My friend is a hardcore Windows user, but he wants to buy a Macbook Air because it is an extremely efficient lightweight machine. He was wondering if the multi-touch mousepad interface would work with Windows Vista, and just how it performed in general. Any advice?
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Dual Booting with Macbook Air/Vista
- Thread starter XRogue101789
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I have been dual booting Leopard and Vista since I bought my Air the day it came out (actually talked a Best Buy manager to sell me one the day prior to selling officially in his store). As people said, no gestures but it does work fine. Only big negative for me is the Aero interface is hard on the video, it makes the machine run much warmer than it does in Leopard, not enough to not use it mind you, other than this point it has run very well.
One thing to consider
I use my MBA with Bootcamp/Vista - Vista runs great.
You do need a USB (powered) Optical Drive to install Vista - no remote disc
I purchased the external Apple Super Drive - I've since read that the external XBOX HDDVD drive works (I had one - damnit).
I use my MBA with Bootcamp/Vista - Vista runs great.
You do need a USB (powered) Optical Drive to install Vista - no remote disc
I purchased the external Apple Super Drive - I've since read that the external XBOX HDDVD drive works (I had one - damnit).
I do not have an xbox, but bought one for almost nothing after Blu-Ray won the "fight" to use as a CD-ROM for my EEE. It works great with the air and I would highly recommend it.
two-fingered right click and scroll work fine.
I tried it on my Air, and the two finger scroll was a disaster - once you started to scroll it continued on its own and was almost impossible to stop. I've researched this and it seems to be a common problem with no current resolution.
Does yours do the same, and if not how did you stop it?
I was in the same boat as your friend. I'm a PC user that wanted the Air for its hardware specs.
I've had the MBA for about 2 months now and I absolutely love it. I ONLY run Vista. The two or three times I've booted into OSX I've found it to be slower and to run hotter than Vista. I mostly use it for web browsing but I also do a fair amount of word processing, run some of my work applications, and sync my phone/pda. I have Vista Ultimate and Office 2007 installed and it runs like a champ. The only application that runs at all slow is iTunes. I don't run Photoshop (CS3) often, but when I do it works fine. The only time I notice it getting hot is if I'm using the laptop for more than an hour in "High Performance" mode.
A few things worth noting:
If you're only doing web browsing, set your power mode to "balanced" instead of high performance. This keeps it cooler.
The touchpad works fine for scrolling and right-clicking. You will not have gestures or tap to click.
It does a better job at waking from sleep than any notebook I've ever had. From sleep to awake+online is 8 seconds.
I have no problems watching SD or HD video content in iTunes.
You'll need to get some screen grab software because as far as I can tell there isn't any other way to take a screen shot.
I've had the MBA for about 2 months now and I absolutely love it. I ONLY run Vista. The two or three times I've booted into OSX I've found it to be slower and to run hotter than Vista. I mostly use it for web browsing but I also do a fair amount of word processing, run some of my work applications, and sync my phone/pda. I have Vista Ultimate and Office 2007 installed and it runs like a champ. The only application that runs at all slow is iTunes. I don't run Photoshop (CS3) often, but when I do it works fine. The only time I notice it getting hot is if I'm using the laptop for more than an hour in "High Performance" mode.
A few things worth noting:
If you're only doing web browsing, set your power mode to "balanced" instead of high performance. This keeps it cooler.
The touchpad works fine for scrolling and right-clicking. You will not have gestures or tap to click.
It does a better job at waking from sleep than any notebook I've ever had. From sleep to awake+online is 8 seconds.
I have no problems watching SD or HD video content in iTunes.
You'll need to get some screen grab software because as far as I can tell there isn't any other way to take a screen shot.
MBA with Vista dual boot
All-
Lots of great ideas on here, thanks for that! However, what is better Bootcamp 3.1 or Parallels?
I just bought this and want to set up dual boot. I cannot find bootcamp 3.1 anywhere (i use to have) but accidentily through out on "spring Cleaning".
Please help! THanks...
All-
Lots of great ideas on here, thanks for that! However, what is better Bootcamp 3.1 or Parallels?
I just bought this and want to set up dual boot. I cannot find bootcamp 3.1 anywhere (i use to have) but accidentily through out on "spring Cleaning".
Please help! THanks...
Maybe a more recent post with Bootcamp advice would be useful? You have replied to a 2008 post.
You should find that the Bootcamp assistant on the mac OS will provide all the drivers needed and offer help.
It would also help if you stated which mac you actually have (type, year, spec)
Oh my god, can't believe I never heard this. Just tried it with my 2011 MBA and it works great, free superdrive wannabe. Thanks for the old post, even if you're long gone.