MBA Parallels 15 on a i5/16GB MBA 2020?

[jo5729]

Anyone running Parallels 15 on a i5/16GB MBA 2020? I would just be using it for light Python programming using Ubuntu as the guest VM.

On my current MacBook Pro 2015 (16GB) I have sometimes 1, at most 2 VMs running. Dunno if I can scrape the extra money together for the Pro 2020.

Does this pattern work on a i5/16GB MBA 2020???

 

[niteflyr]

I'm running Windows 10 in Parallels on a 2015 11" MBA i7 dual core 8GB RAM. I'm not a heavy user and rarely use both Win and Mac together all day, but it handles it ok. Try it out. Return it if it doesn't handle the load. It probably will.

 

[jo5729]

Answering my own question...Got an i5/16GB MBA 2020. Using it with an external 4K monitor. Been running 1 Parallels VM (Ubuntu) for several weeks, doing light Python / Java / scripting work, no fan or cooling issues. Did mod the heat sink following the herd on this thread, and have been please with the performance gains.

Also - as a bonus, running the VMs off an external NVME drive, using a Thunderbolt3 enclosure. No performance hit on the VMs, it is as if you are running off the Air's internal drive.

 

[DanTat]

Answering my own question...Got an i5/16GB MBA 2020. Using it with an external 4K monitor. Been running 1 Parallels VM (Ubuntu) for several weeks, doing light Python / Java / scripting work, no fan or cooling issues. Did mod the heat sink following the herd on this thread, and have been please with the performance gains.

Also - as a bonus, running the VMs off an external NVME drive, using a Thunderbolt3 enclosure. No performance hit on the VMs, it is as if you are running off the Air's internal drive.

Do you think the air would've been sufficient if you didn't do the heatsink mod? I think that would void the warranty so im afraid to do that?

I am tryin to decide between i5/16gb/512gb MBA or the base model pro with 16gb/256gb for the same price
I love the gold colour of the air but iddn;t want to run in any hiccups if i decide to bootcamp or anything

 

[jo5729]

Sorry for the late response, wasn't paying attention to this thread.

Driving a 4k monitor + running a VM in Parallels is definitely doable on a stock i5/16gb MBA. I don't know how far past that I would go, certainly running multiple VMs for software development where you are compiling, running, streaming, etc. would be pushing it. Removing the 4k monitor would give you more leeway, definitely.