Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

foltzie

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 20, 2006
48
0
I'm considering a Macbook Air.

I would be using it as my primary machine and retire my iMac 17inch.

Has anyone ran Parallels (Windows XP), how does it run?

Thanks,
 

Flowero4ka

macrumors regular
Jan 24, 2008
178
0
YEPP!!! I run it and I enjoy it!!! No problems with speed and I can economize my money and not to repay for alternative progs which I have already bought licenses for PC... Have you already bought parallels? If you haven't do it yet, I may advise you a good offer :) Because I use it too!!
 

user13

macrumors regular
Dec 22, 2006
191
0
I use Parallels Desktop every day and it suits me. Everything works pretty fast. I use Parallels mainly for office apps. Windows works perfectly well
 

markwise

macrumors member
Feb 1, 2008
99
0
Almere / Netherlands
parallels and specifications of your MBA

Yep run it here too. No problems what so ever.

Some replied positively on the question whether parallels runs smoothly on the air. Not all however indicated the specifications of their MBA

As I was actually phoned today that an MBA is reserved and waiting for me (1.6/80HD), and I too plan to install parallels (/ XP) and use it with Access applications, I am curious to know which specifications your MBAs have ; also 1.6 80 HD ? or other?

Please can you input ASAP as I am forced to decide to buy or let it go by tomorrow

THX
 

bjdraw

macrumors 6502a
Jan 24, 2008
605
17
Tampa FL
I use it all the time on my 1.6/80 to access my companies VPN (mo Mac support).

My XP image which includes Office etc, is about 6GB so it's not too big to keep on the 80GB HDD.
 

user13

macrumors regular
Dec 22, 2006
191
0
Some replied positively on the question whether parallels runs smoothly on the air. Not all however indicated the specifications of their MBA

Please can you input ASAP as I am forced to decide to buy or let it go by tomorrow
I run Parallels not on MacBookAir - I think I didn't read the first post attentively.
I used to run Parallels with 1 gig of Ram until I upgraded and even then it worked pretty fast. Access applications work fine in Parallels too
 

ddd269

macrumors regular
Jun 5, 2007
138
0
Torrance, CA
Parallels works great with the MBA (1.6 80gb)

I've used it for about 3 weeks with xp. No problems so far.

The only thing I can notice is the display not being very smooth, when scrolling. I guess I can make it smoother if I allocate a bit more resource to Parallels, but it works well enough for me to not tinker with it. Other than that, it's perfect.

I have to use Parallels because some international sites I frequent only works with IE... Otherwise, the the site displays erratically with Firefox and Safari. :(
 

Capt. Morgan

macrumors member
Jan 16, 2008
41
0
I hope this isn't too far off topic - I have a MBA on order (1.6 HDD) and bought Parallels.

Being a Mac guy it just kills me to have to purchase a Microsoft OS, but like some have noted, there are just some web sites that require IE on a peecee. 1) Should I go for XP or Vista; and 2) Where is the best place to obtain this for low cost? Used on EBay?
 

saisrujan

macrumors member
Aug 6, 2007
94
0
1) Should I go for XP or Vista

I've tried both XP and Vista using VMWare Fusion on MBA, and the choice is a no-brainer.

Definitely XP. Vista needs at least 2gb of RAM for itself to run smoothly. So, virtualization is not an option for Vista on MBA because both OS X and Vista nee a lot of memory to run smoothly. So, unless you're planning to run Vista on bootcamp, don't buy Vista. XP runs great on VMWare Fusion. I use XP all day at office with 8-10 applications open at the same time. No issues at all.
 

cohibadad

macrumors 6502a
Jul 21, 2007
893
5
Parallels runs well here on a 1.8 SSD. Afraid I can't comment on the lower spec.

I just re-installed it on my new Air. It's quite speedy, especially with the SSD model.

agreed. runs great. I wouldn't expect 3D to be very speedy though I haven't tried it on the MBA. It was a dog when I tried it on my iMac 2.8 but I heard it has improved.
 

ddd269

macrumors regular
Jun 5, 2007
138
0
Torrance, CA
I hope this isn't too far off topic - I have a MBA on order (1.6 HDD) and bought Parallels.

Being a Mac guy it just kills me to have to purchase a Microsoft OS, but like some have noted, there are just some web sites that require IE on a peecee. 1) Should I go for XP or Vista; and 2) Where is the best place to obtain this for low cost? Used on EBay?


Just like the other posts... XP is the answer. The best place to get it would be a site that sell OEM package Windows. These are not the retail packaged versions and was meant to be sold with new computers/manufacturers at a discounted price. Even if you get the retail version, make sure you don't get an "upgrade" version, because it will not install unless you have a previous version of Windows and the Parallels and VM Fusion need XP with service pack 2... I think. Regardless, make sure you get the full version.

newegg.com is a good place to get these, but most computer sites carry these OEM Windows.
 

aristobrat

macrumors G5
Oct 14, 2005
12,292
1,403
FWIW, only Boot Camp requires XP SP2.

Fusion and Parallels should be able to install dang near any version of any Intel OS! :)
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,370
8,952
a better place
As I was actually phoned today that an MBA is reserved and waiting for me (1.6/80HD), and I too plan to install parallels (/ XP) and use it with Access applications, I am curious to know which specifications your MBAs have ; also 1.6 80 HD ? or other?

Please can you input ASAP as I am forced to decide to buy or let it go by tomorrow


Just the stock 1.6 / 80GB HDD :)
 

chicken123

macrumors newbie
Mar 2, 2008
20
0
Please do not use Parallels on the Macbook Air. It keeps crashing. There are already some discussions about this on the Parallels forum. I have just bought the Macbook air and is very frustrated because Parallels keep crashing with increasing frequency with my MBA.
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,370
8,952
a better place
Please do not use Parallels on the Macbook Air. It keeps crashing. There are already some discussions about this on the Parallels forum. I have just bought the Macbook air and is very frustrated because Parallels keep crashing with increasing frequency with my MBA.

Hasn't crashed on mine. :confused:
 

dicin

macrumors newbie
Feb 9, 2008
10
0
I had a Dell XPS / M1210 about 9 months old and purchased a MBA 1.6 / 80.

I first installed bootcamp along with Win XP and made sure it ran properly. I installed all of the Microsoft Office 2003 suite. I made sure it operated fine and then I did all of the upgrades to both Win XP and Office.
After all of that I installed Parallel as a VM and it works fine with no crashes etc.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.