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MacOS X Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion & Bootcamp, Discussion MultiOS digest guide MAC Only

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attw
post Apr 28 2015, 07:55 PM

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Hi all, which is the better option for running Mac OS and Windows 8.1 as dual boot (using Boot camp - will only use one at a time), a 8GB RAM 128GB SSD MBPr or a 4GB RAM 256GB SSD MBA?

Other hardware configurations cannot be considered due to budget constraints biggrin.gif
attw
post Apr 30 2015, 10:07 PM

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QUOTE(Townshend @ Apr 30 2015, 10:02 PM)
You won't be running OS X and Windows 8.1 at the same time, right? So 4GB is enough (depending on what type of work you'll be doing).
I think MBA is a better choice due to that 256GB of space.

Now if you could upgrade that rMBP to 8GB+256GB, that would be perfect brows.gif. Anyway, if you are serious about using other OS on your Mac, get at least 256GB of storage space. Using 128GB SSD is possible, but you'll have a hard time managing it.
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Web browsing and office work, no gaming or photo editing or programming of any sort smile.gif

Yeah, I'm leaning towards a 2014 MBA 13 with 256GB. rMBP suddenly so expensive and difficult to find a 2014 one retail..

Thanks for the input!
attw
post May 13 2015, 03:58 PM

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QUOTE(eikozai @ May 13 2015, 03:01 AM)
I'm a 2013 max-BTO MBA user, utilizing both OSX and Windows.
I'll strongly advice to get the 8GB RAM for ur setup as Windows can be very memory hogging. You know u can't upgrade anything else later on the hardware, right?

I'm using 8GB RAM MBA, and bootcamp on Windows isn't a pleasure to use at all. It still lags, and opening a simple Excel file is really taking up some time, especially on the first launch upon reboot. The whole experience with bootcamp isn't pleasant at all.

Well, i'm using bootcamp due to some uncertainty on settings on my Parallel Desktop(PD) earlier, and now i'm back to using Windows from PD again.

My RAM usage will always exceed 6GB after launched Windows, even when i'm not doing anything or having any open apps in Windows from PD9. It spikes up to max when i'm having running apps on it. Although showing max RAM utilized, MBA is still providing me a very smooth experience, to be honest.

My advice here, top a lil bit for the 8GB RAM, so u won't regret it later, unless u got a deep pocket that allow you to upgrade a new one later.
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Arghh! Your advice is like a week too late, I've already jumped the gun and got a 4GB MBA. Havent installed Windows yet coz been busy with work at the moment. If I do install Windows using Bootcamp and it lags like you say it does, I can just remove it and undo the Bootcamp partition right?
attw
post May 13 2015, 07:52 PM

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QUOTE(eikozai @ May 13 2015, 07:46 PM)
Yes, you can remove the Bootcamp later if you doesn't want to keep it biggrin.gif No problem at all..

All you need is Boot Camp Assistant. Boot Camp Assistant are packs with all the drivers you need.
Everything is pretty straight forward, from installing Windows, creating partition and also removed the partition and bootcamp when u deemed useless later. Hehe.. biggrin.gif

Bear in mind, latest version MacBook's Boot Camp Assistant will only support for Windows 8 and above, so if u're most likely going to use Windows 7 or any lower, then u'll have to google around already.
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Oh, no worries, plan to install Windows 8.1 - I checked online and apparently it's RAM management is better than Windows 7. Will attempt to do it this weekend. Bearing in mind I'm a OS X newbie, so fingers-crossed! biggrin.gif
attw
post May 16 2015, 12:05 AM

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QUOTE(eikozai @ May 14 2015, 02:16 AM)
No worries, its very straight forward. If you happen to missed out a step or selected the wrong criteria, u can always start over again..

Just be prepared, as the process can takes up to hours, like 3-4 hours i mean. Good luck biggrin.gif
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Am beginning to see what you mean... It was stuck at "Copying Windows File" for ages and now it's stuck at "Downloading Windows Support File"...
attw
post May 16 2015, 03:11 PM

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QUOTE(eikozai @ May 16 2015, 12:14 AM)
Haha.. yeah right. Don't hesitate to ask here if u encountered problem. We'll try to assist biggrin.gif
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Managed to get it done just a little under 3 hours, like you said smile.gif Although a little regretful that I only partitioned 30GB for Windows 8.1 - half of it gone with the OS installation only 15GB left now in my boot camp partition, ha ha ha. But works great! Thanks for the tips!
attw
post May 16 2015, 07:36 PM

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QUOTE(astro85 @ May 16 2015, 12:42 PM)
It go to bootcamp ... But still cannot open window ... Even boot from original cd ...
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Instead of using the Windows disk or USB to install, I'd recommend you download the Windows ISO file and let Boot Camp create the disk for you into a USB flash drive. That worked for me.

 

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