Developing in a VM on a Mac

[gotw]

For non-Apple specific development (e.g. Python/Java/web/Windows/Linux), does anyone have experience doing so in a VM (as opposed to dual booting)? I am getting an MBA soon and am wondering how I should configure it for non-Apple development. I really like the idea of VMs to avoid trashing my host system when trying things out, but (at least on VMware on Windows) things sometimes go wrong (e.g. CapsLock swapping state, VMware crashing using VPN). I am really just polling for experiences, suggestions, etc.
Thanks!

 

[vansmith]

For non-Apple specific development (e.g. Python/Java/web/Windows/Linux)

Much of that, specifically Python, Java and web development, can be done on a Mac. How much non-Mac platform specific development are you doing?

 

[gotw]

Much of that, specifically Python, Java and web development, can be done on a Mac. How much non-Mac platform specific development are you doing?

Mostly non-Mac (rather platform neutral) development. I know I can do Java and Python on the Mac natively, but as I mentioned one of the benefits of VM-based development is easy recovery from trashing the development environment. I'm really trying to hear anecdotes on VM development on Mac and tips/suggestions for doing so.
Thanks

 

[vansmith]

It'll be like doing any sort of work in a VM - you'll have all the benefits of running an OS natively aside from the performance hit. Depending on how intense you're developing, that performance hit may be significant. What kind of specs are you working with?

 

[gotw]

It'll be like doing any sort of work in a VM - you'll have all the benefits of running an OS natively aside from the performance hit. Depending on how intense you're developing, that performance hit may be significant. What kind of specs are you working with?

Top of the line Macbook Air.
Thanks

 

[vansmith]

You'll need to be more specific than that. What are the specs of that machine?

 

[gotw]

You'll need to be more specific than that. What are the specs of that machine?

Sorry, I didn't mean to be vague. Here are the specs.

13-inch MacBook Air
2.2GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz
Intel HD Graphics 6000
8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM
256GB PCIe-based Flash Storage

Thanks

 

[vansmith]

That should be fine for some light to moderately heavy coding and compilation. Worst case, you simply install Windows to the disk.