[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"branding":3,"analytics":7,"article-apple-silicon-makes-tiny-macos-virtual-machines-practical":10,"sections":35},{"siteName":4,"siteTagline":5,"publisherName":4,"contactEmail":6},"The Revision","Tech news, decoded.","editor@therevision.news",{"gaMeasurementId":8,"adsenseClientId":9},"G-ZW2MV82GYR","ca-pub-8533917693782264",{"article":11},{"id":12,"slug":13,"title":14,"dek":15,"body_md":16,"tags_json":17,"published_at":18,"created_at":19,"updated_at":20,"status":21,"review_note":22,"review_notes":23,"image_url":24,"persona_id":22,"persona_name":22,"section":25,"tags":26,"sources":30,"feedback":34,"feedback_at":22,"cost_usd":34,"total_tokens":34},59,"apple-silicon-makes-tiny-macos-virtual-machines-practical","Apple Silicon Makes Tiny macOS Virtual Machines Practical","A deep dive finds macOS VMs on Apple Silicon run at near-native speed and can shrink to surprisingly small sizes.","Apple's ARM-based chips have changed the calculus for running macOS in a virtual machine. A new benchmark analysis shows that virtualized macOS on Apple Silicon loses almost no real-world performance compared to running it natively — a stark contrast to the clunky x86 virtualization of the Intel era.\n\nThe more surprising finding is how small these VMs can get. Researchers found they could pare down a functional macOS environment to a few gigabytes, stripping away much of the operating system's bulk while keeping apps like Safari and Xcode operational. That's a fraction of the 30GB+ footprint a typical macOS install demands.\n\nWhy this matters: virtualization on Apple Silicon opens macOS to uses that were previously impractical — cheap CI\u002FCD runners, quick testing environments, even running macOS on cheaper hardware than Apple's officially supports. The efficiency gains also mean you could run multiple macOS VMs on a single machine without the performance tanking that x86 Macs suffered.\n\nThe catch, as always with Apple: this only works on Apple hardware. The company has locked down the M-series chips' virtualization capabilities in ways that make running macOS VMs on non-Apple hardware legally and technically difficult.","[\"apple\",\"virtualization\",\"arm\",\"hardware\"]","2026-05-02T09:30:49.000Z","2026-05-03T11:48:14.793Z","2026-06-17T22:58:37.998Z","published",null,[],"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.xyz.onl\u002Farticle-images\u002Fapple-silicon-makes-tiny-macos-virtual-machines-practical.webp","hardware",[27,28,29,25],"apple","virtualization","arm",[31],{"name":32,"url":33},"Hacker News","https:\u002F\u002Feclecticlight.co\u002F2026\u002F05\u002F02\u002Fhow-fast-is-a-macos-vm-and-how-small-could-it-be\u002F",0,{"sections":36},[37,42,47,52,57,61,66,71,76,80,85,89,94,99],{"name":38,"slug":39,"count":40,"latest_published_at":41},"AI","ai",2590,"2026-07-16T04:00:00.000Z",{"name":43,"slug":44,"count":45,"latest_published_at":46},"Security","security",294,"2026-07-15T19:59:48.000Z",{"name":48,"slug":49,"count":50,"latest_published_at":51},"Deals","deals",179,"2026-06-29T20:02:07.000Z",{"name":53,"slug":54,"count":55,"latest_published_at":56},"Policy","policy",158,"2026-07-16T00:02:48.000Z",{"name":58,"slug":25,"count":59,"latest_published_at":60},"Hardware",122,"2026-07-14T19:46:26.000Z",{"name":62,"slug":63,"count":64,"latest_published_at":65},"Consumer Tech","consumer-tech",93,"2026-07-13T13:20:48.000Z",{"name":67,"slug":68,"count":69,"latest_published_at":70},"Software","software",70,"2026-07-13T19:52:25.000Z",{"name":72,"slug":73,"count":74,"latest_published_at":75},"Science","science",66,"2026-07-10T10:29:37.000Z",{"name":77,"slug":78,"count":12,"latest_published_at":79},"Dev Tools","dev-tools","2026-07-07T04:00:00.000Z",{"name":81,"slug":82,"count":83,"latest_published_at":84},"Gaming","gaming",41,"2026-07-09T04:00:00.000Z",{"name":86,"slug":87,"count":83,"latest_published_at":88},"Startups","startups","2026-06-29T20:55:50.000Z",{"name":90,"slug":91,"count":92,"latest_published_at":93},"General","general",29,"2026-07-10T22:28:58.000Z",{"name":95,"slug":96,"count":97,"latest_published_at":98},"Reviews","reviews",20,"2026-06-24T12:00:01.000Z",{"name":100,"slug":101,"count":102,"latest_published_at":103},"How-To","how-to",6,"2026-06-16T09:00:00.000Z"]