VMware Communities
miklasm
Contributor
Contributor

Fusion vs. Workstation on Ubuntu

Hi,

I am using Workstation on Ubuntu - well it works sometimes fine, sometimes with problems. But virtual maschines are at least fast.

I have seen Windows XP and Ubuntu on Fuson - new Mac Book Pro, 4GB RAM - compared to my laptop with similar setup it is super slow on Mac - mac has newest software and all updates.

Is it really true, that Fusion is soooo slow on Mac (compared to Workstation)? Is is possible to work with it? For example Image with Ubuntu and IBM Websphere Developer?

Reply
0 Kudos
7 Replies
AWo
Immortal
Immortal

If you're asking if Fusion can work on something else than a Mac the answer is no. Fusion is not available for Intel or AMD, only for Mac.


AWo

VCP 3 & 4

\[:o]===\[o:]

=Would you like to have this posting as a ringtone on your cell phone?=

=Send "Posting" to 911 for only $999999,99!=

vExpert 2009/10/11 [:o]===[o:] [: ]o=o[ :] = Save forests! rent firewood! =
Reply
0 Kudos
miklasm
Contributor
Contributor

No Smiley Happy

I am asking if Fusion is slow on Mac OS compared to Workstation on other platforms (assuming the same CPU/RAM)?

Reply
0 Kudos
WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

Fusion is not available for Intel or AMD, only for Mac.

VMware Fusion only runs on an Intel based Mac so your statement really is not accurate.

Reply
0 Kudos
miklasm
Contributor
Contributor

Hm...

sorry for my english... once again my question:

Fusion on Macbook Pro - standard installation with all possible updates.

On Fusion as guest runns ubuntu - and it just slow.

I have also dell with Ubuntu OS and Workstation - this dell has the same CPU and RAM as Mac. As Guest I have also Ubuntu or Win XP - it is smoking fast !

Question: why is the Guest on Fusion so slow? Is the virtualization on Mac just a joke? Can we use Fusion for professional work - like development tools (IBM Websphere) that require fast system?

Reply
0 Kudos
WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

My reply was to what Andreas (AWo) said, not your comparison of the two VMware products.

Reply
0 Kudos
Mikero
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi miklasm,

The best way to see if it will perform according to your needs is probably to download the trial and test it out.

Fusion actually inherits lots of Workstation code and the underpinnings are built from the same foundation, so performance is going to vary depending on the applications and hardware involved.

Mac notebooks tend to have slower hard disks with default options (5400RPM), so disk-intensive guest operations are going to be slower than on a desktop machine with a 7200RPM drive.

By the same token, a MBP with an SSD will probably perform better than WS on a Win/Linux desktop with a spindled drive.

Basically, the hardware makes a difference as well as the application being used, but virtualization on the Mac is certainly no joke!

That being said, I use Fusion all day long on my i7 iMac, and I'm using Outlook and IE, so nothing heavy. We definitely have folks using Fusion for development using a variety of platforms and development tools from VS to Eclipse.

Other users do things like Solidworks and 3D graphics design, and others play 3D Games that don't natively work on the Mac.

I've seen users with over 100 server-based VM's on a Mac Pro (with 32GB of RAM, mind you), and I've seen users with Fusion in the datacenter running on XServes, serving up a dozen Win2K8 machines to control an AD Domain.

So, test it out and if things don't perform up to your expectations, let us know so (either in the forums or file an SR) we can investigate why that might be.

😃

-
Michael Roy - Product Marketing Engineer: VCF
miklasm
Contributor
Contributor

dell and mac have 7200RPM disc.

Mac is like few monts old - centrino duo 2.5 GHZ with 4GB ram. Ubuntu in Fusion needs like 5 seconds to start firefox.... extracting 200mb tar takes also like 10 seconds. This is very slow. IBM Rational Architect needs very long to start. This is all extremly slow....

Reply
0 Kudos