New MBA powerful enough to run Parallels and Lion at same time?

petrucci666 said:

I'm definitely going to buy the new MBA (entry-level) as it seems like a tremendous upgrade from what it used to be.

My only concern is that the MBA is too weak to run Parallels and Lion at the same time.

I'll probably buy 2 Cinema Displays as well so will I be able to have the Windows Desktop on one display and Lion on the other?

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What do you mean by 'too weak'?

What will you be running on Lion?

What will you be running on the Windows virtual machine?

I wouldn't have everything open at the same time, but the new MacBook Air can easily handle Windows 7 running Office in Parallels. I run Quicken for Windows on my Core i7 11" model, giving Windows 1.75GB RAM and 2 virtual processor cores (out of the 4 available). It isn't native speed, but it is pretty snappy, even if I have some OS X applications open (usually Office 2011 and Safari).

I just installed Parallels, and it runs great. There is no lag because there is no switch. Windows runs in the background, and you have access to launch your Windows programs from the Lion dock, and it seems as if they are native Mac apps. Very smooth, very cool.

petrucci666 said:

1. Lag in switching between the two. If I'm paying that much for a machine and software, I don't want it to lag.

2. Lion - iTunes, Rdio, Safari, Word definitely. Possibly Photoshop and/or Illustrator

3. Windows - mostly Office (Excel and Access mainly)


I reckon it should be fine but just wanted to see if anyone who is doing this right now might have some advice

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Don't get the entry model. At a minimum, get 4 gigs of memory and 128 gigs of storage. Memory for running 2 operating systems at the same time and additional storage for installing them. I have an MBA11, 2010 model, running Lion and Win7 Ultimate using Parallels and am using 70 gigs of space with the major app in Lion being Office 2011 and the major Win7 app being Quicken.

I've been doing this with last years model very successfully - you should have no issue with the 2011 models. Just make sure you get the 4GB of memory as the previous poster called out.

I've got the 13"/i7/256 gb running Lion, Parallels 6 and Windows XP. Upgraded from 2010 MBP with 8 GB ram. I'm amazed at how much faster the MBA is. Used Time Machine to transfer everything from the MBP. Worked like a charm except for one minor glitch. When I first started using the MBA, the Windows side was not seeing any usb devices, including my iPhone. I installed an update to Parallels 6, which reinstalled Parallels Tools, and everything has worked perfectly since.