Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacBook Air, with Parallels and Windows

ivanwi11iams

ivanwi11iams

Contributor
Original poster
Nov 30, 2014
4,507
3,066
Georgia, USA
Curious if anyone here owns and uses a MacBook Air, with Parallels and Windows installed?
If so, any issues in your day to day use?

I am thinking about purchasing a Mac, but, trying to decide between the Air and MacBook Pro (not the M1).

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and feedback.
 
I actually upgraded my beefed up 2020 macbook air to a 2020 13 pro. While the macbook air worked, the fan literally constantly on when windows 10 was running. This was pretty annoying and did affected performance within windows.

I would recommend going to a pro for the better thermals. Also I'm not sure if it was because of more ram, but my 13 pro runs noticeably better than the air (it could had been thermal throttling).
 
  • Like
Reactions: ivanwi11iams
prism said:
I am running Win10 in virtualbox on my i5,16gb MBA and the experience is great! Fans do come on but they are certainly not loud.
Click to expand...
Thanks.

Curious, does your model have 256GB SSD or 512GB?
I do not plan to have data stored on the unit, per se'. But, want to have ample space left, after the OS and Virtual Windows install, just in case...
 
I have 256gb on mine and I run the vm on an external Samsung T3 1gb SSD drive. I thought that I might have bandwidth problems running it externally but not at all, very happy!
 
  • Like
Reactions: ivanwi11iams
I have 2020 MBA i5, 8GB ram with 512GB ssd, same as sirneb said, Windows 10 in Parallels fans are on as soon as it powers up, not on full spin but still. Windows 7 is working perfectly, Windows XP as well, fans come on once in a while. (i do use all versions for software testing), Something in Win 10 causing high usage and fans to kick in. Depends how will you use virtual machines and what for. I do some testing for up to 1 hour, then back to macos so it's fine for me, if you will have heavy use on Windows 10 in virtual box or parallels then mac pro would be a better choice but if just from time to time like me then mba will be more than enough. IMHO
 
  • Like
Reactions: ivanwi11iams
I would avoid an Air for virtualization at all costs. The Intel Airs just do NOT have sufficient cooling for the chip. When I run W10 in Fusion, my fans ramp up to 8000k... and stay there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ivanwi11iams
Like i said it is working fine for me, Win 10 spins the fans but not as high as yours. It depends what you do in Win, and i'm using Parallels in coherence mode. many different aspects can have an impact right?
 
deltanet said:
Like i said it is working fine for me, Win 10 spins the fans but not as high as yours. It depends what you do in Win, and i'm using Parallels in coherence mode. many different aspects can have an impact right?
Click to expand...

Correct, just sharing my experience.
 
Update:
A friend let me borrow a MBA, specs below. But, in all honesty, not a chance I am going to even bother installing Parallels or Windows 10 VM on this MBA. The speed of it would probably drive me a little insane.

Currently, as a computer to check emails, browse the internet and learn Mac OS, its a WIN!
At some stage, I will purchase a MBP, but not the new M1. Apparently, with that model, one will not (currently) be able to install and use Parallels or a Windows 10 VM. So, there's that...

Specs:
MacBook Air 13" Early 2015
Memory: 8GB
Processor: 1.6GHz dual
GPU: Intel HD Graphics 6000 1536MB
Storage: 251GB flash storage
OS: Big Sur
 
teecuptech said:
Apparently, with that model, one will not (currently) be able to install and use Parallels or a Windows 10 VM.
Click to expand...
I doubt Parallels will get Windows working for Apple Silicon. Virtualization on Apple Silicon is its greatest weakness. The best shot Parallels to get windows working is the ARM based windows. While Parallel Desktop is a great piece of software, I hate their marketing and sales tactics. They are not going to say anything that will hurt their bottomline, they will keep being vague about their likelihood to support.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ivanwi11iams
sirneb said:
I doubt Parallels will get Windows working for Apple Silicon. Virtualization on Apple Silicon is its greatest weakness. The best shot Parallels to get windows working is the ARM based windows. While Parallel Desktop is a great piece of software, I hate their marketing and sales tactics. They are not going to say anything that will hurt their bottomline, they will keep being vague about their likelihood to support.
Click to expand...
They claim they already have a working version in testing. You can sign up for the tech preview at their link.

www.parallels.com

Parallels Desktop for Mac with Apple M1 chip

Best way to run Windows on Mac - Parallels Product Blog - Run Windows, Linux, and more on your Mac. Helpful tips and tricks, Apple macOS and Mirosoft Windows news
www.parallels.com
 
  • Like
Reactions: ivanwi11iams
I used the 2020 i5 with Parallels and Windows. The fans would blow on full whenever installing updates (which was the same with any Mac laptop I've used including the Pros) but performance was OK with it once your programs were up and running. I only had an 8GB machine though so used 4GB RAM.

I'd go for 16GB if you're planning a lot of VM work and a faster machine if you need to run processor-intensive stuff.

The M1 on the other hand is running ARM Windows very quickly and silently. 32 bit x86 programs are running fine too so its a good start....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back