Bootcamp with 2012 MBA

I currently have a fully loaded 2011 13" MBA. I run only windows and love the MBA hardware. The whole ata only in windows really annoys me and i can't give up sleep mode to get proper drive support. That being said with the 2012 MBA are there inpovements with the windows drivers? I believe that on the new mpbr machines the drivers are better.

Also how is the windows boot time on the 2012 MBA with Bootcamp?

 

From what I have read, the SSD is still being recognized as an ATA drive and not SATA on the 2012 MacBook Pro, retina MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air systems.

 

I read the opposite, that the new Bootcamp drivers for the 2012 Air activates AHCI and registers a WEI score of 7.9.

 

That is some great news. I guess it is time to upgrade the air.

 

thats great thanks isira

 

Has there been any hard confirmation of this from a review/tech website aside from a post in a set of forums?

 

I'll give you hard confirmation in a few days. Our MBA is due to be delivered by 7/3.

 

Did your machine arrive? Mine should arrive next week, and I'm very curious if this has been resolved.


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I'm sorry. I totally spaced out and forgot about that test. I did check and see that the internal Samsung SSD is using the Microsoft AHCI driver but I didn't check the data management status for TRIM and other characteristics.

What do you specifically need confirmed? I can run some checks tonight or tomorrow.

I nuked the bootcamp partition but it's easy to re-create for a few tests.

 

Thanks for the quick response! Just wanted confirm full AHCI support and TRIM. But I'll have mine soon enough, that's a lot of work just to assuage my impatience.


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It's no problem. It's easy to install and test. To answer your question, the MBA is certainly using AHCI and supporting trim functions for the flash storage. No worries there.

I have included some attachments. There is a screenshot of the data management status under Windows 7 x64 indicating TRIM is alive. There is a screenshot of the AHCI driver and version installed by bootcamp setup.

There is a screenshot of the Win7 WEI.

The final two screenshots are synthetic benchmark runs (Crystal and Bench32) against the Samsung Series 830 flash storage in my MBA. I am not sure if the MBA 128GB models also have Samsung controllers and flash storage.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I'll keep the partition and installation around for awhile.

 

Thanks so much! Exactly what I wanted to know. Except of course now I'm even more anxious to get the machine.


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thanks for doing the tests Thors.Hammer I had seen it posted before that it had ahci driver and trim but lost the post. the windows index score should be higher too

 

That's awesome. I went back to my original sources and they changed their statements to reflect the findings as well. I would hope that a tech website would put this information in their review instead of just saying "nothing's changed" or simply say "we haven't checked it yet, come back when we finish that portion."

 

Regarding the 2012 MBA storage, Les did some pretty comprehensive testing in two parts. They purchased two different Air's. One with the 128GB Toshiba flash storage, and another with the 256GB Samsung storage.

See MacBook Air 13" Ivy Bridge (mid-2012) MBA Ultrabook Review and SSD Performance Analysis - The SSD Review for the Samsung review.

See MacBook Air (mid-2012) MBA Review Part 2 - Samsung and Toshiba (SandForce) SSDs Go Head To Head - The SSD Review for the Toshiba review.

To summarize his findings, Apple is using top quality components in the Air.

I am doing some other tests on the Intel HD 4000 iGPU in my Air as we speak. I just reset the power profile to high performance and the WEI numbers are now 6.9, 7.4, 6.5, 6.5, 7.9. This is consistent with the other Ivy Bridge Intel HD 4000 tests I've been running on different brands. I will update the screenshot shortly. I had planned to come back to it today. Glad I did.

 

How are the USB 3.0 speeds? The USB 2.0 speeds were crippled under BootCamp. I expect Apple do the same for USB 3.0. They must keep something to annoy Windows users. Of course, the bad trackpad driver and keyboard backlighting problem will exist forever.

 

What bad trackpad driver? What backlighting problem are you referring to?

 

I have to agree with Thors here. What bad trackpad driver? What backlighting problem are you referring to?

W7 Bootcamp on my i7 2.0 8gb 512Gb MBA13 works like a breeze. Only issue so far is the unavailble sleep mode. Other than that it works terrific.

 

Maybe it was just trolling.

Wow, you really have the tricked out MBA. My daughters Air is the new i5 8GB 256GB model. Damn thing is fast and cool. I'm considering cancelling my rMBP order and just going with another Air.

I wish the 13.3" rMBP was on the market right now so I could see the full specs and price.

What to do...

 

When you say "fast and cool," do you mean thermally? Or aesthetically?

Mine (i5/8GB/256GB) is on a plane from Shanghai, I'm going crazy waiting for it...


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Both. It runs silent and cool. I added a Moshi iGlaze Translucent case to help prevent scratches. Nice case. I'll let you know in a year how that is holding up.

 

Awesome, thanks!


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Let me make a quick clarification since the comment is in the bootcamp thread.

When I say silent and cool, I am talking about running OS X Lion on the 2012 MBA, not Windows 7.

I prefer to run Windows in a VM.

 

I'm leaning in that direction as well. So: does running Windows in a VM retain the various advantages of OS X? E.g., good standby time, quick resume from standby, silent/cool running? That is, when running Windows for common productivity apps (browsing, Office, Evernote, etc), definitely not gaming.

I'm getting a MacBook Air for a mix of Windows and OS X, and because it's the best thin/light machine on the market. But, I'm definitely more of a Windows productivity user than I am OS X user...

Oh, and this is relevant because it's a data point in making the decision between running in bootcamp vs. a VM...

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Yes, by running OS X you get the benefits of tuned power management, thermals, fan speed, sleep/resume, etc.

If you decide to use Fusion for your VM, make sure to turn on power management passthrough to the VM. Fusion does a remarkable job handling lid closure suspends, resumes, etc. It's rather impressive.

I haven't yet measured the impact of a VM on the actual fan speed, temp, CPU overhead, etc. to see really how much it degrades the OS X experience. Anecdotal evidence indicates it is there, but minor. There is a world of difference on the 2012 MBA with 8GB RAM, and the mid 2011 MBA I used to have. Both operating systems coexist much better with the added resources, fast flash storage, etc.

I'll look into dropping some monitors on the MBA to see how much the temp increases with the VM active, Aero Glass turned on, etc.

I am trying to decide today if I cancel my rMBP order or not and buy another MBA. This one is "supposed" to be for my daughter. I might assert parental rights and put her in line for another one.

 

Thanks for all of the insights. Seems like my biggest decision will be Parallels or Fusion. I'm finding so much conflicting info, I suppose I'll have to just try them both and see which best fits my needs.


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Like I thought. Running a Fusion VM with Windows 7 Ultimate x64 has very little impact on the environment. It raises the temp from 40-42C to 50-55C (observed). The exhaust fan runs at 1900-2000rpm nearly all the time. No significant changes.

Gotta love the 8GB MBA.

 

Excellent!


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I would have gone for the rMBP if it weren't for the fact that I am constantly traveling. Some of the airlines I fly with have really schizophrenic regulations so I sometimes find myself restricted to what I can fit into a Crumpler Landing Gear bag *and* stay below 12Kg ... Hence the MBA. Currently there is nothing that even comes close when it comes to portability and sheer horsepower combined. The rMBP may be thinner, but it still is 15" ... And with an i7, 8Gb and a lighting fast SSD, my VMs are really snazzy ....

 

Hello all,

I am very inclined to switch on a MBA but my primary use will on Win 7 since I need it for business. I have a few questions about the way how Win 7 works in bootcamp configuration.

- What is the duration of cold boot-up and shutdown of Win 7 on bootcamp?
- I have the same question for sleep/wake-up time but I read somewhere sleep and wake-up was not working with bootcamp. is that true?
- I'd like to take benefit of tax free and discounted MBA price of Amazon but Amazon only has the base model which is MBA with 4GB memory. That makes me wondering about the impact of not going for 8GB version of the MBA. 4GB RAM usually is enough for Win 7 64 bit and setting up a page file may help on more memory demanding workload without having a big impact on performance thanks to very fast SSD. That being said I am also wondering the real world experiences on that. Can anyone chime on this?
- Running bootcamp partition from a VM would also make sense in order to conserve more battery power where you only need to read/edit emails or doing lightweight work, web browsing etc but again the questions is how the 4GB MBA hold up this type of use.

I have been also thinking to give a shout on Samsung Series 9 13.3" since it is a little bit at the lightweight side against MBA as well as having better support on Win 7 but still fell like I am more inclined towards MBA.

Any comments, feedback on that will much appreciated

 

get the samsung. the bad trackpad performance in windows is reason enough to steer clear of the MBA, plus it's not worth it to juggle operating systems just for kicks. you'd need to keep OS X installed to get firmware updates, and hard drive space is precious on an SSD. I wouldn't worry about the page file at all, you aren't likely to run into any issues.

4 GB of memory is plenty for most users, but you could tell us what you intend to use it for.

 

Thanks for your prompt response Masterchef,

the trackpad performance is actually another thing I have been concerned but since I don't have any experience with it I don't know if it is gonna be a show stopper for me or not. I thought that regular use of pointer tracking, left and right click and scrolling works at a acceptable level but not as good and smooth as it is Mac OS. I guess for regular use I'll use a mouse in anyways. However; the tactile feedback and comfort of the keyboard is more important to me. I have played with the MBA at the Apple store a little bit and typing on the MBA was very good for a small laptop. I haven't seen a SS9 on display yet so that I don't know how its keyboard performs.

Wasting the SSD space with Mac OS is very true but I thought in return I can get more juice out the battery as I am doing web browsing or reading stuff on the plane. I guess in Mac OS mode the MBA lasts in almost 7 hours which is considerably better than Samsung and Asus UX31A.

Actually the other important thing I haven't thought about so far was the battery charging time. I used to have a Samsung Galaxy Tab which was pretty good on the total battery life but recharging the device was also taking very long time. Have you ever tested the charging time of the battery?

 

Let me chime in and say that I'm finding Windows 7 to perform very well in Parallels on my i5 MacBook Air with 8GB RAM. Well enough, in fact, that it's now my favorite Windows machine. One reason is that the track pad works better in Windows in Parallels than on any Windows notebook I've tried. Another is that I still get superior battery life, even running mostly Windows.

The ability to run OS X is a bonus, and even as a longtime Windows user I'm finding it nicer than I expected.

Another bonus is Apple's exceptional customer service. I had some issues with the MBA that I received last Friday, I called Apple on Saturday, and I had a new replacement unit (build to order, mind you) delivered to me yesterday (Tuesday) morning. It's perfect so far. And Apple did all this on a new machine that they could have just told me to return and reorder. Very impressed with Apple at the moment.

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Thanks for your feedback wynand,

I was thinking to use VM for lightweight work but not for the regular work since only one CPU core can be assigned to the VM as well as sacrificing some of the memory to Mac OS. I am considering to buy 4GB version of MBA therefore memory utilization of Mac OS along the VM seems like something I should worry about.

Can you tell me anything about the bootup/shutdown and sleep/wakeup time when you use Win 7 in Parallels?

What you said about the Apple customer service is very impressive and good to know about their support quality and speed since I'll use MBA for business purposes.

 

Overall, I've really found Windows performance in the VM as equivalent to Windows on a physical machine. Note that I'm not gaming on this machine, nor doing anything more robust than Office, Evernote, etc.

Here are some times for my Win 7 VM:

Boot: 16 seconds
Suspend: 2 seconds
Resume: 2 seconds

So, the VM seems about as quick in booting and resuming as the typical Ultrabook. And, the MacBook itself works like normal with its own fast boots (around 10 seconds) and resumes (pretty much instant). If the VM is running, then Windows is ready to use just quickly as OS X when resuming.

Note also that I don't have that much installed in the VM, just Office 2010, Evernote, and Windows Live Essentials (for Live Writer). So, if you plan to really load the VM down, then boot and suspend might be a bit slower. Also, the more RAM you allocate to the VM, the longer it takes to suspend/resume, so I have mine at 1GB RAM at the moment and it still runs fine.

Another nice thing is that you can run Windows in Lion Full Screen mode, and then 4-finger swipe between it and OS X. It's really like having two always-available environments available, so if you have any interest at all in OS X, its' a great solution.

Overall, boot and resume performance was important to me, because I wanted a machine that's ready to use without delay. So far it's met my needs and then some. I do recommend 8GB, however. For only $100 more, you get a little peace of mind and probably some improved performance.

 

is the Windows version of Evernote that different than the Mac version? Just curious why you'd run it in Windows instead of OSX.

 

Thank you so much Wynand,

your response perfectly answered all of my questions. I am using the Office and a few office tools but during my regular work I have 20-30 word/excel/pdf docs are open in addition to outlook and browser. That's is matter of more RAM rather than CPU power. I do have some interest on Mac OS since some of our customers are Apple house so that to get familiar with Mac OS may help understand them better

quick boot and resume was my major concern but the times you gave are fantastic.

I really don't mind to spend extra $100 for 8GB but it becomes way more than $100 since the custom orders only available by Apple store which means loosing the discount at Amazon and tax benefit that makes the RAM upgrade cost almost $250. But it is what it is

 

It's pretty different, actually. But I'm using the OS X version as well. It's mainly installed in the VM just in case.

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You're welcome, and yes, I see your point about Amazon. I didn't even bother looking elsewhere because I knew any machine I get has to have 8GB minimum.

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Sounds like you are pretty happy with my recommendation to go the VM route. Told ya!

 

Darn straight!

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Has there been any word from Apple about a fix for the Boot Camp Turbo Boost bug that's affecting 2012 MBAs with the i7 CPU?

 

There might be something in yesterdays release. See MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Update 1.0

 

Nope. That issue almost certainly won't be fixed without a firmware update. What you posted is software.

MacRumors Forums - View Single Post - Apple Releases MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Update 1.0

 

@Thors: Is sleep mode available on your MBA while running Win8?

 

It is when I am running Windows in a Fusion VM and passing power information to the VM. I haven't tried bootcamp in months. Not until Apple updates it for Windows 8.