Anyone running windows on a 11" air?
- Thread starter Amp34
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I dual boot with Windows 8.1 on a 2012 MBA.
Battery life is fine, perhaps a little less than OSX but nothing major.
No problem with keyboards at all, although mine is a US MacBook so perhaps that makes a difference.
The only problem I've found is that the screen brightness function is non linear in its response and sometimes the screen doesn't come on at all after boot and I need to re boot.
Battery life is fine, perhaps a little less than OSX but nothing major.
No problem with keyboards at all, although mine is a US MacBook so perhaps that makes a difference.
The only problem I've found is that the screen brightness function is non linear in its response and sometimes the screen doesn't come on at all after boot and I need to re boot.
Trackpad++ is an absolute must if you're going to use Windows natively for any period of time. Aside from that it should be fine, battery life won't be as good as in OS X though. I'd say that battery life running Windows in VMWare is roughly the same as running it natively.
I don't have the machine yet, just wondering if it is an option. I'm currently looking at small windows options for someone and for anything remotely powerful you have the Surface Pro 2 (negative being no connected keyboard, so harder to use on the lap) or the Air...
Don't want to install windows on my current Air as I may break something...
So there is very little difference between OSX and windows, interesting, I thought there were massive differences! Could be added to the list then.
Would there be any benefit to wiping the machine and installing Windows natively over boot camping as there is no need for OSX on the machine?
Don't want to install windows on my current Air as I may break something...
So there is very little difference between OSX and windows, interesting, I thought there were massive differences! Could be added to the list then.
Would there be any benefit to wiping the machine and installing Windows natively over boot camping as there is no need for OSX on the machine?
I can't see any benefit to a complete wipe. I'd leave OS X on it otherwise your stuffed for firmware updates , new boot camp drivers etc plus I can't see Apple being too amused if it needs warranty work. You can shrink the OS X partition down to 8GB and use the rest for Windows.
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http://www.zdnet.com/the-other-hidden-cost-of-running-windows-on-a-mac-battery-life-7000000906/
This old article was released before Mavericks which adds a whole new level of halting states to the OS. So before it was about 2/3rds of the battery life with windows. Now the battery life is improved in OSX.
This old article was released before Mavericks which adds a whole new level of halting states to the OS. So before it was about 2/3rds of the battery life with windows. Now the battery life is improved in OSX.
Wasn't sure if removing a whole layer of software would increase battery life. That's the main question. I guess the important bit would be whether the drivers for motherboard features would work natively on Windows. I assume as well you could do a clean wipe and reinstall OSX back onto the Mac.
I've seen a few old articles but they don't discuss Windows 8 and haswell usually.
You're not removing a layer of software by getting rid of OS X. Boot Camp Assistant is a multi boot utility for the Mac EFI and boots Windows natively. The Boot Camp drivers provide custom drivers for the keyboard, trackpad, light sensors, power management etc which make them well worth installing. Windows may well provide the basic chipset, graphics etc but it's not enough for a good end user experience.
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