How does Fusion work with the MacBook Pro with Retina Display?

[FoxtrotIndia]

Hello,

I wonder how well Fusion works together with the new Retina MacBook. Are there already any experiences to share?

I am expecially interested to know:

• Is the native resolution of 220dpi used, or the base resolution of 110dpi?
• How does it handle the different screen scaling settings?
  I would suspect that with the scaling you will need to disable TrueType and use grayscale font smoothing for best results, so how is the quality of text when running Windows?
• Are there any stability issues?

[asv]

I'm also curious about this as well. I have a MBP coming on Monday and I need to do a demo that requires fusion to work.

[XorMask]

Count me interested as well.  Full screen as well as unity mode.

I suspect this may very well require an update to Fusion as other 3rd party apps are suffering from display issues.  If this is the case, what might the turnaround be on an update?

[ColoradoMarmot]

Best guess will be with or after the 10.8 compatible release.

[ChrisB1234]

I just installed Fusion 4.1.3 on my MBP Retina and it isn't pretty, it definitely needs fixes. The scaling really shows and reading text for any period of time is a garanteed headache. This is in windowed mode 1024x569 and full screen 1440x900. Strangely when inside VMWare Windows only goes to 2560x1920 in full screen mode, this looks like a limitation in the VMWare video driver..

I tried disabling true type and while it does make a difference it still doesn't improve quality.

I haven't experienced any crashes or unusual issues yet but it's only been on for a few hours. This is off a Bootcamp partition.

[frogworth]

Hi ChrisB1234, if you're willing can you go into System Preferences -> Displays and change from the standard Retina to a Scaled setting, maybe even 1920x1200 if your eyes can handle it? I've been looking at these in the stores and I found that non-Retina-optimised apps look better with higher scaled resolutions.

So I'm wondering how the guest OS looks with VMware in full screen at a higher resolution?

I suspect I'll be going for the compromise of 1680x1050, but possibly 1920x1200 - definitely want more screen real estate than the 1440x900 standard.

Hopefully they'll release a Retina-ready update soon anyway!

[ChrisB1234]

Frogworth, I put the display in scaled mode and selected more space, launched Fusion and yes it does look much better thanks for the suggestion. 1920x1200 looks usable, but 1680x1050 is still way to fuzzy for my taste. Strangely Windows lists a number of resolutions all the way up to 3840x1400 without listing 2880x1800.

[frogworth]

Interesting that Windows even goes so high! And yeah, you'd think 2880x1800 would be standard enough. Then again, Apple don't even allow you to go that high - I guess it'd be unreadable.

I'm expecting when I get mine (not for over a month still) I'll try and use it at 1920x1200, as that's been what I've used on my 17" MBPs, but I was worried the text would be too small on a 15.4" monitor. I'll try it anyway

[Jerry_G]

The problem I'm having with the retina MacBook is that the resolution I set within windows won't stick across restarts or shutdown/restart.

I set my Mac desktop to 1650x1050. Windows XP is running full screen. It boots into some incredibly high and unreadable resolution. I'm able to just barely use the displays panel to get to 1650x1050. It doesn't look bad. But if I restart window, or shut down and start windows, it boots up with the very high resolution and I have to reset the displays panel in windows.

Very annoying.

Any workarounds or will it require a new version of Fusion. This is now the only problem I'm having with my new MacBook Pro Retina. And a working windows is critical for me.

[FoxtrotIndia]

Thanks for the answers.

I now had the opportunity to view the MacBook in the local store, but they did not yet had the chance to put VMWare onto it to check it out, so it is until next week before I can check things out myself.

As for the text, in Windows XP you could use ClearTweak ( http://www.ioisland.com/cleartweak/ ) to adjust how the much contrast the text would have. This might help with the scaling, but I have no idea whether it will still work with Windows 7, probably not.

[NunYaDarn]

I am running Windows 8 x64 RP under Fusion 4.1.3 on my Retina.  I run the VM either fullscreen at 1920x1200 with 125% DPI, or windowed at 1680x1050.

I am running the OS X desktop scaled at 1920x1200.  I think they all look really great.

The only challenge I am having is that some of the websites aren't really designed right so I am using browser zoom features quite a bit when I hit a new site.  Firefox remembers the site setting after you make the initial adjustment.  IE10 does global zooming.  Chrome is my least favorite on this particular issue.

Here's the WEI info from my VM.

[flipdoubt]

You guys might want to try the Fusion Technology Preview 2012, as What's New in VMware Fusion Technology Preview 2012 says:

Testing on Retina display equipped Macs has been minimal. We’d love to hear your experiences.

I have no clue how to get the preview, nor do I have a retina display Mac. I'm waiting to see how it works for you guys before doing anything I might regret.

[WoodyZ]

flipdoubt wrote: I have no clue how to get the preview

Go to Fusion Technology Preview 2012 and under Getting Started click the Download button.

[wrhahn]

[Solution Workaround] Retina MacBook Pro VMWare Fusion Resolution Problems Quirks Workarounds Solution

I seem to have a dependable workaround for this (1) Fuzzy resolution and (2) Win Guests forgetting their resolution and being forced into 2880x1800

I have been running WIndows7 as a Fusion 4.1.3 Guest on my Retina MBP for almost a week now, with fine results.

I understand your resolution issues upon restarting Windows Guest and/or Fusion and/or MBP...as well as fuzzy resolution when changing res inside windows guest.

Here is my Solution Workaround(s) based on my experience:

o If your Windows Guest is stopped/started in Fullscreen mode, Windows will startup in 2880x1800, even if you had it set to a lower resolution previously.

o Solution: Once Windows Guest starts up, I take it OUT of Fullscreen mode.  At that point it conforms to the current native resolution of the Retina MBP.  Then, when I put it back into Fullscreen, it retains the same resolution as the Retina MBP, and it is NOT fuzzy.

o Fuzzy Avoidance: If I change the resolution inside the Windows Guest, the resolution will be fuzzy.  HOWEVER, if I change the resolution of the Retina MBP using Mac OS X System Preferences > Display > Scaled Resolutions... Then the Windows Guest will conform to that resolution and have a CRISP resolution.

Yes, that means that based on my week worth of testing, it seems as though the only truly crisp resolutions for a Windows Guest running on Fusion 4.1.3 on a Retina MBP include and are limited to:

o 1024x640

o 1280x800

o 1440x900 (a.k.a. Retina Default)

o 1680x1050

o 1920x1200

o 2880x1800

I hope that helps.

And, if my points here are not perfectly accurate and all inclusive, please forgive me...

HERE ARE THE TWO MAIN TAKEAWAYS I INTENDED, as a SUMMARY:

1) The MAIN POINT I wanted to make is that you need to force the Windows Guest OUT OF Fullscreen in order to get it to conform to the NATIVE resolution of the RMBP.

2) And, if you change the resolution INSIDE the Windows Guest, it will most likely result in a fuzzy resolution...unless of course you happen to change it to the exact same resolution that the RMBP is currently set at

Take care.

[wrhahn]

Forcing Win7 Guest of VMWare Fusion 4.1.3 into 2880x1800 Resolution.

As can be inferred by my previous post...if out of curiosity or necessity you would like to force the VMWare Guest into 2880x1800 Resolution, you can start your Win7 VMWare Guest in fullscreen mode.

Otherwise, if you do NOT start your Win7 Guest in fullscreen upon VMWare Fusion starting, the max resolution selectable in Win7 Start > "Display Settings" seems to be 2560x1920.

Therefore, in summary, if you (1) Force Win7 Guest into fullscreen and then (2) Stop Win7 and/or Fusion and then (3) Start Fusion and then (4) Start Win7 Guest...   it will start in Fullscreen mode and default or be forced into 2800x1800.

[dsilesVM]

One other area I am having an issue with Fusion 4.1.3 on my new MBP Retina is running virtualizated copies of ESX for demo purposes.  Even though I can go in to advanced setting on my ESXi 5 VM and force it to use Hardware Intel-VT, once installation starts or an installed copied is booted, the VM can't read the VT extensions.  I have a feeling that some updates are going to be needed in Fusion to support the new SMBIOS in the latest generation macs to enable full VT support.