I am in the market for a new computer and really wanted something light and portable. However, I am concerned that the MBA will not have the power I need. At times I need to run a Windows virtual machine for various tasks and wanted the ability to maybe run an Ubuntu one too (not at the same time). What has everyone's experience been using Parallels and VMs on the newest model of the MBA?
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Running Parallels w/Win8 on 11-inch 2013 MBA
- Thread starter samo1215
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It depends on your tasks, really. I have Windows 7 running via Parallels on the 2012 Air, and it runs very swimmingly. Of course, I just edit and write documents while playing HD video (I translate stuff), so it isn't anything hardcore, but I had no issues whatsoever.
Thanks for the response. That sounds reassuring. I will most likely just use Windows for some Microsoft Office tasks.
For my Linux VM I'll do some light development work but nothing to intense.
Ideally, I would love to do some music recording work on it too but that is just icing on the cake. Anything audio related that I did do would be pretty minor (i.e. just a handful of tracks for home demos) via Reaper, PT or some other audio suite.
For my Linux VM I'll do some light development work but nothing to intense.
Ideally, I would love to do some music recording work on it too but that is just icing on the cake. Anything audio related that I did do would be pretty minor (i.e. just a handful of tracks for home demos) via Reaper, PT or some other audio suite.
I have the MacBook Air 13" and run Parallels the whole day for my work.
My Windows VM is faster than any other Windows laptop, specially when I run it from my SSD. At the moment I run it from my portable USB 3.0 external hard drive and it's still fast.
I would recommend you windows 7 because the integration is way better and the "metro screen" of windows 8 will piss you off because you can't hide that thing.
My Windows VM is faster than any other Windows laptop, specially when I run it from my SSD. At the moment I run it from my portable USB 3.0 external hard drive and it's still fast.
I would recommend you windows 7 because the integration is way better and the "metro screen" of windows 8 will piss you off because you can't hide that thing.
That is great to hear. I appreciate the input.
My last question is, performance-wise how would one of the new 2013 MBA's stack up against my early 2008, non-unibody MBP?
I know different configurations will play a factor so I was thinking up upgrading the CPU to the i7 and going for 8GBs of RAM in the new MBA. My MBP has 2.5 Ghz Intel Core Duo CPU w/4GBs of RAM. Also my current MBP has a regular hard drive and the Air would have a solid state drive.
My last question is, performance-wise how would one of the new 2013 MBA's stack up against my early 2008, non-unibody MBP?
I know different configurations will play a factor so I was thinking up upgrading the CPU to the i7 and going for 8GBs of RAM in the new MBA. My MBP has 2.5 Ghz Intel Core Duo CPU w/4GBs of RAM. Also my current MBP has a regular hard drive and the Air would have a solid state drive.
I have an 11" MBA of i7/8GB/256GB. I run Windows 8.1 on VMWare, and it's pretty fast. Even i5 should be good enough. The i7 Haswell MBA is about twice as fast as 13" MBP of Core 2 Duo processors. Here are some benchmark results.
http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks
http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks
What version of Parallels are you using? I'm thinking of getting version 8 from NewEgg since there is a $20 rebate effectively making it $10.
Get version 9 for sure ... Huge performance boosts and a lot of new & nice features.
Just curious. Did you really test this out? I am in the same boat. So far, trying trial PD9 seems take more resources and high temp than PD8. I bought PD8 and currently considering upgrading.
Yes - I had PD8 with Windows 7 and a lot of bugs. The switching between screen didn't work properly, it was slower and more unstable.
Since I have PD9 I don't use more resources for my VM, but it's faster, more stable and has less bugs. I assigned 1 CPU and 1GB Ram
So, is it because of you install new Windows 7 VM in PD9, or the same VM you used in PD9? I am now using PD8, don't see any issue though. I use for MS Office and Project only.
I am running a windows 7 vm (a corporate image with stuff preloaded by our IT organization) and an ubuntu 13.10 vm on my 13" mba with 8 gig of ram. I allocate 4 gig to the windows and 1 gig to ubuntu. I have run them both simultaneously but don't do so normally.
For anything windows specific I need to do, it's more than capable.
FWIW I'm using Fusion. And don't forget that VirtualBox is a free alternative.
For anything windows specific I need to do, it's more than capable.
FWIW I'm using Fusion. And don't forget that VirtualBox is a free alternative.
How poor will the performance be running P9 on only a 4gb machine? It would only be used for light MS Office work.
I have a base model 2011 11"MBA / 4 gigs with Parallels / Win7
All I use the windows side for is QuickBooks, Thunderbird for mailing invoices and dropbox - I only give W7 a gig of memory
Everything I do on either OS is plenty fast, especially with the SSD I never wait for anything to happen
My biggest irritation is some of the quick key commands don't work so need to do a little bit more mousing
All I use the windows side for is QuickBooks, Thunderbird for mailing invoices and dropbox - I only give W7 a gig of memory
Everything I do on either OS is plenty fast, especially with the SSD I never wait for anything to happen
My biggest irritation is some of the quick key commands don't work so need to do a little bit more mousing
