How To Tell If a CPU Supports Virtualization

You want to know of the processor in the machine has hardware virtualization, what Intel calls "VT-x" in their literature.

Most of the time, the description of a computer will tell you what model processor it has. That's pretty much all you'll need to know. e.g. Here in Canada, Best Buy is advertising a Samsung laptop for $598. The ad says it has an Intel T6600 CPU.

The first google hit for "Intel T6600" sends me to a page at intel.com. Scroll down to the "Advanced Technologies" portion of the page. There I find the note "Intel Virtualization Technology -> No".

So, I can scratch that laptop off my list. You'll need to keep looking for a machine that has VT-x.

For AMD, there is an analogous technology, called AMD-V. I have no idea if OSX will run on an AMD processor... but I expect it does not. Anyway, there's a good overview of the whole topic on Wikipedia.

Intel CPUs are designed to allow virtualization to be disabled and unable to be turned back on until the next physical power cycle, likely for security reasons (i.e. a bootkit could theoretically install a malicious hypervisor). I'm not sure of the exact reason why some BIOSes don't allow virtualization to be enabled.

You will need to upgrade your BIOS to a version that allows you to change the setting if the manufacturer has chosen to do this, or scour the Internet for a hacked BIOS, if it exists, that is modified to allow you change this setting. You will have to do searching on your own for such a BIOS as I've never went that route with any system I have.