.1 scores are slightly faster, on both the host and a guest given 5 virtual cores and 16 GB of virtual RAM: single-core CPU VM 3,855, host 3,948 multi-core CPU VM 13,222, host 23,342 GPU Metal VM 106,896, host 111,970 Neural engine CoreML VM…
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