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Can this MacBook handle Windows VM with VirtualBox? My wife is considering this MacBook. She is not a power user/developer, mostly browsing, emails, word proces

by akg_67 12y ago

Can this MacBook handle Windows VM with VirtualBox? My wife is considering this MacBook. She is not a power user/developer, mostly browsing, emails, word processing, and spreadsheets. But she also wants Windows VM for programs that don't have OSX versions or experience on OSX is not that good.

throwmeunder 12y ago
I have a hackintosh with i3 2310M[1], 8GB RAM and I think the 12 inch macbook, 1.2gh has 5Y71[2] ticking inside it. Judging by the benchmarks they are pretty similar with the 5Y71 beating the i3 on single threaded stuff with the higher clock speed but not always. My machine handles a Windows8.1 in VirtualBox easily. I use it for Visual Studio 2013 daily and it's fine although it's not perfect. It's slow at times but not enough to make me dualboot. I hope that someone chimes in with Win VM on the real MacBook because I'm interested in it but I think it'll be just fine. [1] http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-i3-2310M-Notebook-Processor.45318.0.html http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-i3-2310M-Notebook-Pr... [2] http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-M-5Y71-SoC.129324.0.html http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-M-5Y71-SoC.129324.0....
Cacti 12y ago
I haven't tried this yet but as a regular VirtualBox user now on several different platforms, I would suspect that under a situation where you're not depending on the VM for a lot of graphics acceleration or sub-ms-level latency (games, for example, or _possibly_ video editing/composting), this macbook would handle it just fine. So for the uses you're describing she should be happy. FYI the new version of Office for Mac will be out soon (preview is available now for free) if that's what you're referring to when you say "bad OSX experience."
- akg_67 12y ago
  Thanks for the feedback. I have a 2012 rMBP 15". I use Windows 7 VM in VirtualBox primarily for Tableau and large Excel files. I noticed the fan runs continuously and MBP gets hot while using VM. I am concern that if something similar happens on new MacBook w/o fans, it might be cooked. Both MS Office and Tableau are terrible on OSX. My wife is more concerned with Quicken. She prefers Quicken for Windows.
  - Cacti 12y ago
    I don't think you have to worry about the chip getting too hot unless it turns out there is a serious manufacturing defect. This chip is quite unlike the ones in earlier MacBooks and is closer in efficiency and thermal performance to a chip you'd find in a phone or tablet. So it'll just throttle down for a bit, not fry, no matter what you throw at it. Plus, once you have a chip that efficient, it simplifies your heat dissipation... a lot of times you'll have people put chips that really aren't made for laptops in because they are relying on the air flow to cool it to compensate, but air flow can be very unreliable. And that is the exact situation you have with some of the more notorious heat problems of other laptops. If however you have a good chip, and know it can't exceed X heat generation, and its low enough you can passively cool it, that's actually much more reliable... there's nothing mysterious about how much heat can be transferred from a chip to the piece of metal touching it, and the rate at which it transfers (note sturdiness and looks is not the only reason the case is metal). So in a lot of ways this device is actually far more thermally dependable than most actively cooled laptops, even though it'd seem to be the opposite at first glance. As an aside, have you tried Win 8 for your VM? If you can deal with the UI, Win 8 is about 20% more efficient than 7 due to changes made for tablet support in 8. If you're running 8 in a VM and the VM is on a laptop and you're having heat issues, switching might be particularly beneficial. Also, consider VMWare Fusion or Parallels... I use VirtualBox myself but there's no question that the native Mac versions of the 2 main commercial VMs are going to be more efficient and give you less heat problems on day to day tasks.
    - akg_67 12y ago
      Thanks for clarification on toasted chips. You just persuaded me to buy the new Macbook instead of 13"rMBP for her. We have been waiting for Retina to come out on Air weight/size format to buy new laptop for her. I just can't get used to Win 8 interface. My wife uses Win 8 desktop. Anytime she asks me to troubleshoot issues on her desktop, I just cringe and become frustrated. I used Parallels and VMware Fusion before switching to VirtualBox. VMware asked for more money for compatible version with Yosemite. So, I finally gave up and switched to VirtualBox. I don't use Windows/other VMs often enough so VirtualBox is good enough.

by akg_67 12y ago

throwmeunder 12y ago

I have a hackintosh with i3 2310M[1], 8GB RAM and I think the 12 inch macbook, 1.2gh has 5Y71[2] ticking inside it. Judging by the benchmarks they are pretty similar with the 5Y71 beating the i3 on single threaded stuff with the higher clock speed but not always. My machine handles a Windows8.1 in VirtualBox easily. I use it for Visual Studio 2013 daily and it's fine although it's not perfect. It's slow at times but not enough to make me dualboot. I hope that someone chimes in with Win VM on the real MacBook because I'm interested in it but I think it'll be just fine. [1] http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-i3-2310M-Notebook-Processor.45318.0.html http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-i3-2310M-Notebook-Pr... [2] http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-M-5Y71-SoC.129324.0.html http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-M-5Y71-SoC.129324.0....

Cacti 12y ago

I haven't tried this yet but as a regular VirtualBox user now on several different platforms, I would suspect that under a situation where you're not depending on the VM for a lot of graphics acceleration or sub-ms-level latency (games, for example, or _possibly_ video editing/composting), this macbook would handle it just fine. So for the uses you're describing she should be happy. FYI the new version of Office for Mac will be out soon (preview is available now for free) if that's what you're referring to when you say "bad OSX experience."

akg_67 12y ago
Thanks for the feedback. I have a 2012 rMBP 15". I use Windows 7 VM in VirtualBox primarily for Tableau and large Excel files. I noticed the fan runs continuously and MBP gets hot while using VM. I am concern that if something similar happens on new MacBook w/o fans, it might be cooked. Both MS Office and Tableau are terrible on OSX. My wife is more concerned with Quicken. She prefers Quicken for Windows.
- Cacti 12y ago
  I don't think you have to worry about the chip getting too hot unless it turns out there is a serious manufacturing defect. This chip is quite unlike the ones in earlier MacBooks and is closer in efficiency and thermal performance to a chip you'd find in a phone or tablet. So it'll just throttle down for a bit, not fry, no matter what you throw at it. Plus, once you have a chip that efficient, it simplifies your heat dissipation... a lot of times you'll have people put chips that really aren't made for laptops in because they are relying on the air flow to cool it to compensate, but air flow can be very unreliable. And that is the exact situation you have with some of the more notorious heat problems of other laptops. If however you have a good chip, and know it can't exceed X heat generation, and its low enough you can passively cool it, that's actually much more reliable... there's nothing mysterious about how much heat can be transferred from a chip to the piece of metal touching it, and the rate at which it transfers (note sturdiness and looks is not the only reason the case is metal). So in a lot of ways this device is actually far more thermally dependable than most actively cooled laptops, even though it'd seem to be the opposite at first glance. As an aside, have you tried Win 8 for your VM? If you can deal with the UI, Win 8 is about 20% more efficient than 7 due to changes made for tablet support in 8. If you're running 8 in a VM and the VM is on a laptop and you're having heat issues, switching might be particularly beneficial. Also, consider VMWare Fusion or Parallels... I use VirtualBox myself but there's no question that the native Mac versions of the 2 main commercial VMs are going to be more efficient and give you less heat problems on day to day tasks.
  - akg_67 12y ago
    Thanks for clarification on toasted chips. You just persuaded me to buy the new Macbook instead of 13"rMBP for her. We have been waiting for Retina to come out on Air weight/size format to buy new laptop for her. I just can't get used to Win 8 interface. My wife uses Win 8 desktop. Anytime she asks me to troubleshoot issues on her desktop, I just cringe and become frustrated. I used Parallels and VMware Fusion before switching to VirtualBox. VMware asked for more money for compatible version with Yosemite. So, I finally gave up and switched to VirtualBox. I don't use Windows/other VMs often enough so VirtualBox is good enough.