Poll: How Many Use Virtualization Machine On Their MBP

[macNewbie02]

I run Windows 7 under Parallels and Ubuntu Linux under VirtualBox on my MBP. It's an i7 quad core with 8 GB RAM. However I also used virtualization on my old MB with a Core 2 Duo and 4GB RAM, and even used virtualization successfully with my first iMac which was limited to 3GB RAM. I ran, and still run, Windows 2000 VM for some "legacy" work, and this easily fits in a 1GB VM.

Being able to use virtual machines was critical to me as I need to run several applications that are Windows only. I would still be using Windows computers full time if it were not for that capability.

Great - can you please comprae the performance boost from the old MB to the current i7 quad core? Is there a significant improvment in speed and such ?

Thanks.

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Awesome, I didn't know that!

+Awesome to that too!

 

[riptideMBP]

1) No, it is not possible. You should install a new Windows, from a DVD or .iso . The migration process
(installing system updates and programs, moving stuff, etc.) is pretty fast, could not take more than one day. Also, you will have a "fresh" system.

2-3) Since the CPU optimization is quite good:
the temperature increase is not big, I believe it doesn't exceed 10 C.
the battery life is not reduced by much. maybe a hour less.

1)It is possible... I'm doing it myself
2)I dont really notice any heat issues
3)Battery life goes down from 5 ish to 3 ish for me

 

[macNewbie02]

Awesome, I didn't know that!

+Awesome to that too!

 

[talmy]

Great - can you please comprae the performance boost from the old MB to the current i7 quad core? Is there a significant improvment in speed and such ?

Generally I don't benchmark, but I know that it is noticeably faster. With the MB while just running Windows apps would be fine (and I run engineering CAD programs), there would be a very noticeable lag if I ran screen capturing (iShowU Pro) at the same time. Screen capturing would use about 90% of one of the cores leaving only one core's worth of power left for CAD, VM, and everything else. The current MBP doesn't notice running the screen capturing and I can also allocate two cores for the VM, which insures snappy performance there. Particularly interesting is that when I run a programming IDE in the VM it is 5x faster compiling code than my work HP Workstation, which has a quad-core Xeon and was purchased last summer. I attribute the very major boost in speed to the lack of virus protection in the VM (don't need it since the VM never accesses the Web or email) and crappy Symantec virus protection at work (required by IT department).

On my home iMac (early 27" i7 with 8GB RAM) I often run 2 or three VMs at a time.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

Not only do I VM, but I purposely kept a copy of the version of fusion that allows you to virtualize 10.7 CLIENT which makes policy testing EONs easier.

So now I can, you know, mac while I mac.