I am looking into doing a refresh of all my Mac products in the household and adding a 27 iMac. Currently I have a MacBook (Dual Core 2.4Ghz, 2G ram, 160 HD) and an iPad (32G + 3G). I will be getting an i5 or i7 iMac stock, the new iPad2 and an 11 MBA.
My daily usage is basically surfing the net/streaming video with my MacBook and reading e-books on the iPad. With the new iMac, I will be also looking into running window virtualization software. I also use Photoshop and Lightroom occasionally as an amateur photographer.
Some gaming and main computing will be done on the iMac. The iMac will be served as my main backup. So by fact, storage is not really an issue when it comes to storing files, movie or pictures.
My new MBA will be replacing my MacBook. I am not a hardcore user and I love the size of the 11. However, I dont know which one I should buy. I know for fact that I will be getting the 4G ram but I am undecided on the storage space I should take. The only difference this time is that I will be using my MBA for some light work which will required also window virtualization software to have MS Visio, MS Office installed. (I know there are products out there to replace all MS products but for the sake of keeping it simple, I will go that route for now..)
1- Which window virtualization should I get for my iMac and MBA? (Parallels or VM Ware Fusion?)
2- If I buy the 11 MBA, 4 G ram, 64G HD it is sufficient to run the mentioned software without to much lag?
3- I know that the bigger the HD ism, the better it is. However, do I really need it if I have the iMac as a main computer?
Money is to be considered here as I am doing a refresh so wherever I can shave a little of cost, it will be great.
Thanks folks.
My daily usage is basically surfing the net/streaming video with my MacBook and reading e-books on the iPad. With the new iMac, I will be also looking into running window virtualization software. I also use Photoshop and Lightroom occasionally as an amateur photographer.
Some gaming and main computing will be done on the iMac. The iMac will be served as my main backup. So by fact, storage is not really an issue when it comes to storing files, movie or pictures.
My new MBA will be replacing my MacBook. I am not a hardcore user and I love the size of the 11. However, I dont know which one I should buy. I know for fact that I will be getting the 4G ram but I am undecided on the storage space I should take. The only difference this time is that I will be using my MBA for some light work which will required also window virtualization software to have MS Visio, MS Office installed. (I know there are products out there to replace all MS products but for the sake of keeping it simple, I will go that route for now..)
1- Which window virtualization should I get for my iMac and MBA? (Parallels or VM Ware Fusion?)
2- If I buy the 11 MBA, 4 G ram, 64G HD it is sufficient to run the mentioned software without to much lag?
3- I know that the bigger the HD ism, the better it is. However, do I really need it if I have the iMac as a main computer?
Money is to be considered here as I am doing a refresh so wherever I can shave a little of cost, it will be great.
Thanks folks.
