parallels - imac and macbook air

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i work with both a new 27" iMac and new macbook air running mavericks in a small business that is filled with windows machines running windows 7, 8, and 8.1

i've asked this forum before whether or not is was worth doing a dual boot or just purchasing an inexpensive windows laptop to do some work that requires windows only apps

i really don't want yet another machine to lug around and deal with so i'm considering parallels 9 with windows 8.1

q1...is this doable and/or a bad idea?
q2...since i use both iMac and mba for work does that mean i need to buy 2 copies of parallels and 2 copies of windows 8.1?

despite my former life in tech i thought i left all that behind 20 years ago - now - it seems i'm at it again without much choice - so any words or wisdom would be greatly appreciated
 
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Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
Personally after using Windows 7 professional 64bit via BootCamp, made the decision to purchase a cheap Dell Latitude laptop E series for Windows and forgo Windows on my iMac.
 
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I'm not sure about Parallels, but you may use your Windows 8 license only on one computer. So, yes, you'll have to buy two Windows licenses.

Of course, you can delete Windows from one computer before installing it to the other computer but it seems you want to have it available on both computers in the same time.

Hmm... I found this about Parallels: KB Parallels: Parallels Desktop for Mac licensing policy
It seems two Windows licenses and two Parallels licenses.

Of course installing Parallels and Windows only on one computer is another solution.
 

Raz0rEdge

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I use VMWare Fusion for my virtualization needs. Currently running Linux and Windows 8.1 Pro for work on my rMBP and I share those same VMs with my home iMac..

I use an external HD to keep the VMs so that I only need a single Windows license. I, however, do need two licenses for VMWare fusion.

To run Windows in a virtual environment, you want to look at the system requirements, you'll see you need 2GB for the 64-bit version of Windows 8..and 1GB for the 32-bit..

If your MBA only has 4GB of memory, that means you are splitting the available memory between OS X and Windows and frankly that means neither OS will work really speedily for you. My rMBP and iMac both have 16GB of memory and I give my Linux and Windows VMs 6GB which makes them usable..
 

chscag

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2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
Personally after using Windows 7 professional 64bit via BootCamp, made the decision to purchase a cheap Dell Latitude laptop E series for Windows and forgo Windows on my iMac.

Good choice Harry. I was just today looking at some inexpensive Lenovo notebook computers at my local Office Depot store. Several 11" and 13" models for less than $400 which isn't bad. Of course neither one was a powerhouse, but for running something like Office and a few other Windows programs, they'll suffice.
 
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Plus Charlie something else for us old fellahs to tinker with and keep us out of the pubs!
 
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I am using Parallels 9 on my new iMac and am very happy with the performance of the Windows 7 VM I created with their transport tool.
 

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