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Windows on MacBook Air

J

JWBII

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 5, 2013
17
0
I don't particularly want windows on my Mac computer but it seems a program I want called blue beam is only available for windows. I don't want to have to carry around 2 laptops just for one program so I'd like to see if this is even an option worth trying.

I have a 2013 Mac air base model

128 ssd

1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5

4gb memory

Is this model even worth trying this with or will it be entirely too limited to try. I am on a budget so if upgrading to a larger model is the only option I'll need to start planning. If it's possible to do then I'd like to do it. I'm ok with giving up a little space but not if it will slow my computer down. I put most all of my filed on a sad card so as not to take up space so no problems there. I won't compromise when it comes to the speed of my computer as it is now. I'm happy with the performance.

Any advice and suggestions are appreciated. If you have done this please share your experience. I'm not a tech savvy guy when it comes to installing things but I can get around my computer well enough to get things done I think. I'll probably sound like an idiot with some of my questions so I hope you'll forgive me lol.
 
Windows will work fine on your Air. The only think I'd be concerned about is the storage space of your Mac. Windows 7 with all the updates takes about 40GB of space. Windows 8.1 is lighter and takes about 25GB of space.
You can use Bootcamp to run it natively or use Parallels to run it in virtual environment. With Parallels, you don't need to reboot your Air to get in Windows. You can run OS X and Windows at the same time. But your Air having only 4GB of RAM can be a problem to run both at the same time.
 
z31fanatic said:
Windows will work fine on your Air. The only think I'd be concerned about is the storage space of your Mac. Windows 7 with all the updates takes about 40GB of space. Windows 8.1 is lighter and takes about 25GB of space.
You can use Bootcamp to run it natively or use Parallels to run it in virtual environment. With Parallels, you don't need to reboot your Air to get in Windows. You can run OS X and Windows at the same time. But your Air having only 4GB of RAM can be a problem to run both at the same time.
Click to expand...
with bootcamp there won't be a problem right?
 
I'm assuming that this will partition my drive and I will have to choose how big to make it or does it do it automatically? If I do it myself I'd need to find out how much space windows as well as any additional programs I want to put on windows will require right?
 
With just 128 GB SSD, Parallels is vastly preferable. Otherwise, you'll have to partition enough disk space for Windows that you won't get into problems. Which means a bit of a buffer, and this will cost you dearly on such a small SSD.

I would either get Parallels or if that really isn't possible, boot Windows off of an external SSD:
http://apple.stackexchange.com/ques...ws-7-on-external-drive-and-boot-it-from-a-mac
 
Can't you find an alternative which run on Mac? It will save you a lot of trouble.. and a windows license..
 
I ran Windows on a 2012 Air (4/128GB) under VirtualBox with no problems for a couple of years - keep your Windows installation lean and store "data" on an external drive (flash or HDD) to minimise impact on your SSD. Another option is to try and get a copy of Windows XP - a very small footprint (both disk and RAM) with relatively low overheads. I have used VirtualBox for a few years to host Windows. VirtualBox is free (you still need a Windows licence of course) and although perhaps a little less user-friendly than Parallels, I find it very stable and more than fast enough - I run Photoshop CS3 with no issues.
 
Significant1 said:
Can't you find an alternative which run on Mac? It will save you a lot of trouble.. and a windows license..
Click to expand...

If there is an alternative program that offers all that blue beam revu has I'm all for it but I have yet to find one. I work in the construction field and it will edit plans as well as find a distance if I want. PDF editors don't offer a measuring tool that I know of.
 
cerberusss said:
With just 128 GB SSD, Parallels is vastly preferable. Otherwise, you'll have to partition enough disk space for Windows that you won't get into problems. Which means a bit of a buffer, and this will cost you dearly on such a small SSD.

I would either get Parallels or if that really isn't possible, boot Windows off of an external SSD:
http://apple.stackexchange.com/ques...ws-7-on-external-drive-and-boot-it-from-a-mac
Click to expand...

Do you know if I install windows on an external drive will that allow me to install blue beam on the external drive as well. I'd like to be able to do that.
 
I have the same 213 air base model with Windows7 in bootcamp. when you run the bootcamp install you will be prompted if you want to keep the 50/50% division or you can use the slider to increase/decrease that amount. I chose to use 30gb for Windows and 90 for OSX. With Office 2007 installed on the Windows side, I have 2gb free, which is OK with me as I only use Windows once in a great while and I wanted as much disk space for OSX as I could get. If you think you would like more room in Windows you can adjust that slider when installing. I would not try to use less that 30gb as a bootcamp partition if you plan on installing other software besides Office. I also have a "NiftyDrive" with a 64gb Samsung EVO Micro SD card in the SDcard slot for additional storage. I formatted it as exFat so it can be used from either OS.
 
I have office for Mac already installed. I'd only be installing blue beam, no more than that.
 
JWBII said:
I have office for Mac already installed. I'd only be installing blue beam, no more than that.
Click to expand...
Then I would suggest using 40gb partition for Windows so you will have room for all Windows updates to come. Without Office installed on the Windows partition you will have more free space that I currently have if you decide to use a 30gb partition. With my 30gb partition, I am soon going to run out of disk space for future updates.
 
JWBII said:
If there is an alternative program that offers all that blue beam revu has I'm all for it but I have yet to find one. I work in the construction field and it will edit plans as well as find a distance if I want. PDF editors don't offer a measuring tool that I know of.
Click to expand...
I did a quick search for pdf measuring and ended up with PDF studio
https://www.qoppa.com/pdfstudio/
How well it matches Bluebeam Revu (which I guess is the product we are actually discussing) features I can't say, it does have measuring. You can download and try the free trial.

If you still end up, having to run windows, with the specs of your machine in mind, I think you would be happier to go all in on windows, instead of juggling with two operating systems.
 
Significant1 said:
I did a quick search for pdf measuring and ended up with PDF studio
https://www.qoppa.com/pdfstudio/
How well it matches Bluebeam Revu (which I guess is the product we are actually discussing) features I can't say, it does have measuring. You can download and try the free trial.

If you still end up, having to run windows, with the specs of your machine in mind, I think you would be happier to go all in on windows, instead of juggling with two operating systems.
Click to expand...


Thanks for that suggestion. I just tried the measuring tool in pdf studio. It is way too inaccurate for me to use in my field unfortunately.
 
I have it on my 11" Air (2013) with 4GB RAM and Win7 works fine in Bootcamp. There is one big drawback though: the touchpad is very jerky, the drivers are not great by any means. Not sure if this is the same when using Parallels or VirtualBox but I didn't try since the 4GB RAM might be a bit tight there.
In terms of partition I have offered Windows 50GB in order to install office and have a bit of headroom. I hardly ever use it though, I only need it for some banking software that does not exist for Mac and very rarely in Office - the Mac Office is simply not the same.
 
JWBII said:
I don't particularly want windows on my Mac computer but it seems a program I want called blue beam is only available for windows. I don't want to have to carry around 2 laptops just for one program so I'd like to see if this is even an option worth trying.

I have a 2013 Mac air base model

128 ssd

1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5

4gb memory

Is this model even worth trying this with or will it be entirely too limited to try. I am on a budget so if upgrading to a larger model is the only option I'll need to start planning. If it's possible to do then I'd like to do it. I'm ok with giving up a little space but not if it will slow my computer down. I put most all of my filed on a sad card so as not to take up space so no problems there. I won't compromise when it comes to the speed of my computer as it is now. I'm happy with the performance.

Any advice and suggestions are appreciated. If you have done this please share your experience. I'm not a tech savvy guy when it comes to installing things but I can get around my computer well enough to get things done I think. I'll probably sound like an idiot with some of my questions so I hope you'll forgive me lol.
Click to expand...

Why not do a Windows XP install in Parallels Desktop?
It is light-weight (runs great under 1GB of ram), saves battery life and storage space (about 4GB to 5GB with Office 2010 installed), and should be compatible with Blue Beam.
 
vista980622 said:
Why not do a Windows XP install in Parallels Desktop?
It is light-weight (runs great under 1GB of ram), saves battery life and storage space (about 4GB to 5GB with Office 2010 installed), and should be compatible with Blue Beam.
Click to expand...
The drawback being, that XP does not receive any security updates anymore. I am no saying XP is bad but that is something to consider!
 
MarvinHC said:
The drawback being, that XP does not receive any security updates anymore. I am no saying XP is bad but that is something to consider!
Click to expand...

What about disconnecting the virtual machine from the internet?
That way, you can still access necessary programs and files, but the attack surface is dramatically reduced and OP should be safe :)
 

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JWBII said:
Thanks for that suggestion. I just tried the measuring tool in pdf studio. It is way too inaccurate for me to use in my field unfortunately.
Click to expand...
I don't know your workflow, but I wonder why it is not CAD-drawings. Autocad exist for Mac and their is also quite a few CAD-viewers in app store. You might even be able to open/insert a pdf document into autocad. I can't check because I don't have it installed anymore, but I know it works with pictures, because I have used AutoCad to do measurement on photos.
 
Significant1 said:
I don't know your workflow, but I wonder why it is not CAD-drawings. Autocad exist for Mac and their is also quite a few CAD-viewers in app store. You might even be able to open/insert a pdf document into autocad. I can't check because I don't have it installed anymore, but I know it works with pictures, because I have used AutoCad to do measurement on photos.
Click to expand...


I had turbo cad and it wouldn't accept pdf files. My impression was that auto cad was very expensive and would be out of my budget and I'm not gonna buy it just to find out it doesn't work for what I need.

I am a plumber and the plans I have access to are PDF only, never cad.
 
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