Testing macOS Tahoe virtualization on Apple silicon reveals surprisingly strong performance. Using a Mac mini M4 Pro as host, single-core CPU benchmarks show the VM running at 98% of native speed, while GPU performance reaches 95% of host capabilities. These figures come from Geekbench 6.7.1 testing with 5 virtual cores and 16GB virtual RAM.

The neural engine tells a different story, performing far slower than the host system on half-precision and quantized AI workloads. This suggests Apple's virtualization layer doesn't efficiently map the Neural Engine to VM guests. For everyday tasks, this may not matter much since macOS can leverage CPU and GPU resources instead.

Minimum specifications testing reveals that a macOS VM can run on just 2 virtual cores and 4GB of RAM while handling lightweight tasks like Safari browsing and system settings. Memory usage stayed around 3.1GB during testing, proving the configuration is viable for basic productivity work.

Storage requirements present the main constraint. VMs need at least 60GB for safe macOS updates, though APFS sparse files reduce actual disk usage. A 100GB VM typically consumes only 54GB on disk, making MacBook Neo owners potential beneficiaries of this efficiency. The sweet spot appears to be 3-4 cores with 6-8GB RAM for responsive daily use.