Bad performance Kali on Macbook Pro i9 Mojave

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Mac OS X hosts.
envelope
Posts: 14
Joined: 13. May 2019, 17:57

Re: Bad performance Kali on Macbook Pro i9 Mojave

Post by envelope »

I just found out that the performance is still good with higher resolution as well. The QuickRes app allows to choose between "regular" and HiDPI, where regular works fine. It then boils down to HiDPI support in VBox which either is misconfigured in my case, or not the best yet.
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socratis
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Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
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Re: Bad performance Kali on Macbook Pro i9 Mojave

Post by socratis »

Here's what I have on my MacBookPro11,5 (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) with two external monitors connected:
  • 2880x1800 pixels (Retina) theoretical, that's Apple marketing for you. You seriously don't need that resolution, you can't see anything unless you're looking with at the screen with a magnifying glass. Even Apple won't let you achieve that, and that's where apps such as QuickRes come it. Notice how the author talks about:
    QuickRes unlocks the full power of your Mac's display. Bypass Apple's restrictions, safely and quickly.
  • Scaled resolutions: 1920x1200, 1680x1050, 1280x800, and 1024x640 pixels. That's what you get from the System Preferences » Displays (the "restrictions" we talked about?). I have chosen the largest density, 1920x1200, that's what my old MBP had and it feels comfortable to me.
  • In VirtualBox Preferences » Display » Scale Factor » Monitor 1 » 200%. Or if you prefer the command line:
    • VBoxManage setextradata global GUI/ScaleFactor 2
  • There are two ext. monitors (1280x1024) that are non-HiDPI, for which the Scale Factor is set to 100%. Or if you prefer the command line (scale factors for Monitor1 Monitor2 Monitor3):
    • VBoxManage setextradata global GUI/ScaleFactor 2 1 1
  • The Kali VM (and most of all of my VMs) are set to Windowed mode at 1280x1024. That gives me a nice manageable window on my MBP, and a nice 1:1 resolution when I take the VM FullScreen in one of the two ext. monitors.
No performance problems whatsoever...
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envelope
Posts: 14
Joined: 13. May 2019, 17:57

Re: Bad performance Kali on Macbook Pro i9 Mojave

Post by envelope »

socratis wrote: Scaled resolutions: 1920x1200, 1680x1050, 1280x800, and 1024x640 pixels. That's what you get from the System Preferences » Displays (the "restrictions" we talked about?). I have chosen the largest density, 1920x1200, that's what my old MBP had and it feels comfortable to me.
Me too.
socratis wrote: In VirtualBox Preferences » Display » Scale Factor » Monitor 1 » 200%. Or if you prefer the command line:
  • VBoxManage setextradata global GUI/ScaleFactor 2
The Kali VM (and most of all of my VMs) are set to Windowed mode at 1280x1024. That gives me a nice manageable window on my MBP, and a nice 1:1 resolution when I take the VM FullScreen in one of the two ext. monitors.

No performance problems whatsoever...
This is what I don't see working for me. Even if the VM is windowed at really small resolution when shrinking it down, the performance is bad. I tried 300% as well, without any improvement. The only thing that has made a difference for me is using QuickRes to change the native screen resolution to non-HiDPI. I can even use 1920x1200 non-HiDPI and get great performance.
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