CH_Peter
Prominent Member
I currently run:-
15" Dell core i5 64Gb SSD work laptop. Email, Excel, etc.
MacMini (old style) Core 2 Duo 64Gb SSD
11" MacBook Air 2010 Core 2 Duo 64Gb SSD
The Dell for work and connected to a work network (dog slow). The MacMini is also at work, but rather than being on the work network, is on a consumer broadband line so I can do all sorts of surfing, downloading, etc. The Air hops between work and home and travels with me as it's light and easy to lug about. It has no files or anything on it of note. Just a handy surf/email machine. It has a virtual machine with Windows XP on it for when I travel with work. Despite having only 2GB memory, slower processor, it does this without too much trouble (the occasional stutter in XP when it runs).
I am going to sell the Macs (both mine) and replace with 1 machine. The Dell I want to make redundant in this process. I want one machine to do everything. It would need to run Lion and Windows 7 (in a virtual machine) without missing a beat. It must have a SSD of at least 128Gb (preferably 256Gb - happy to swap myself if needs be).
I love the small and portable nature of the Airs (I just adore the current one I have, but it's storage is too low and it doesn't quite manage to run Windows in VM fast enough to be my daily workhorse). it is last year's model.
What would you get? Will a 2011 higher spec 11" or 13" Air cut the mustard? Or should it be a 13 or 15" Macbook Pro (in which, I upgrade the internal HD myself).
15" Dell core i5 64Gb SSD work laptop. Email, Excel, etc.
MacMini (old style) Core 2 Duo 64Gb SSD
11" MacBook Air 2010 Core 2 Duo 64Gb SSD
The Dell for work and connected to a work network (dog slow). The MacMini is also at work, but rather than being on the work network, is on a consumer broadband line so I can do all sorts of surfing, downloading, etc. The Air hops between work and home and travels with me as it's light and easy to lug about. It has no files or anything on it of note. Just a handy surf/email machine. It has a virtual machine with Windows XP on it for when I travel with work. Despite having only 2GB memory, slower processor, it does this without too much trouble (the occasional stutter in XP when it runs).
I am going to sell the Macs (both mine) and replace with 1 machine. The Dell I want to make redundant in this process. I want one machine to do everything. It would need to run Lion and Windows 7 (in a virtual machine) without missing a beat. It must have a SSD of at least 128Gb (preferably 256Gb - happy to swap myself if needs be).
I love the small and portable nature of the Airs (I just adore the current one I have, but it's storage is too low and it doesn't quite manage to run Windows in VM fast enough to be my daily workhorse). it is last year's model.
What would you get? Will a 2011 higher spec 11" or 13" Air cut the mustard? Or should it be a 13 or 15" Macbook Pro (in which, I upgrade the internal HD myself).