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Running Macbook on Parallel w/ Windows 7

F

fuzion23

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 27, 2011
7
0
Hi everyone,
Anyone think the macbook can handle running parallel with Windows 7 loaded will work fine with the base model macbook? Is Parallel really CPU intensive or more memory hungry?
 
fuzion23 said:
Hi everyone,
Anyone think the macbook can handle running parallel with Windows 7 loaded will work fine with the base model macbook? Is Parallel really CPU intensive or more memory hungry?
Click to expand...



it should work fine i think. the cpu is indeed powerful enough to power win7, but probably you don't want to run something like game in win7. and probably you need to keep an eye on the temperature.
as far as memory goes, 8g is enough for osx+win7 for casual use.

maybe you should consider windows thin pc instead of 7. it works better for lower power computers.
 
fuzion23 said:
Hi everyone,
Anyone think the macbook can handle running parallel with Windows 7 loaded will work fine with the base model macbook? Is Parallel really CPU intensive or more memory hungry?
Click to expand...

Parallels is pretty good about not needing much beef from the CPU (depending on what you're doing, of course).

I've run Parallels for several hours a day on a 2011 MBA with an i5 and 4 GB Ram and never had any performance issues. I expect the Core M to do even better.

Also, for what it's worth, Windows 10 is coming soon, and requires even fewer resources to run well.

For further info you can check out reviews of a handful of Windows Core-M devices that are out there already, including the newest Asus Zenbook and Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro.
 
Thanks for the input. Yeah i really use Parallel really for quicken 2015 and vpn for work. I don't think its really heavy load. Just want to see what you guys think. Thanks for the input. Greatly appreciate it.
 
fuzion23 said:
Thanks for the input. Yeah i really use Parallel really for quicken 2015 and vpn for work. I don't think its really heavy load. Just want to see what you guys think. Thanks for the input. Greatly appreciate it.
Click to expand...

I think it should be fine for Quicken provided you don't have much going on in the Mac side. You don't want the CPU having to throttle down because it's getting too hot. Which model did you get? The base or 1.2GHz might actually be better than the 1.3GHz because of this.

Having used a rMBP my main issue with Quicken is that it doesn't play all that nicely with how Windows 7 scales. I'm planning to bite the bullet and install that Windows 8 download that's been "collecting dust" on my MacBook in Boot Camp and see if it works any better.
 
KPOM said:
I think it should be fine for Quicken provided you don't have much going on in the Mac side. You don't want the CPU having to throttle down because it's getting too hot. Which model did you get? The base or 1.2GHz might actually be better than the 1.3GHz because of this.

Having used a rMBP my main issue with Quicken is that it doesn't play all that nicely with how Windows 7 scales. I'm planning to bite the bullet and install that Windows 8 download that's been "collecting dust" on my MacBook in Boot Camp and see if it works any better.
Click to expand...

You'll be glad you did. Win 8 (and 8.1, and so far 10) are much lighter on the system resources than 7 was.
 
I run a parallels win 7 with visual studio on a base 11" air without problems.
 
KPOM said:
I think it should be fine for Quicken provided you don't have much going on in the Mac side. You don't want the CPU having to throttle down because it's getting too hot. Which model did you get? The base or 1.2GHz might actually be better than the 1.3GHz because of this.

Having used a rMBP my main issue with Quicken is that it doesn't play all that nicely with how Windows 7 scales. I'm planning to bite the bullet and install that Windows 8 download that's been "collecting dust" on my MacBook in Boot Camp and see if it works any better.
Click to expand...


I got the base 1.1 GHz model. Will i be able to just run migration assistant so i dont have to setup my parellel wi my windows 7 OS?
 
fuzion23 said:
I got the base 1.1 GHz model. Will i be able to just run migration assistant so i dont have to setup my parellel wi my windows 7 OS?
Click to expand...

In theory yes, provided you have Windows 7 installed as a VM and are not using a Boot Camo partition since the new MacBook doesn't support Windows 7 in Boot Camp.

The new MacBook doesn't have Target Disk (no Thunderbolt), so the fastest way to run Migration Assistant may be to clone your existing Mac onto an external hard drive and then connect that to your new MacBook. Get the USB adapter, of course. In my experience Migration Assistant takes much longer if you use a network connection or Time Machine backup.
 
KPOM said:
In theory yes, provided you have Windows 7 installed as a VM and are not using a Boot Camo partition since the new MacBook doesn't support Windows 7 in Boot Camp.

The new MacBook doesn't have Target Disk (no Thunderbolt), so the fastest way to run Migration Assistant may be to clone your existing Mac onto an external hard drive and then connect that to your new MacBook. Get the USB adapter, of course. In my experience Migration Assistant takes much longer if you use a network connection or Time Machine backup.
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1. It does Bootcamp just fine, actually.

2. Target disk mode works too but you need a special cable. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204360

3. Restoring from time machine backup should do the trick.
 
Thanks everyone I guess I will run the migration assistant when I get the MacBook. Hope it won't feel too sluggish.
 
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