Running Windows

Hi All,

I love my MacBook Air (1st or 2nd generation hardware, not sure exactly). BUT, I'm much more familiar with Windows, and there are some tools I need that are only Windows based.

I need them running Side-by-Side, so Boot Camp is ruled out. Leaving Parallels and VMware.

I'm also confused as to how they work--- the websites seem to keep using the word "virtual" computer--- will Windows be working on my computer, or am I remotely accessing another PC?

Considering my specs, should I chose Windows XP or Windows 7? Will 7 be more taxing on my MacBook? Is there a better way to get them running side by side?

Thanks so much, I know it was a mouthful!!

I really appreciate any feedback

sakhai

SPECS:
Model Name: MacBook Air
Model Identifier: MacBookAir1,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 1.6 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBA11.00BB.B03
SMC Version (system): 1.23f20
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

VMware will run on your laptop while OSX is running. Just like you want, a separate window that displays Windows XP/Vista. However, this does utilize your laptops resources. If you plan on doing resource hungry tasks it may not run flawlessly. I ran VMware on a laptop with similar specs (sony vaio VGN-FW351j) last year and it works, but its not like having two computers. It lags a bit. But if your doing simpler tasks it should be fine. My personal experience.

I'd recommend Parallels 5. Seems to work much better than VMWare for the Mac. Also - on the Air I'd probably run XP if you have a disk for it. Windows 7 may be fine but you'd probably have to turn off all the pretty bits.

Your other problem is when you run a VM - you need disk drive space. I'd recommend using bootcamp - to install windows. Then use Parallels to point to the bootcamp partition. You could make virtual disks too - bypassing bootcamp - but the nice thing about this setup is - if you need windows to run faster you can dual boot - but most of the time you can just run inside a virtual machine.

Thanks for the input guys---

I ended up getting Parallels 5 Desktop and I'm really happy with the results thus far!

Here is the documentation for Parallels 5.
Documentation: Parallels Desktop 5 for Mac

I recommend going the the getting started guide.

Spoke far too soon

Thanks everyone for being so kind and patient with me.

I am running Windows XP Professional running SP 3.

Again specs are:
SPECS:
Model Name: MacBook Air
Model Identifier: MacBookAir1,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 1.6 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz

Things were going fine, I installed a few PC applications without a problem (Daemon Tools, PhraseExpress, FXCM Trading Station)

Then I started getting these messages that some of the applications couldn't be installed because of some hiccup during initializing.

It happened during WinRar, Google Chrome, FXCM Strategy Trader (different program than mentioned above).

(I realize I can use some of these in the native MAC OSX, but the point is I paid for Parallels for this very reason).

In the case of Google Chrome and FXCM Strategy Trader, the programs would install, but the programs could not be started.

See examples (It's a Google Doc, it won't bite):

ErrorList.pdf

be luggage

Draaaaaaaaaaagggggooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

Love the avatar, btw


Help!

There's also VirtualBox, which is free, but probably too late now.