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Have a PC and want a MacBook Air

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Acronyc

macrumors 6502a
Jan 24, 2011
912
396
erialvzz805 said:
I mainly use my comp for schoolwork and web browsing, email, pictures etc. nothing hardcore on my end. I would however want to have enough ram to be able to install windows if i had to. Do you have an optical drive?
Click to expand...

I’ve had my 11” MBA since last December and have never needed a CD drive once. Even when I wanted to install Windows 7, I just installed it from a USB drive. I do have a Windows notebook that has an optical drive in case I need it, but I think in the 8 months I’ve had that machine I’ve really only used it once or twice.

After being a lifelong Windows user, the MBA was also my first Mac and it’s the best computer I’ve ever owned. I have a found a few annoyances with OS X, but overall I enjoy it much more than Windows. It’s a very refreshing experience and I can’t recommend it enough. For your uses it would be more than capable. While I’ve never used Parallels, if you install Windows via BootCamp it runs perfectly. My 11” has 4GB and I’ve never had any problems with my Windows partition.
 
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erialvzz805

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 15, 2011
31
0
Los Angeles, CA
kapolani said:
Decided to use my google-fu:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1777?viewlocale=en_US

Even easier. Will be doing this from now on.

*edit

Also, a SSD is highly recommended. In fact, it is a must have.
Click to expand...

Why an SSD over a USB drive?

Acronyc said:
I’ve had my 11” MBA since last December and have never needed a CD drive once. Even when I wanted to install Windows 7, I just installed it from a USB drive. I do have a Windows notebook that has an optical drive in case I need it, but I think in the 8 months I’ve had that machine I’ve really only used it once or twice.

After being a lifelong Windows user, the MBA was also my first Mac and it’s the best computer I’ve ever owned. I have a found a few annoyances with OS X, but overall I enjoy it much more than Windows. It’s a very refreshing experience and I can’t recommend it enough. For your uses it would be more than capable. While I’ve never used Parallels, if you install Windows via BootCamp it runs perfectly. My 11” has 4GB and I’ve never had any problems with my Windows partition.
Click to expand...

Thanks I like the 11" over the 13 because of how small and practical it is, and its looking like the 11" is enough "computer"
 
J

jdechko

macrumors 601
Jul 1, 2004
4,230
325
If you have access to a Windows Machine and either a disc or iso for Windows 7 (maybe vista works, but I don't know), you can use this official method from Microsoft. You basically create a USB flash drive (4GB or greater required) that will let you install Win7 on a Mac/PC without an optical drive.

Running Windows in a virtual machine with Parallels, VMWare or VirtualBox will use up some of the resources on the Air. This isn't a big deal if you're doing some light stuff like iTunes, Browsing and Word Processing. If you're going to be doing some heavy lifting, it's better to boot into Windows natively, which can be set up through BootCamp.
 
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erialvzz805

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 15, 2011
31
0
Los Angeles, CA
Got Ya. Thanks for all the replies. I'm gonna go for the MBA 11" after the refresh. If all else fails, I'll still have two weeks to exchange it.
 
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