Can the new MBA run windows 7 in Parallels?

Yes, very much so.

There will be some, just like working in almost every virtual environment. But if you upgrade the RAM to 8GB it will be smooth

Depends on the programs you are running

Gaming isn't really recommended in a virtual environment

But if you are doing MS Office or general type software it is fine

What software will you be using?

MacRunner68 said:

I don't know too much about parallels or the mac OS (long time PC user), is there any lag or lack of responsiveness when running it on the MBA?

And would i need more SSD space to run it?

Thanks!

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Ok, I'll give you a more info as to why it'll run just fine. My current main Mac computer is a Late 2008 Aluminum MacBook; the first Aluminum Macs that came out. I have a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU and a 4GB RAM installed. Not to mention my machine is based of the traditional and slower HDD.

Using this machine I am able to use VMWare Fusion (Parallels competitor) flawlessly and very smoothly. This has been the case since 2008. I have not seen a slow down in performance while running Windows. Of coarse I run into more application limited scenarios, but those are ok considering the age of my Mac.

Yours however runs on a much more efficient CPU architecture, from a very fast SSD and has plenty of RAM space for applications and the guest OS. Trust me, you will do just fine.

MacRunner68 said:

The title says most of it!

The 13" MBA i7, 8 Gig Ram, 256 SSD

Do you guys think it can effectively run Win 7 in parallels?

Thanks !

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I'm running it right now on my 11" i7 with 8GB. I ran it on my 4GB 2011 system, and before that on my 2010 with 4GB.

What sort of programs are you running? Quicken and Office 2010 run just fine in Parallels.

I run Windows 7 Ultimate through Parallels 7 on my 2012 13" MBA i7/8/256. Software includes Office 2010, Visual Studio 2010, SQL Server 2008, and other smaller programs, and it runs very smoothly.

I haven't tried gaming on it (in Windows under Parallels or even under the host MacOS), so if you're interested in that I can't comment.

No issue whatsoever. You will be amazed and impressed.

Running it now.

Company has VPN and remote access control software that only runs in a Microsoft environment.

Their apps work fine under Parallels and Windows 7.

Windows takes up 13gb under Parallels, I use it to run Quicken 2004 on a 2010 2mb/64gb 11", and it runs just as quickly and smoothly as on my desktop.

As I do not need many programs on my MBA the basic spec works fine and I still have 13gb left, but if I ever upgrade, I would like the backlit keyboard, I would go for 4mb/128gb.

tut

Yes. Will run better if you have 8Gb RAM, though. Parallels is nice in that you you can setup a Bootcamp partition for when you really need the full power of un-virtualised Windows (e.g. for games), but you can also access this partition via Parallels from with Mac OS X when you just need light Windows usage (e.f. Office applications).

Runs very smooth

I have a new 2012 Macbook air base model with 1.7GHz i5 and 4 gig ram and windows 7 runs smooth in parallels however if u are willing to play games or do video editing, i would recommend using bootcamp as u will get much better performance because it is not running inside of os x.

noteple said:

Running it now.
Company has VPN and remote access control software that only runs in a Microsoft environment.
.

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I'm the same but I use VMWare as it's the industry standard for Virtual machines, as apposed to parallels.
With my job I sometimes have to build Virtual servers on my mac using VmWare and then put them on to corporate server farms. another benefit of VmWare is I can copy a VM machine onto a PC, use it there, then copy it back to my mac.

On my 2011 Air I have:
Windows 7 64bit Pro with office, Corel Draw! and various remote access software.
Windows 2008 server with Oracle 11G, an Oracle based Finance app & ABBYY Pro OCR.
Windows 2003 with oracle 10 and a different version of an Oracle based Finance app.
Windows 7 32bit Premium - just for downloading crap without damaging one of the others.

Because of my 4GB of ram I can only Run 2 simultaneously, but to be honest thats not an issue.

I was thinking of upgrading to a 2012 so i could have some more ram, but as they all run extremely fast, and all of ML features work fine (Airplay etc) I have no need to upgrade.

Redbull916 said:

I'm the same but I use VMWare as it's the industry standard for Virtual machines, as apposed to parallels.

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It's a corporate standard, for some companies, as apposed [sic] to an 'industry' standard.

kodeman53 said:

It's a corporate standard, for some companies, as apposed [sic] to an 'industry' standard.

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In the 'industry' I work it's standard.

MacRunner68 said:

The title says most of it!

The 13" MBA i7, 8 Gig Ram, 256 SSD

Do you guys think it can effectively run Win 7 in parallels?

Thanks !

Click to expand...

I have this exact configuration, running Win 7 Pro in VMware and it's just stellar.

I run it on my late 2010 MBA and it seems as fast and smooth as a Windows machine.

Day to day usage, probably not a lot.
Parallels is relatively cheep and used in a lot of data centres powering Linux virtual Machines.
But according to a Stratus Technologies-ITIC survey VmWare is used on 78% of the worlds virtualised servers.

One good thing with VmWare is you can use the free VmWare player for windows, so you can move or copy your virtual machine on to a windows PC with ease. Also virtualising a real machine with VmFusion is just a few mouse clicks.

You can probably tell I'm Pro VmWare, but thats because I use it every day for work on my Air.
I work for a large software company, and most of our customers use it for their servers (mainly running RedHat Linux and 2008 server). In fact it's been a long time since I worked on a 'Real' server.

Redbull916 said:

I use VMWare as it's the industry standard for Virtual machines, as apposed to parallels.

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Couldn't it be said that Microsoft Windows is the "industry standard" for business PC's? Yet here we all are, running OS X...

MacRunner68 said:

Do you guys think it can effectively run Win 7 in parallels?
[...]
Which is better? VMWare Fusion 4 or Parallels 7?

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Yes, it'll work - BUT before spending money on Parallels, be sure to read this thread: http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=261103

Which is better? Tough call and it seems to ping-pong version to version as well. Plus Parallels 8 is likely to come out this fall (v7 buyers should get a free upgrade if it comes out within next six months).

My recommendation is look at VirtualBox which is free.

I have the exact system as yours. I required Windows office for my sales writing program. I installed Parallels 7 and Window XP (a 32-bit EOM - saved $70 bucks), and Office.

It works flawlessly. No delays, can bounce back and forth without any delays....No worries!

MacRunner68 said:

After reading some of those posts I'm wondering do those of you who use Parallels and VMWare have mountain lion? Does it work with the new OS?

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Yes. Parallels 7 was updated to work with Mountain Lion. I have it and it is working fine. That said, Parallels does update every year, and they tend to "hold off" on new features to prod users to update. Don't be surprised if Parallels 7 isn't updated to run on the successor to Mountain Lion.

Parallels Desktop used to be noticeably faster than VMWare Fusion. That changed a bit with Fusion 4.