windows on macbook air

Hello, guys,

I just bought a macbook air rev. a for my wife not long time ago, this is our first mac, she like it so far (probably other than the fan ramp up more than we like) she would like to use OSX as the primary OS but we still need to install windows on it.

Now my question is what is the best way to setup the windows, I'v read about all the options a bit but still need your opinions. The main limitation is the hardware on Macbook air, basically Core 2 duo at 1.6G, X3100 graphics but only 2G ram and 80G HD and no upgrade option.

I have both legit version of windows vista ultimate and windows XP professional, I can download windows 7 beta. I prefer windows vista over XP on my desktop. Here are a few options I have:
1.Run vista through bootcamp , but I don't feel that will be convenient for my wife, and chances are she will exclusively using vista.

2.Run vista through bootcamp, and use Vmware or parallel (which one?) run virtual machine of the bootcamp partition? Not sure how practical is this, will it be too slow because of the ram.

3. Run Xp through bootcamp, and use Vmware or parallel run virtual machine of the bootcamp partition?

4. Just run Xp through vmware, no bootcamp

5 Run windows 7 beta through bootcamp, and use Vmware or parallel run virtual machine of the bootcamp partition? I really like to use windows 7 but I am worried about the beta expiring thing.

Of course I have no prior experience with any of this so I would like your opinion which is my best and practical choise. Also, I heard things about stripped down xp or vista, would like more opinions on that? Another question is, if I run XP bootcamp, should I use NTFS or FAT32 for the windows partition.

Thanks,
rivet

 

This depends on how you will be using Windows (and which apps. you will be using). Why does your wife need Windows?

 

She will use office, we have office 2007 for windows, and many other small softwares that does not have a mac version, like some dictionary we use, and many of my external drives are NTFS, we might need windows to recognize them. Anyway, it wasn't gaming or some very CPU intense tasks, but everyday use.

 

There might very well be Mac alternatives to this software (and there is a Mac version of Office however it kinda sucks). You can also write directly to NTFS formatted disks with the aid of 3rd party drivers such as NTFS-3G. If your wife still insists on using Windows, then I would recommend setting up a virtual machine with VMware or Parallels as it doesn't sound like your wife is doing anything graphically intensive.

 

Be careful!! The notebook can get annoyingly hot under windows.

 

If you have to run Windows on a MBA I'd do XP under Parallels 4. Thats why I do on mine and it works pretty well. Tried Vista and its too much of a resource hog, tried Fusion and its much more of a resource hog than Parallels.

That said, I'd try to find Mac equivalents to the software you use on Windows. I use over 80 Apps and was able to find equivalents on the MAC - many free, and most of those that weren't were modestly priced.

Take a look at OpenOffice 3 and iWork and Home and Student version of Office2008 for your Office needs.

 

+1 for XP and Parallels. XP takes up the least amount of system resources compared to Vista, so that would always help if you don't have the highest specs. Also, Parallels is pretty good about how much system resources it uses, so with that combination, you should be running Windows in no time!

 

Isn't there a fan control tool for Macs to control the temperature? Maybe its because Apple wrote crappy ACPI drivers for windows thus causing abnormal fan control behavior with the default settings.

 

Perhaps you are right. Windows waits for the laptop to reach the 70's before kicking the fans in. That's why i put my fans to 5000rpm when switching on windows on my mac.

 

It's a ludicrous compromise. The Air has enough problems running reliably under OS X in warmer ambients (as I experienced all too well with three Crapbook Airs - 2 Rev A, 1 Rev B last year) that you'll be encountering from now on, let alone virtualisation - which will really crank up the processor usage.

Take the splurge and buy Mac versions of software and keep it to OS X if you're determined to keep that useless trinket. Your knees, hands/wrists and your ears will thank you.

 

Both my mom and dad have no heat problems with their Macbook airs(tho I have heat problems with my Hell 4400)... btw,IMO,lots of problems are cased by their crapusers...

 

Why do you have to put your fans to 5000rpm when you're switching on windows on your mac? Consider how many people are using Macs, some EC programmers must have already created fan control programs to control the EC through windows.

 

It should run it fine, but yes it could run hot. My advice would be to go for the mac equivalents. Windows Office 2008 runs well on Mac, but there's also the FREE open office and the cheap iWork.

 

Most Mac notebooks feel like they run pretty warm for several reasons:
- They are thiner than many of their counterparts
- They are built to run quieter than many of thier counterparts
- They are built to dissipate more heat by radiation than many of thier counterparts.

Many users complain about their Macs running "too warm". Not because they are experiencing component failures. Not even because there are overheating issues - but because they feel warmer than folks are used to.

And while I am aware that some percentage of revA MBA's suffered from overheating and core shutdowns, many did not. The ones that did were defective units.

I run Win XP under Parallels 4 and I seldom see any significant rise in temperatures or fan speeds. My revA MBA runs great with no overheating issues. Sure it heats up when running video, and the fans speed up, cooling it to where I have no issues.

That said, I fully agree the OP is better off finding native Mac apps rather than running things under Windows.


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Many did not suffer it because of their mode of usage. I don't think it would be unreasonable to say that there are far more Apples by percentage in very light consumer use than higher-end Windows ultraportables as a collective, as well as deployment as 'porch machines' versus hard-worked (not in terms of computing power but in terms of effective availability and environmental variability) truly travelling machines.

It's just that even in such typically coddled Apple machines, bringing virtualisation to the table can expose the Air's - especially the Rev A - issues. And as you and I both agree, if the OP is intending to hang onto it for that reason it makes sense to bring as many apps to the native platform.

I don't buy the 'few defective' units argument of Apple enthusiasts - because I actually bought two Rev.A's (1.8 SSD's) within several months of each other, both of which were in and out of the shops due in part - and this wasn't the only issue - to unreasonable instability caused by summer ambients that wouldn't cause an e.g. Sony ultraportable (which may have run physically hotter) any worries. And I was running OS X apps the vast majority of the time - including Office. And while the Rev.B - which I also purchased - was better in that respect, the instability was not entirely banished.

The relative uselessness of the Air is one of the reasons I traded down to a Unibody Crapbook for my OS X "ultraportable" needs - I wouldn't lug a 4.5lb machine (+ spare battery to achieve a real 5+ hour runtime) around otherwise.

The machines themselves didn't actually get that hot to the touch, however the lack of thermal "budgeting" and the functional impact in use similar to my Windows ultraportables was absolutely discernible. As was the fan noise that jumped straight from 'deathly quiet' to 'it's my noisiest notebook'.