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    MBA 13" VM or Parallels??

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by sjones0812, Nov 7, 2010.

  1. sjones0812

    sjones0812 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I know there is a huge thread about this, and I did search.

    I am getting a MBA 13" 2 GHz, 4 GB ram and 256 GB HDD.

    I need to run Windows 7 for Quickbooks and some other windows related stuff. (this will be my first Mac...need my saftey net)

    I do not want to boot camp, I want to embrace and use OSX.

    Thanks in advance.
     
    sjones0812, Nov 7, 2010
    #1
  2. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    So far I've been happy with Parallels 6, no problems to speak of.
     
    Greg, Nov 7, 2010
    #2
  3. Khris

    Khris Yes I am better than you!

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    I prefer Parallels 6 over VMWare.
     
    Khris, Nov 7, 2010
    #3
  4. Rhodan

    Rhodan NBR Expert of Nothing

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    Same here, I bought and tested both before deciding and went with Parallel 6. It is faster and offer more features.

    The only reason I still use Windows is Quickbooks for my business which runs nicely in Parallel. I went the bootcamp way so I can run natively is needed. Having said that it has been at least 2 months since I've booted Windows on my MBP.

    If you can I would recommend getting 8GB of ram, you can find this on ebay for $200. Will make a difference if you use Parallel regularly as you will be able to allocate more ram to Windows while retaining plenty for OS X.
     
    Rhodan, Nov 7, 2010
    #4
  5. crazycanuk

    crazycanuk Notebook Virtuoso

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    MBA cant have 8 GB of RAM and is NOT user upgradable ( no slots, all soldered on )
     
    crazycanuk, Nov 7, 2010
    #5
  6. Rhodan

    Rhodan NBR Expert of Nothing

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    My bad, for whatever reason I was thinking MBP.
     
    Rhodan, Nov 7, 2010
    #6
  7. crazycanuk

    crazycanuk Notebook Virtuoso

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    no worries, I think we have all done that once or twice by now
     
    crazycanuk, Nov 7, 2010
    #7
  8. steve p

    steve p Notebook Evangelist

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    I have always used VirtualBox with Linux so I decided to give it a go with my MBA and it works great plus it's free... just my 2c
     
    steve p, Nov 7, 2010
    #8
  9. CCCLighting

    CCCLighting Newbie

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    The latest version of Parallels runs Windows 7 and various software I use great for me. I will say that I still use bootcamp more often to switch between Windows and OSX but that is mainly because if I know I will be working a while I just prefer to run the needed OS natively since I am a software developer and have sometimes run into programming issues when using virtual machines.
     
    CCCLighting, Nov 8, 2010
    #9
  10. ren3g7ade

    ren3g7ade Notebook Evangelist

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    +1 for Parallels 6
     
    ren3g7ade, Nov 8, 2010
    #10
  11. sjones0812

    sjones0812 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Cool, going to try Parallels. I just picked up a MBA 13". Now I need to set it up.
     
    sjones0812, Nov 8, 2010
    #11
  12. iggiepop

    iggiepop Notebook Consultant

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    To the OP:

    Once you buy Parallels, if you so choose, you can also pick up VMware Fusion for only $9.99 (it's what I did).

    Fusion Upgrade Promotion
     
    iggiepop, Nov 8, 2010
    #12
  13. doh123

    doh123 Without ME its just AWESO

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    just use the free trials and see what works best for you... don't decide until you try it out!
     
    doh123, Nov 8, 2010
    #13
  14. sjones0812

    sjones0812 Notebook Enthusiast

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    loading Parallels and Windows 7 now. It defaulted to to 64 GB of disk space. Not that I need more....but is that normal?
     
    sjones0812, Nov 9, 2010
    #14