New air and vmware

[fezman]

anyone use vmware fusion on these new airs?
whats the performance like running win7 pro

 

[justywusty]

100% fine for me!

 

[Jaro65]

No issues. Win 7 under VMware worked great using a 2010 MBA; works even better now.

 

[sillyrabbitt]

loaded up vm3 as a trial didnt buy it yet using it with xp and it works great.

 

[fezman]

thanks guys.
looking to replace my 2010 13" core2duo Macbook pro with an Air.

 

[ZBoater]

Can VMware create a session from a copy of Win7 installed in a bootcamp partition? I understood Parallels could do this....

 

[NCMac]

I have a Windows 7 VMware image that I use daily. It ran ok on my 2010 11" Ultimate, was actually surprised when I first started using it how stable and responsive it was on that machine. On my new 2011 13" Ultimate its even better. Much faster boot up and just overall less time waiting for applications to start. Windows update is incredibly faster now too!

As for using a Bootcamp partition in VMware, it can be done. VMware creates a new vm file from bootcamp so you get a copy to run in VMware.

Here is the process:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/mi...nguage=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1015088

 

[iNeedToDoHw]

2 questions please

how is vm ware compared to parallel?
and
What are your setting on 13 mba 2011?

Thanks!

 

[Ratatapa]

I don't know parallels but the here is Con vs Pros if you use VMWARE instead of bootcamp.

Pros, You can still play on your mac at the same time.
You can share your mac files threw your vmware host
You can install linux while bootcamp is windows only me thinks

Cons

It's slower (imo) because when you open a VM machine it takes the Memory so if you have 4 gig and assign 2 gig to your Windows machine your mac got 2 gig left while it runs. While bootcamp the windows use that 4 gig and so the mac when you reboot in mac.

nothingm ore comex to mind lol

 

[jeffg819]

I've used both, and over the years they seem to swap places as the "best", depending on release schedules.

However, I recently moved both my machines to Parallels and find it a better overall experience. It just seems faster and more solid.

That being said, you should be good with either product.

 

[riggers]

Would personally use VirtualBox, faster + more feature complete on OS X:
http://www.virtualbox.org/

Now if you were talking about Server Virtualization VMWare is King

 

[uicandrew]

parallels advertises that they worked with Apple early on with Lion

http://www.parallels.com/support/pdfm6/

and parallels has a nice price for students $39

i've used vmware in the past but now i'm tempted to switch if parallels is more polished at this point

 

[iNeedToDoHw]

interesting. They both have been around for a long time. I thought there would have been a consensus by now.

I guess i'll choose parallel.

 

[thatdrewguy]

Is my understanding correct regarding bootcamp vs fusion/parallels...
for bootcamp you have to create a partition on the hard drive for windows use whereas for fusion/parallels you don't have to do that?

 

[skcorpio]

for those who use bootcamp, how much space do you allocate to the windows drive?

 

[KPOM]

Is my understanding correct regarding bootcamp vs fusion/parallels...
for bootcamp you have to create a partition on the hard drive for windows use whereas for fusion/parallels you don't have to do that?

Yes, that's correct. If you install a virtual machine in Fusion or Parallels, it simply creates a large file that contains your Windows installation. Alternatively, with either product, you can tell it to use your Boot Camp partition as your virtual machine, but you lose the ability to "suspend" or "hibernate" your virtual machine (you have to shut it down when you are done).

 

[ZBoater]

I just installed Parallels Desktop v6.0, and all I could say is...

OMG OMG OMG OMG .... FREAKY!!!

The Windows applications run on Lion like if they were native Lion apps! It is just freaky!!! And it runs smooth as silk. I mean, I only ran Quicken, Firefox, XPS Viewer, and Notepad (just testing), but they run seamlessly on the Lion desktop, and I even printed from Notepad, opened a file from Windows My Pictures in OS X Viewer, I mean, cats and dogs living together! Its the end of the world I'm telling you!!!

 

[Krevnik]

VMWare has a similar mode called "Unity". It's pretty slick depending on what you want out of virtualization.

Personally, I'd like to see support for Lion-style fullscreen so I can swipe between OS X and Windows at the drop of a hat. I can do it with spaces now, but I do kinda prefer to not micromanage it too much.

 

[Matthew9559]

I have always had a better experience with VMWare than Parallels.

Though I tend to use bootcamp more than either of those two these days.

 

[fezman]

I just installed Parallels Desktop v6.0, and all I could say is...

OMG OMG OMG OMG .... FREAKY!!!

The Windows applications run on Lion like if they were native Lion apps! It is just freaky!!! And it runs smooth as silk. I mean, I only ran Quicken, Firefox, XPS Viewer, and Notepad (just testing), but they run seamlessly on the Lion desktop, and I even printed from Notepad, opened a file from Windows My Pictures in OS X Viewer, I mean, cats and dogs living together! Its the end of the world I'm telling you!!!

Which Windows OS did you install?
I run xp on vmware and its runs pretty good, however i find win7 runs like a dog and slows down everything.
i've got a 13" 2.2GHz c2d mbp + 4GB

 

[ZBoater]

Which Windows OS did you install?
I run xp on vmware and its runs pretty good, however i find win7 runs like a dog and slows down everything.
i've got a 13" 2.2GHz c2d mbp + 4GB

I installed Win7 Pro 32 bit. Runs very smooth. I see lots of people installing 64 bit, but I view it as a waste of time, also given the few app I need to run, none require 64 bit and I only gave my session 2gb of RAM. Even in Bootcamp Win7 only "sees" 2.5GB.

Next up is installing MS-DOS...

 

[emigrant]

VT-d supported or not?


Parallels usersfor example)

#sudo -s
#dmesg

/drv/ HypVtd.c:3734 [vtdInit] VTD initialization disabled
/drv/ HypIoctls.c:912 Ioctl VT-d status: 0
/drv/ HypIoctls.c:770 Parallels hypervisor inited (cpus=2 hvt=VTX hvt status=Enabled vtd=NO phy=PAE lin=x32 mem=8192)

or

#tail -f /var/log/kernel.log

 

[KPOM]

VT-d supported or not?


Parallels usersfor example)

#sudo -s
#dmesg

/drv/ HypVtd.c:3734 [vtdInit] VTD initialization disabled
/drv/ HypIoctls.c:912 Ioctl VT-d status: 0
/drv/ HypIoctls.c:770 Parallels hypervisor inited (cpus=2 hvt=VTX hvt status=Enabled vtd=NO phy=PAE lin=x32 mem=8192)

or

#tail -f /var/log/kernel.log

Here are my results using the "tail" command - I have the i7.


Parallels hypervisor inited (cpus=4 hvt=VTX hvt status=Enabled vtd=NO phy=PAE lin=x64 mem=4096)


So it appears Parallels Desktop will need to implement VT-d for us to benefit from it.

 

[emigrant]

Here are my results using the "tail" command - I have the i7.

Which one? MBA11/13?

 

[KPOM]

Which one? MBA11/13?

11", but the Core i7 is the same, and the chip supports VT-d (as does the i5 in the 13", but not the i5 in the 11").