[TriLUG] macbook question

[Cristóbal Palmer]

On Sun, May 15, 2011 at 5:06 PM, James Jones <jc.jones at tuftux.com> wrote:
> Thanks Ron,
>
> Any more MacBook users? Chime in with comments on virtualization with
> the MacBook Air.

James,

I have the beefiest 13.3 MacBook Air you could buy as of April 25th:

• Processor	065-9747	2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• Memory	065-9749	4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
• Hard Drive	065-9752	256GB Flash Storage

I do in fact have an Ubuntu VM on it because I was curious about this
myself. Long story short: I don't recommend the Air if what you want
to do involves running VMs with any significant workload. For example,
watching a youtube video in the VM works--barely. As John Broome
already said, you get much better bang for your buck with the non-Air
models.

Why do I have an Air? I have my laptop with me practically all the
time when I'm on call. I also ride my bike a lot, so I /really/ want
something light on my back, and I don't want a netbook. Even the
11-inch Air isn't appealing. All that, plus the fact that the real
horsepower I use is on my desktop at work means I can live with the
relatively underpowered Air. This may sound silly, but I nearly sent
it back when I found out the keyboard isn't backlit. It was just one
more way that the Air is inferior compared to the 13-inch MBP.

I completely understand why your brother wants the Air, but take it
from somebody who actually owns one: the Air is probably not for you,
and it's especially not for you if you want to run multiple VMs on it.

Cheers,
-- 
Cristóbal Palmer
Systems Administrator
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill