Question re: Windows and IBM Lotus on macbook air

[triple-tap]

Hey all,

I have a MBA 1.3/4gb/128gb that I have used for the past year and half for law school and to take the Bar exam. Now, I need a computer to use in hearings. However, my firm is all Windows, and no one has tried to use Mac's in the past.

Specifically, we use IBM Lotus to access Clt files/medical records/etc. while in a hearing (via a remote login) and to edit PDF's via Adobe Acrobat XI.

I know that our version of Lotus will not work on OSX, so my question is in regard to putting Windows on my current MBA. Given the specs above, is it possible to install Windows and use it to log into my remote desktop?

I know 8gb of ram is the preferred min. on this forum to run any type of Windows, but (1) I don't really want to buy a new computer if I don't need to do so and (2) funds are limited due to the whole "$250k in student debt thing" required to get through law school.

Does anyone have any personal experience using a mba with similar specs to mine to install windows and use to access a remote access point?

 

[Pharmscott]

I ran Windows 7 on both a MBA and a Mini via Bootcamp, each with 4gb of RAM. It worked fine. Save your money for those student loans.

 

[motrek]

...
Does anyone have any personal experience using a mba with similar specs to mine to install windows and use to access a remote access point?

I wonder if there's a way you can test it on your machine without buying anything new.

You can use VirtualBox to set up a virtual machine no problem, that's free and good.

The problem is Windows... I wonder if you can somehow get a Windows 10 preview for free and see if that works?

 

[tmarks11]

I use VMWare Fusion to run a virtual copy of Windows on my MBA.

It is really nice since it is integrated into OS X... I can open a windows file from OS X, and it will jump into the VMWare fusion window and open the appropriate Windows program.

Installation was very easy. They have a 30 day trial, so you can try it and see if you like it (assuming you have a spare win7 disk lying around to install into the virtual machine).

"8 GB of RAM to run windows"? Not hardly. I have run a desktop machine with 4 GB running Solidworks with no problems for a long time.

My MBA is a 2012 MBA11 with 8 GB of memory. Since you only have 4 GB, I would recommend you download the trial VMWare and install windows on it and try it out. With a virtual desktop you will be robbing memory from OS X, and 2 GB left for OS X might not be enough. The advantage to the bootcamp installation discussed above is that it would be the only OS running, and you wouldn't have a memory problem.

I have run my VMWare session with 2 GB assigned, and it ran like a dream (which left 6 GB for OS X). I then changed it to 4GB for OSX and 4GB of Win7, and it started getting lagged out; maybe OS X was fighting for some of that memory back.

Remote access should be no big deal... the speed of your network connection is going to be the limiting factor, not the speed of your machine.

Windows 10 preview edition is free... and you don't even have do have a developer account this time around to sign up for it and download it.