Thank you Jim,  It is a costly purchase/decision!  Many years ago I was a PC user and had a Gateway laptop with a big screen and wonderful graphics as it was advertised to be great for gaming.  That was in my pre-Janome days, ( I had a Pfaff).  Since going Mac and having lots of other Apple devices, I really don't want to go back to a PC exclusively.  Maybe purchasing a PC that is capable of running the couple embroidery programs I use, in addition to purchasing an Apple device like a MacBook Air might be an option.  And as far using Mac compatible  sewing software and foregoing a PC altogether, I feel like giving up HLS, when there is so much left to explore on my relatively new 15,000 Quiltmaker, would be giving up a lot of capabilities that the machine is known for. The Janome Apps are very useful, but don't allow for for quilting in the hoop, composing stitches etc. 

Thank you again for sharing your wisdom.

Currently VMware does not make a version of Fusion that will work with M1 and M2 Macs. Parallels does support Windows on M1 and M2 Macs, but there are some pitfalls. The base level MacBook Pro comes with 8GB of RAM. Parallels requires 4GB, leaving just 4GB for Windows. That may not even allow it to boot, and it likely will not run well at all. The new M2 Pro and M2 Max models come with 16GB or 32GB respectively, but they are substantially more expensive. Only the Standard Edition of Parallels is available as a one-time purchase, and it does not include upgrades. The others are based on an annual subscription, which is how just about everything is sold these days. We kept my last Intel iMac for Diane to use with her sewing software running under VMware Fusion. I have not tried to use Windows on my M1 iMac, because I don't need or want it. Allegedly Windows 11 for ARM processors will work on an M1, but I haven't tried that. Hopefully someone on the list that is using Windows on an M1 or M2 Mac can give you some feedback. There's quite a bit of money on the line with this upgrade, and you don't want to make a mistake.

Hello Jim and other Mac users,  

My 2012 MacBook Pro needs to be replaced and I would like to purchase one of the new MacBook Pro's with an M2 chip that was announced this week.  I currently use VMFusion to run a virtual machine using Windows 10 64 bit, for Horizon Link Suite, AcuSitch and Embird.  The programs have always been sluggish, and but that may be due to the age of my computer.  

I've read that Parallels will work with the new M1 & M2 Apple Chips. I'd love to have your thoughts on using a virtual machine to run Windows, which system specs (e.g. memory) would be most desirable when purchasing the new MacBook Pro, and also how much memory you suggest for the virtual machine so that it runs HLS and Embird quickly and efficiently. From reading recent posts, it sounds like upgrading to Windows 11 won't be a problem for HLS.

Thanks very much for your help,
Carol Crisp