VMWare performance on the new 13" MBA

[alphaxono]

Hi,

i have been using the MBA 13/2GB/128GB SSD for the past 16 months as my primary computer. I love this computer since I travel quite a bit.

Lately my job requires me to run some sandbox environments within vmware to try out new functionality. This is where the "old" Air is coming almost to a halt. The performance is incredibly poor.

Has anyone tried to run vmware/parallels on the new Macbook Air with 4GB of ram? Do you experience any lags?

I am thinking of going back to a Macbook Pro 15, just because i need to do some virtualization.

Would love some feedback.

Thanks

 

[elwood58]

I think the MacBook Airs are pretty weak when it comes to running additional Virtual Machine environments. I use Virtual Box (Oracle Open Source), which is less demanding, and less feature rich, than VMWare Fusion or Parallels, and it still is fairly slow. For the MBA, I chose to use Bootcamp with Windows 7, which performs very well. By adding MacDrive, I am still able to use a single file storage system for space saving purposes.

 

[ktowe]

13/2.13/4/256

Fusion3 + Windows 7 (64) = No hiccups

 

[Jaro65]

13/2.13/4/256

Fusion3 + Windows 7 (64) = No hiccups

Good to know. What is your CPU utilization like when you're running the VM?

I'll be trying to do the same on the maxed out 11.6" MBA.

 

[ktowe]

Good to know. What is your CPU utilization like when you're running the VM?

I'll be trying to do the same on the maxed out 11.6" MBA.

 

[Jaro65]

Thank you! That is superb.

 

[masterslacker]

Anyone running VMware with a Linux virtual machine? I'm debating between more portability with the 11" vs. a little more horsepower with the 13".

 

[henry72]

If you're going use VM, 4GB of RAMs is a MUST

 

[elwood58]

If you're going use VM, 4GB of RAMs is a MUST

I definitely think my 2 GB of Ram is part of the limitation.

 

[MrWillie]

So can you wipe the drive, install Windows, and run OSX in a VM????

Oh, and I am serious. I need to use too many Windows only programs to make my child support payments, but I like OSX and Apple's customer support.

 

[bossxii]

So can you wipe the drive, install Windows, and run OSX in a VM????

Oh, and I am serious. I need to use too many Windows only programs to make my child support payments, but I like OSX and Apple's customer support.

On a Mac you can one of two things to run Windows. Install a VM software such as Parallels or you can use Boot camp which is free and already in OSX when you buy a mac. You simply setup windows so that you choose either to boot into OSX or boot into Windows.

With the solid state storage on the MBA, I'm thinking boot camp will be very nice considering it will take only a few seconds to switch from one to another. Really comes down to personal preference on which one you want to use, obviously the VM route will cost you more money as the boot camp software is part of OSX.

 

[MrWillie]

On a Mac you can one of two things to run Windows. Install a VM software such as Parallels or you can use Boot camp which is free and already in OSX when you buy a mac. You simply setup windows so that you choose either to boot into OSX or boot into Windows.

With the solid state storage on the MBA, I'm thinking boot camp will be very nice considering it will take only a few seconds to switch from one to another. Really comes down to personal preference on which one you want to use, obviously the VM route will cost you more money as the boot camp software is part of OSX.

Yea, thanks I forgot about the speedy boots MY last MB (company owned) was Windows only and was taken from my car. The idiot left my $1200 tool bag and about $14000 of test equipment.

I buy my kids and the wife's kid MBs and iMacs, now it's finally my turn again.