I am a Windows/Web developer by profession and I have been considering a MacBook Pro as a replacement for my current development machine. I am impressed by the build quality, the uni-body construction and performance specs of the MacBook Pro. I am specifically interested in the 13.3" MacBook Pro running Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz processor with 4 GB RAM.
What I am wondering is this … what performance can I expect running SQL Server 2008, IIS, and Visual Studio 2010 within a virtual environment (VMWare Fusion and Windows 7) on the above mentioned MacBook Pro?
I like the 13.3" model as the size is more portable, but am I expecting to much from a core 2 duo processor? Would I need to look at the next step up in MacBook Pro using the core i5 processor?
Thanks!
Best Answer
I'm a longtime Windows admin/developer/gamer who recently purchased a MacBook Pro - 13", 4GB RAM. Only difference between what I have and what you're looking at is the CPU (mine's 2.2GHz). I've had no issues running VMWare or anything I throw at it. I'm actually VMing my Bootcamp partition. So essentially I have one Windows Bootcamp partition that I've wrapped up in VMWare. That way I can run it when I'm in OSX or boot to it, and I only have one instance of Windows and one set of Windows apps to manage. And to be perfectly honest, the only time I ever need to boot into it directly is for gaming (3D support).
As for performance, Win7 and VS are hogs, so I might consider going with more than 4gb of ram just so you can assign 2-3 to your Windows VM and still have an adequate supply for OSX. Otherwise I see no reason why what you're intending to do won't work. Rebooting back and forth between OSes is a pain - I definitely wouldn't go 100% bootcamp unless it's absolutely necessary.