11.6" base users -- Running Windows 7, bootcamp vs parallels

[Lefort1]

For all of you base 11.6" users with 2Gb ram, how have you tried to load windows 7?

Bootcamp?
Parallels 6?
VM Fusion?
Other?

If so, how is the performance? I'm not looking to do gaming or anything. Mainly the occasional program or whenever there might be a compatibility issue.

Also of importance, for whichever route you chose, how much space did it take up? How much space were you left with? How satisfied are you with the performance?

 

[Lefort1]

Anybody????

 

[kkel19]

I have the base 11.6...but I feel like I dont need win7 cause you're limited to like 35gb already with everything updated..why bother..

 

[shstiger2009]

I got the base 13" with 2GB of RAM 2 days ago. I feel like when running Windows, I just need a little bit more. Returning the 2GB and going for the 4GB, it's only $100 and to me seems worth it. It's also a better peace of mind knowing that I'll have all I can have when doing anything whether it's now, or running Lion in 3 months.

 

[simeezee]

I have the base 11.6...but I feel like I dont need win7 cause you're limited to like 35gb already with everything updated..why bother..

wow I didn't know it will take that much space. I was going to try to install win7 but I would only partition 15GB of space. Wiki said Apple recommended 16GB for win7.

 

[Lefort1]

I have the base 11.6...but I feel like I dont need win7 cause you're limited to like 35gb already with everything updated..why bother..

Is that fact?

With Parallels or bootcamp?
W7 home or pro?
32 or 64-bit?

Now I'm starting to reconsider. I know for many with MBAs, running W7 with OSX isn't even a thought. But I just can't completely ditch windows. I'm past my return dates, so exchanging for a 4GB model isn't exactly an option.

 

[shstiger2009]

Is that fact?

With Parallels or bootcamp?
W7 home or pro?
32 or 64-bit?

Now I'm starting to reconsider. I know for many with MBAs, running W7 with OSX isn't even a thought. But I just can't completely ditch windows. I'm past my return dates, so exchanging for a 4GB model isn't exactly an option.

Just install it. A lot of people say running it in Boot Camp isn't that bad because the restarting of the Air's are so fast. I got used to running it in Parallels though, so when I got my Air I didn't want to start rebooting regardless of how fast it was. It's just awesome running them side by side. But I'd say use Boot Camp if you want Windows.

 

[ryanrhod]

Is that fact?

With Parallels or bootcamp?
W7 home or pro?
32 or 64-bit?

Now I'm starting to reconsider. I know for many with MBAs, running W7 with OSX isn't even a thought. But I just can't completely ditch windows. I'm past my return dates, so exchanging for a 4GB model isn't exactly an option.

Bootcamp will work great. I went with 32-bit because I think I read that it uses a little less disk space. I have Win7 Ultimate, but only because I got it for free from a promotion from M$.

Parallels has a feature that will let you use your bootcamp installation within OSX, which is great, and definitely also saves diskspace. That being said, the system was sort of low on ram at that point (with 512MB allocated to W7 and 1.25GB to OSX). I actually returned the 2GB of RAM version of the 11-inch air and got the base model with 4GB of RAM, and this works much better now.

So with your system, I would probably just focus on bootcamp. With 18GB allocated to W7, and all my necessary apps installed in both OS's, I have about 2GB free in my Windows partition and 10GB free in OSX. 64GB definitely isn't a ton of space, but my purposes (along with a 16GB microsd card in a nano reader and a 1TB external drive) it is just fine.

 

[iRun26.2]

My Windows 7 Partition

I assigned 35G to my Bootcamp (Windows 7) partition. I chose to install the 64-bit Professional Edition. I don't think that was very wise, though. I have only installed a few Windows applications and I now am down to 9G left. I am tempted to start over and only install the 32-bit version.

I have had to turn off automatic updates for Windows 7 since it always seems to bring me the 'Blue Screen of Death' when it restarts. I could have sworn that I had nearly 15G free space available before I started having trouble with the automatic updates.

Aside from that, with the fast boot times of the 11.6" MBA SSD, it is really nice to be able to quickly switch between OSX and Windows 7 by rebooting. Having both OSX and Windows 7 on such a small machine is simply amazing!

 

[simeezee]

Bootcamp will work great. I went with 32-bit because I think I read that it uses a little less disk space. I have Win7 Ultimate, but only because I got it for free from a promotion from M$.

Parallels has a feature that will let you use your bootcamp installation within OSX, which is great, and definitely also saves diskspace. That being said, the system was sort of low on ram at that point (with 512MB allocated to W7 and 1.25GB to OSX). I actually returned the 2GB of RAM version of the 11-inch air and got the base model with 4GB of RAM, and this works much better now.

So with your system, I would probably just focus on bootcamp. With 18GB allocated to W7, and all my necessary apps installed in both OS's, I have about 2GB free in my Windows partition and 10GB free in OSX. 64GB definitely isn't a ton of space, but my purposes (along with a 16GB microsd card in a nano reader and a 1TB external drive) it is just fine.

You have 18GB total for W7, after all the installed programs, you still have 2GB free space. How much space did your programs take? I'm just trying to figure out what's the minimum space just to install a 32bit W7.

 

[iRun26.2]

Bootcamp will work great. I went with 32-bit because I think I read that it uses a little less disk space. I have Win7 Ultimate, but only because I got it for free from a promotion from M$.

Parallels has a feature that will let you use your bootcamp installation within OSX, which is great, and definitely also saves diskspace. That being said, the system was sort of low on ram at that point (with 512MB allocated to W7 and 1.25GB to OSX). I actually returned the 2GB of RAM version of the 11-inch air and got the base model with 4GB of RAM, and this works much better now.

So with your system, I would probably just focus on bootcamp. With 18GB allocated to W7, and all my necessary apps installed in both OS's, I have about 2GB free in my Windows partition and 10GB free in OSX. 64GB definitely isn't a ton of space, but my purposes (along with a 16GB microsd card in a nano reader and a 1TB external drive) it is just fine.

Do you have any trouble with Windows 7 automatic updates?

 

[iRun26.2]

You have 18GB total for W7, after all the installed programs, you still have 2GB free space. How much space did your programs take? I'm just trying to figure out what's the minimum space just to install a 32bit W7.

I agree, that is impressive! I think that I am going to reinstall Windows 7 using the 32-bit version. I have the 11.6" MBA with 128G SSD but I have lots of stuff installed in my OSX partition.

 

[ryanrhod]

You have 18GB total for W7, after all the installed programs, you still have 2GB free space. How much space did your programs take? I'm just trying to figure out what's the minimum space just to install a 32bit W7.

Haha well my main installed program in W7 is Fallout New Vegas (which runs surprisingly well by the way) and it takes almost 8GB of space. So the actual windows install (and with the paging file set pretty low and hibernation turned off) is probably around 10GB or so.

For the automatic update issue, I had the bluescreen, so I just wiped my bootcamp partition and installed Windows again. I read online a little bit about it, and apparently if you connect an external mouse and disable the Apple touchpad drivers, you can safely install the updates, and then re-enable the drivers. In the meantime, I just have automatic updates turned off, and am planning on giving that a shot when I have some more free time.

I've only had my mba for a few weeks, but so far this setup has worked for me.