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Running windows
- Thread starter alidstone
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Depending of what you do, yes.
Just to ''run'' it, there is no problem using a VM (I do have virtual box running windows 10 on it at the moment on my 2014 mba, with only 2gb ram assigned to it, it is not optimal, but functional.)
It will run even better if you install thru boot camp.
Just to ''run'' it, there is no problem using a VM (I do have virtual box running windows 10 on it at the moment on my 2014 mba, with only 2gb ram assigned to it, it is not optimal, but functional.)
It will run even better if you install thru boot camp.
What about a 2015 MBA 1.6ghz with 4gb of Ram? No virtual stuff, just run it natively i guess you would say? I have a spare key i bought cheap from reddit and never got around to using. I was going to try it through bootcamp. I play a lot of indie games on steam and sometimes getting my Xbox One controller is a pain in the ass working with OSX. Its literally plug and play through Windows 8.1 obviously 
I've got a mid 2013 i7 8 gig MBA which runs windows 7 via bootcamp very well, as well as within a VM which is allocated 4 gig. The VM uses the bootcamp partition as its source. No perceivable performance difference between the 2 instances.
Don't know about windows 8, haven't installed it as I prefer 7.
Best of luck.
Don't know about windows 8, haven't installed it as I prefer 7.
Best of luck.
I have owned the following two MBAs:
- Mid-2011 i7, 4GB, 256GB
- Mid 2013 i7, 8GB, 256GB
Both ran Windows 7 100% of the time and they ran it flawlessly. They perform as expected, i.e. they run as fast as any similarly specced Windows PC would. Windows is not more taxing than OS X, so if you're happy with OS X performance you should be happy with Windows performance.
I might add that I work as an engineer/developer, so I've run a lot of stuff on these machines, not just web browsing and playing music.
EDIT: And I know you asked about Win 8/10. Win 8 is fully supported by Apple and does not run slower than Win 7. Regarding Win 10 support, I can't really say. I'm guessing there will be official Boot Camp support once it launches. I would expect it to run just as well as Win 7/8.
- Mid-2011 i7, 4GB, 256GB
- Mid 2013 i7, 8GB, 256GB
Both ran Windows 7 100% of the time and they ran it flawlessly. They perform as expected, i.e. they run as fast as any similarly specced Windows PC would. Windows is not more taxing than OS X, so if you're happy with OS X performance you should be happy with Windows performance.
I might add that I work as an engineer/developer, so I've run a lot of stuff on these machines, not just web browsing and playing music.
EDIT: And I know you asked about Win 8/10. Win 8 is fully supported by Apple and does not run slower than Win 7. Regarding Win 10 support, I can't really say. I'm guessing there will be official Boot Camp support once it launches. I would expect it to run just as well as Win 7/8.
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Yes, it will run very well. Windows 8.1 is very stable, and I'm finding win10 even in preview status to be incredibly stable.
My 4GB/i5/256 Air boots and loads applications in Windows 7 faster than my i7-3770 16GB desktop. In fact it is a little faster than OS X. Really takes advantage of that PCIe SSD. But the stock Bootcamp trackpad driver is poor, and it runs a bit hot.
As others have said, Windows is not a problem at all for an Air. Especially Windows 8.1 or 10 which are faster and more stable than 7.
2015 model? I have a 2015 MBA 13" with 4GB ram 128SSD was wondering how well windows 8.1 would run via bootcamp. So it runs good with 4GB ram? I don't do anything video editing or stuff like that at all.
Remember that Microsoft targets Windows for broad market acceptance and most people don't buy new computers every year. I would guess that most people still have computers with 2GB of RAM. So yes, Windows will run fine with 4GB.
Of course it will run good. I have W8.1 on a small PC box with a Celeron processor and 2gb of ram and it runs perfectly fine for most tasks.
W8.1 is light on resources and doesn't need much power to run on.
I can get a key via reddit for like $25 i feel like doing it for the giggles since i never tried windows on a macbook, would like to try.
Plus some indie games via steam are a PAIN in the ass to get to run via plug and play with the Xbox Controller. You need to have all these apps and extensions open. Where on windows you just literally plug and play.
I run 7 on two MBPros, 1 MBAir 13 and both of my iMac 27 and have never had a problem with Window's stability.
I use Win 7 on BootCamp 99% of the time on all of these devices.
Never a problem!