Running Visio on a Mac Book Air

[barbary]

Hello,

So I'm in a world I know absolutely nothing about Macs.

My girlfriend has recently started a new contact at a company that only supplies Macs to it's workers. She has been given a Mac Book Air which is fine as most applications she is working on are web based.

However she has a requirement in her job to use Visio. At the moment she is carrying both the Mac and a Dell laptop to work everyday.

I want to let her just carry the mac so I'm looking at ways she can use viso on the Mac.

I've already tried putting Visio on a VM at the datacentre but she doesn't always have good internet access.

I think the best option would be windows running in a VM on the Mac Book Air.

So to my questions.

What is the best bit of software to do this? I assumed something like VMWare by after a quick google there seems to be many many different options.

Is a Mac Book Air upto running a VM?

Am I correct in thinking you can't get Visio for the Mac?

[remixedcat]

vmware fusion's your best bet....

it's really easy and even intergrates the vmware fusion windows apps within mac osx.

vmware fusion info page here

[PyX]

OmniGraffle is much better than Visio if you only wanted an alternative to Visio.

Compatibility-wise, while it is possible to convert Graffle documents to Visio and open Visio documents, it could be better. She should give the trial an honest try and see if she can use this instead.

[Glassed Silver]

OmniGraffle is much better than Visio if you only wanted an alternative to Visio.

Compatibility-wise, while it is possible to convert Graffle documents to Visio and open Visio documents, it could be better. She should give the trial an honest try and see if she can use this instead.

I guess I can support that idea.

Aside from that, also look at Parallel's offer and god knows maybe Visio is supported by Wine (Proper GUI + Assistant: WineBottler) or Crossover for Mac? (idk)

Best of luck!

Keep us updated!

Glassed Silver:mac

[protocol7]

If she needs one app which is Windows-only (why are they giving out Macs if that's the case?) and nothing that requires OS X, then the best option is to just install Windows via bootcamp.

[remixedcat]

that would require re-booting and pointless to use one program... vmware fusion can run it side-by-side and can even mount bootcamp partitions...

[barbary]

Thank you all for your comments.

VM Fusion is half price at the moment, although I did like the look of Parrallels I'll probably get Fusion.

No one has said it directly so can I assume that a Mac Book Air is upto the job of running a VM? I've just been looking at minimum requirements but as OS X and Lion mean little to me it can be hard to be sure.

[protocol7]

that would require re-booting and pointless to use one program... vmware fusion can run it side-by-side and can even mount bootcamp partitions...

Why boot into OS X at all? It won't run Visio. And the other apps she needs are web-based and thus can run fine in Windows.

RAM is key if going the VM route. If the Air has 2GB then OS X+VMWare+Windows+Visio is going to be tight.

[Midge]

Why boot into OS X at all? It won't run Visio. And the other apps she needs are web-based and thus can run fine in Windows.

RAM is key if going the VM route. If the Air has 2GB then OS X+VMWare+Windows+Visio is going to be tight.

ram is cheap. i think it cost me like ?40 to upgrade my mbp to 8gb

[booboo]

ram is cheap. i think it cost me like ?40 to upgrade my mbp to 8gb

you can't upgrade the macbook air's ram as it's soldered.

However when it comes to ram issues, 2gb shouldnt really be a massive issue as the macbook air will probably have an SSD, and it's so fast that you can barely notice when it runs out of ram.

To give you an idea (I do have the 4GB version, though i'm always maxing out the ram), I have open at the moment: Photoshop CS5, Pages, Espresso, Mail, Paralles - In parralels, 2 x visual studio projects, few folders, chrome, firefox, filezilla and SQL manager.

it says I have 27mb of ram free, but it's using the SSD as ram, and I barely notice.

[remixedcat]

soldered on??? OMG LOL.... that sucks... not worth having a MBA then. best get a MBP and not worry about the thickness so much.

hell my phone has 512MB RAM and it was only 100 bucks LOL....

[barbary]

Sounds like it might only be worth it if it's the 4Gb version. I need to see it this weekend for myself.

Knowing that I know nothing about Macs where would I find if it had 4Gb. Or is there a marking on the actual MBA that tells me if it's a 4Gb version.

Discusing it with her last night she anounced she was so fed up with the Mac she was going to ask IT if she could just give it back and use her own Laptop.

I don't think it's the fact its a Mac but a MBA, she writes alot of stuff and finds the MBA keyboard not to her liking espicaly the lack of certain keys.

But hey it's my girlfriend she will probably change her mind and I'll be back working on this again next week.

Thanks for your comments it has been very helpful.

[El Marto]

to find out how much ram your running go here:

and then you get this :)

[barbary]

cheers for that. will save me digging around.

[.Neo]

If she needs one app which is Windows-only (why are they giving out Macs if that's the case?) and nothing that requires OS X, then the best option is to just install Windows via bootcamp.

Why do people always assume a genuine Windows license will just drop from the sky for free?

[AlexMagik]

Why do people always assume a genuine Windows license will just drop from the sky for free?

she still need to use Visio, means she still need a Windows License since Visio (MS) runs only on Windows.

[Astra.Xtreme]

Why not just carry around the Dell PC only?

But beyond that, if the company supplied an Apple, but Visio is required, then that's the company's problem. They will either have to fork up a PC or fork over the money to pay for VMware, Windows, and Visio licenses.

The first thing that should have been done is go directly to the IS department and rattle off your demands.