Main Windows, Second Air. Stupid?

[BadaBing!!]

Bought my 1st Mac just over a month ago. I bought a mid-2011 MacBook Air w/ 256Gb. Music, files, etc work fine on my Mac (I use Office 2011 for Mac) but for some apps, you'll need Windows so that's why I bought 256Gb, so I can have a Windows Bootcamp and never miss space.
I still have my big Win desktop that I barely use as the MBA is powerful enough for all my needs and even faster to my Win PC (thanks SSD).

 

[vampireszombies]

Macbook have a program already loaded called Boot Camp.
That will guide you through a side-by-side installation of windows. You will need a windows cd/dvd and it's easy.
Another option is vmware/parallels. Those programs (which you have to download) are emulators for windows (and other OSs). Which means you will run windows inside the mac interface.
Pros and cons: Boot camp runs windows natively, but you have to reboot to change OS, while parallels/vmware/virtualbox runs a virtualized windows, which means it won't be as fast as boot camp.
But unless you want to play a game on windows, there's nothing parallels can't do (open Microsoft office etc).

Also, I would suggest you keep your vaio for heavy work and buy an air for mobility. The air might seem more expensive (by 100$) than the MBP, but don't forget you get a lot of portability, a better screen, and an SSD, which makes it faster (at most tasks) than the MBP. And since you will have the vaio for heavy work, you don't need such a powerful mobile machine like the pro.
I vote for vaio+air, unless you need more than 128gb on your portable laptop.

PS: That's what I'm doing too. I have a toshiba laptop but even though it's 15", it's so huge like a 17" laptop...
It's a BEAST for gaming , but I want to carry it to the uni, which is hard, and that's why i'm buying the base model MBA (11" 2gb ram).
I had the same dilemma as you, I wanted to sell my toshiba to buy a 13" air, which would not be bad as a main pc, but since I can't find a buyer, I'm just gonna buy the low-end air for portability and use the toshiba for hardcore stuff.

PS II: If you do buy the air, boot camp won't be such a hassle because it has an ssd and reboots really fast. Then again if you don't wanna game on it, parallels is fine. Your choice. PM me when you buy so I can help you with the installation of windows (if you haven't found something until then).

Wow Im glad to see someone was in the same situation as me.
Thank You Very Much. I will def pm you if I have any questions.

I think the way to go is vaio+13air+superdrive.

I really enjoy the portability of both the 13 Pro and the 13 Air.
An Air can do basically everything a Pro can right?? (just no drive)

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If you want to run Bootcamp (as in reboot the Mac as a Windows machine) then Apple has a guide here.

Often times it's more convenient to use a virtual Windows environment from within OS X so you can run Windows apps along side your Mac apps. Parallels and VMWare Fusion are most common for this. At work I'm a VMWare guy (server stuff, mostly) but I must admit that I find Parallels far better for Mac/Windows virtualization.

Thank you very much. This will definitely be helpful
An Air will be capable of this right?

 

[thekev]

A 13" Air and a 17" MBP. The Air was purchased because it's light, and has the SSD speed.

The Pro is a heavy beast, but travels with me on larger projects where I need the storage space.

Everything is then copied back to my iMac for further work. I'd say why not have both?

This is hilarious to me. Why not just a 15" mbp to replace both laptops? I really don't think the 15" weighs much. I could carry one all day.

Do you think it would work if I got a macbook air as my secondary portable laptop?
I currently have a good VAIO but it doesnt have long battery life.

So I would use windows on my vaio for the "hardcore" stuff like burning a cd etc. and use the air for word, internet school stuff.
Or should I just replace the vaio completely with a macbook pro? (for the money it makes sense)
Either way I choose I'm worried about files being compatible with the pro or air. (Never owned a mac before)

I still think having multiple laptops is overkill. If I may ask, how much does the VAIO weigh? Also the 11" model is a crap deal. You can never upgrade that hard drive or ram. Purchased at the stock configuration you'll never be able to upgrade the OS (ever) because whatever comes after lion will probably require more than 2GB of ram. Right now 2GB is the bare minimum to run the current OS, and it the speed loss from disk swaps is just mitigated by the use of an ssd. If you're set on an air I'd personally go with the 13". It's still really light and has a bit more breathing room on ram and hard drive space. These are the weight specs. Macbook Air 11" 2.38 lb. Macbook Air 13" 2.96 lb. 15" Macbook Pro 5.6 lb.

Anyway you should go to an Apple store and pick them up to see what feels right rather than just making a decision online . I really don't think the macbook pro is heavy but I've hauled along a 24" display in a case before, so my perspective is probably a bit different .

 

[Kadman]

Thank you very much. This will definitely be helpful
An Air will be capable of this right?

I gotta think it will do fine. I've been using it quite a bit on my MBP but just got my MBA 2 days ago. I've installed Parallels but haven't setup any VMs yet because I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I will at some point this week. I'd expect others around here have some experience specifically on the MBA.

 

[KnightWRX]

There must be a lot of sedentary couch potatoes in the community if any 15 or 17" MBP is thought of as too heavy to be portable. I'd hate to image how limited one is if a 5 or 6 pound laptop is a problem to carry.

I'm at the gym 5 times a week and frankly, I wouldn't carry around a 5-6 lbs laptop.

 

[vampireszombies]

This is hilarious to me. Why not just a 15" mbp to replace both laptops? I really don't think the 15" weighs much. I could carry one all day.





I still think having multiple laptops is overkill. If I may ask, how much does the VAIO weigh? Also the 11" model is a crap deal. You can never upgrade that hard drive or ram. Purchased at the stock configuration you'll never be able to upgrade the OS (ever) because whatever comes after lion will probably require more than 2GB of ram. Right now 2GB is the bare minimum to run the current OS, and it the speed loss from disk swaps is just mitigated by the use of an ssd. If you're set on an air I'd personally go with the 13". It's still really light and has a bit more breathing room on ram and hard drive space. These are the weight specs. Macbook Air 11" 2.38 lb. Macbook Air 13" 2.96 lb. 15" Macbook Pro 5.6 lb.

Anyway you should go to an Apple store and pick them up to see what feels right rather than just making a decision online . I really don't think the macbook pro is heavy but I've hauled along a 24" display in a case before, so my perspective is probably a bit different .

Yeah I never liked the size of the 11" anyways. Im only interested in the 13 Pro and 13 Air. 128SSD vs 256SSD is probably my next debate if I choose the Air route.

 

[Kadman]

Yeah I never liked the size of the 11" anyways. Im only interested in the 13 Pro and 13 Air. 128SSD vs 256SSD is probably my next debate if I choose the Air route.

Just one data point for you on HD size. I have the 128GB drive and it formats out to 120GB. After installing my base necessities including Firefox, MS Office 2011 for Mac, printer & scanner drivers, Parallels Desktop 7, etc. it shows 101.85GB free.

 

[vampireszombies]

Just one data point for you on HD size. I have the 128GB drive and it formats out to 120GB. After installing my base necessities including Firefox, MS Office 2011 for Mac, printer & scanner drivers, Parallels Desktop 7, etc. it shows 101.85GB free.

Awesome. Would it run slow or cause problems if after I install everything I need and say I had around 30-50GB free?

 

[Kadman]

Disk space won't cause an issue with performance until you get really down close to nothing. It's really memory, so installing things that have processes that run constantly are more of a concern. Within reason, I can't see that being an issue for you. I will say this, if you're borderline go for 256. I knew I only needed 128. I may install, maybe 10-12 more GB worth of apps and I don't store my music locally on this machine, so I'll have tons of room free for my needs. If you aren't confident it will be enough space for what YOUR needs are, I'd say go large.

 

[lukekarts]

Buying a MBA 13 does seem like the best route.

In fact, in the long run, don't be surpised if the MBA takes over as your main computer and you forget about the Viao. The only concern is if you ever want to game, as unless you're content with low settings, the Air isn't the right machine for you - you'll get much better performance with the Pro plus the dedicated GPU. Otherwise it's great though.

Also worth noting, you don't need to buy the 'Superdrive', the vast majority of USB DVD drives will be Mac compatible (I use a £24 Samsung drive).

 

[vampireszombies]

Disk space won't cause an issue with performance until you get really down close to nothing. It's really memory, so installing things that have processes that run constantly are more of a concern. Within reason, I can't see that being an issue for you. I will say this, if you're borderline go for 256. I knew I only needed 128. I may install, maybe 10-12 more GB worth of apps and I don't store my music locally on this machine, so I'll have tons of room free for my needs. If you aren't confident it will be enough space for what YOUR needs are, I'd say go large.

Thank You, Depends on my money situation when the time comes I'll then either pick 128 or 256. Im going to get it in Jan. Is there an update in the horizon close to Jan?

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Buying a MBA 13 does seem like the best route.

In fact, in the long run, don't be surpised if the MBA takes over as your main computer and you forget about the Viao. The only concern is if you ever want to game, as unless you're content with low settings, the Air isn't the right machine for you - you'll get much better performance with the Pro plus the dedicated GPU. Otherwise it's great though.

Also worth noting, you don't need to buy the 'Superdrive', the vast majority of USB DVD drives will be Mac compatible (I use a £24 Samsung drive).

Thanks! never thought of looking for a cheaper drive. I found a good one for $36