The main constraint I've noticed when running virtual machines is
Windows beats on the hard drive. So my CPU will be taking a nap while
Windows does who-knows-what on the hard drive. In other words, Windows
is an I/O bound not CPU bound process. Sure, if you're doing something
CPU intensive on there like encoding audio or calculating 10K digits of
pi the CPU might matter but generally spinning disks have not kept up
with the leaps in CPU performance. So I would drop more money on SSD
than CPU. Of course, then, there's RAM. If you don't have enough the
system will swap least used chunks of memory to disk to make room for
stuff you actually need. This swap to disk process can turn any fast
drive and CPU to sludge. Now days machines ship with 4GB of RAM or more
and that seems to work pretty well in most cases. If you're running
Windows in a virtual machine that is going to suck up a good chunk of
RAM and keep it as long as it is running. So for virtual machine users
I'd bump up the RAM to avoid going into swaps-a-lot mode. I just
upgraded a Mac Mini from 4 to 16GB. Cost was about $160 which, as an old
computer geezer, is just crazy cheap.
CB
On 5/4/14, 12:46 PM, David Taylor wrote:
It's plenty. My MBA runs faster with a VM than any Windows machine I ever had
On 4 May 2014, at 17:31, Tristan <[email protected]> wrote:
Would the 1.7 GHZ processor in a MacBook Air be enough for a virtual
machine though? Or does most of the dependency rely on RAM.
I don't have much experience with the whole virtual machine front, so
clarification would definitely be welcome. I originally only opted
with the MacBook Pro because of the higher processor statistics, and
glancing at a fully decked out MacBook Air 13 inch and a MacBook Pro
13 inch retina, they come out to roughly the same price.
On 5/4/14, David Taylor <[email protected]> wrote:
Many externals just work, even if they don't say they are compattible, and
we are needing such drives less and less often now anyway.
On 4 May 2014, at 14:31, Eileen Misrahi <[email protected]> wrote:
Hello,
I will ditto what David said. The way I handle a DVD/CD ROM drive is using
an external one. There are plenty out there that shouldn't cost more than
$20. The one I have is from my PC netbook days that didn't have an
internal DVD drive. Just make sure that the drive is compatible for Macs.
HTH. Oh by the way, I purchased an 11 inch MBA with all specs max out and
it's well worth the cost if you can do it. I'm in the process of loading
all the software that I can't run on the Mac on the PC side through
bootcamp and it's doing a terrific job, barring the user's mistakes and
learning Win 8. Good luck and I know you will enjoy the MBA.
Take care.
Eileen
Sent from my iPhone
On May 4, 2014, at 5:31 AM, David Taylor <[email protected]>
wrote:
Hi,
I've gone for the 11 inch myself. I maxed everything out on it and find
it is plenty good enough for me. If you don't need a built in SD slot, it
has everything the 13 inch does, and easy enough to get any adaptors you
need for connections it doesn't have, such as Ethanet if you want that.
The portability is just awesome, performance perfectly good enough for
almost every conceivable use, and I get hours of battery even when sat
outside, streaming, tweeting, downloading and all sorts. I have a USB 3
hub I plug in for connecting and charging everything. Works for me,
anyway.
Cheers
Dave
On 4 May 2014, at 07:31, Tristan <[email protected]> wrote:
This was a great post. It really reopens the door to potentially
getting a Mac Air -- thanks Kayaker. I'd even maybe go for the
13-incher, as it offers a longer battery life; though I may be
unnecessarily attempting to over compensate in terms of statistics.
I'd be happy to discuss this further with you offlist.
On 5/3/14, Kayaker <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi,
There have been a lot of unsupported and non objective replies to your
query.
All Macs you can buy today are solid performers. We have reached the
point
in CPU performance that there's little difference between bottom of the
line
and top of the line machines for us who can't see, what's the
difference
between 500 frames per second in some game vs. 450 frames per second
when
your eye can't tell the difference. I promise you the average blind
user's
Mac barely breaks 30% cpu day to day. This part of the reason why the
PC
market is declining--people don't need to upgrade as often as they had
in
the past.
There is absolutely no reason to buy the Macbook Pro if you are blind.
The
cost is mainly in the retina screen.
The single most important factor is internal memory. That will be the
most
significant real world speed boost for you and will help you in both
bootcamp and or a virtual PC situation.
Don't bother paying for the processor upgrade. Do max out your RAM
though.
The internal hard drive SSD is the other place to put your money. The
sweet
spot in price seems to be 256G.
Some people will argue that using VM to run Windows needs every ounce
of
processor speed. I'll again argue the real world throughput for a blind
user
will be negligible. I suggest you test it out for yourself at an apple
store.
I've been using Macs since the beginning. They last. I still use a
PowerMac
G 5 that's 10 years old. Part of it works better than my MacBook Air
2012
running the latest version of Mavericks.
For a blind person, the 11 inch MacBook Air is a steal. Max out the
RAM on
the entry level version and pick a HD size that fits your needs.
Doubt my suggestions? Go to an apple store and see if you notice any
difference between the two models. You won't.
Take the lightness, portability and power of the current 11 inch Air,
and
put the extra dollars towards apps. And if you don't want a laptop,
save
even more and get the MacMini.
Best,
--k
Faith doesn't give you the answers, it merely stops you from asking
the
questions.
On May 2, 2014, at 7:13 PM, Tristan <[email protected]> wrote:
Hello,
I've been a part of this group for some time now, and have enjoyed
the
wealth of information that I've gleaned from observing. I've finally
come to the decision on switching from Windows to Mac. I'll either be
getting a MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro.
One of the big things for me, however, is virtual machines (or
bootcamp). I still want to be able to virtualize a copy of Windows in
case I have programs that will only work on the Windows side. Right
now, the main things I do on Windows are word processing, internet
browsing, Skype which would be possible on the Mac side, music and
the
occasional game (mostly MUDs using a low memory client). I would like
to get a steady balance between battery power and processing power
without having to deal with busyness and lag.
I have my eye on the MacBook Air 13 inch (with both processor
options)
or the MacBook Pro.
MacBook Air configuration - 13 inch (256GB SSD HD):
1.7GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory
Or the MacBook pro (without Retina, 13 inch):
2.9GHz Dual-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM -- 2x4GB
I'm really stuck at this point -- what will work the bes? It's also
sort of nerve-racking putting a large amount of money into something
that's already two years old. In all, I'm looking for something that
will last, has updated hardware, and can handle an OS running
alongside the Mac environment without any hiccups. I'm on a budget of
about 1,550 dollars.
I warmly welcome any advice. And yes, I know this list is mainly for
voiceover users -- but I thought, as a visually impaired user myself,
that it would be appropriate to ask here.
Thanks in advance.
-Tristan
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