VMware Fusion & Battery Life on 2016 MBP without Touchbar?

[joesegh]

Hi all,

I currently use a 2012 MBA (i7 Ivy Bridge with 8GB of RAM) as my work computer. I end up having to do lots of things in Windows (via VMware Fusion), such as Visio and some other specialized applications, but I love Mac OS (used it for my personal machines for many years).

My MBA has had its battery destroyed by VMware (running two OS's is kind of hard on a machine!). It gets about 1 hour only using web browsing, or about 20 minutes if I'm running both OS's concurrently. When I first got the machine 4.5 years ago, I was able to eke out about 2 hours when running VMware. So I'm perpetually tied to a power outlet at this point, which really isn't that big of a deal.

I'm to the point of considering my upgrade options. My work uses HP and Apple as its approved suppliers. I can either go with an HP Spectre x360 (a very nice looking machine), or with some type of Mac laptop. I really don't want to go 100% Windows and give up my beloved Mac OS. I'm seriously eyeing the 2016 MBP 13" without Touchbar, but I'm curious if anyone has any experience with running VMware on the device, and how performance and battery life hold up.

The MBA that I have only had a 5 hour rated battery life when it came out, and these new ones are 10+ hours, even more with the 15W i5, so that's mainly why I'm tempted to go down the road of guaranteed battery destruction for another 4-5 years.

Thanks in advance for your advice/experience!

 

[ZapNZs]

This might not help you much, but I can get 2+ hours under moderately heavy load running a Windows VM with non-factory settings tuned more towards performance, which the nTB runs well for what it is (i.e., not a 15.) I'll time next time for lighter usage with a Win 7 VM. If I had to guess I'd say 4+ hours, but I could be underestimating or overestimating that, as I tend to lose track of time when working. I sometimes use Visio 2007 on the virtual machine in conjunction with OmniGraffle on the host OS - although I can't honestly say too much about how those specific Apps impact my battery life when used as the main working Apps. From a performance perspective, I am very satisfied with the nTB's compromise of form factor, capability, endurance, usability.

Almost everything I have heard about the X360 has been extremely positive, from both home and business Users.

 

[joesegh]

This might not help you much, but I can get 2+ hours under moderately heavy load running a Windows VM with non-factory settings tuned more towards performance, which the nTB runs well for what it is (i.e., not a 15.) I'll time next time for lighter usage with a Win 7 VM. If I had to guess I'd say 4+ hours, but I could be underestimating or overestimating that, as I tend to lose track of time when working. I sometimes use Visio 2007 on the virtual machine in conjunction with OmniGraffle on the host OS - although I can't honestly say too much about how those specific Apps impact my battery life when used as the main working Apps. From a performance perspective, I am very satisfied with the nTB's compromise of form factor, capability, endurance, usability.

Almost everything I have heard about the X360 has been extremely positive, from both home and business Users.

Thanks for your feedback. Would love to know battery performance on a basic workload. I'm mostly doing some Outlook and Visio in Windows, and all my web browsing and document editing on the Mac OS side.