Microsoft is working hard on a new version of Windows that promises to be faster, more efficient, and more secure. Windows 10X is available only in preview form for now, and it already runs surprisingly well on a MacBook.
One developer installed an early version of the software on an Apple machine, and it is proving to be “very smooth” so far.
Windows 10X is currently being built with dual-screen devices — like Microsoft’s upcoming Surface Duo — in mind. It’s a cleaner, more modern take on Windows 10 that’s been refreshed in almost every way.
There’s no word on when Windows 10X will make its debut yet. We hope to hear more about it when Microsoft hosts its next Build conference in May. What we do know is that Windows 10X should work just fine on your Mac.
Windows 10X plays nicely with a MacBook
If you have a modern Mac — one powered by an Intel processor — then you can already create a Windows partition using Boot Camp. So, it might not be surprising to hear that Windows 10X is compatible with a Mac.
What is unexpected is that Windows 10X already runs surprisingly well on a MacBook despite being an early work in progress.
“It is actually very smooth,” described one developer, who has been testing Windows 10X on a MacBook, on Twitter. Some things are “a bit buggy and I expect this,” @imbushuo added, but it is a very promising start.
“It will be nice when, in the future, we will [have] access to CoreOS version for PC/laptop instead of dual-screen.”
A work in progress
The dev noted that “most drivers are usable out of the box” when running Windows 10X on a MacBook — including those that enables the notebook’s touchpad and Thunderbolt ports.
Microsoft still has a lot of work to do before Windows 10X is ready for general use. It is currently littered with bugs that make it far from stable, and again, it’s currently designed specifically for dual-screen machines.
https://twitter.com/imbushuo/status/1227831774996131840?s=20
That’s going to be the case with a preview release, and as @imbushuo points out, if you “use macOS in 2020 … you will find even more things broken.”
