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So, my windows laptop is on its last legs and I'm thinking of shelling out for a Macbook Pro. However, I do some (but not a lot) of ASP.NET development, and so would need to install Visual Studio of some version using something like VMWare Fusion.

Has anyone had any success doing this? I know that the sensible thing to do would be to take the money that I'd spend on a MBP and get a decent laptop, but since when is sensible fun?

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  • Is using a different IDE based upon Mono an option?
    – Bobby
    Jan 12, 2011 at 11:14
  • @Bobby I don't think Mono has an integrated development web server as used for ASP.NET development, has it?
    – Daniel Beck
    Jan 12, 2011 at 13:04
  • @Daniel Beck: I'm not sure if MonoDevelop has an integrated webserver for that purpose, but it should have basic support for debugging it. So maybe chaining into an external server or something.
    – Bobby
    Jan 12, 2011 at 13:09

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Yes, I'm doing this.

It works quite well, although I recommend a good SSD. The hard disk slows virtualization down considerably for me. Get a ton of RAM (4GB minimum, more is better), neither system (OS X and Windows running VS) likes to be RAM starved.

Depending on your needs (multiple Windows systems?), remember that you can use Boot Camp to install and run Windows directly on the machine. If you don't want to use Mac OS X, or don't want to use it as a primary system, this would be your best option.

You can even start your Boot Camp Windows in VMware Fusion as a virtual machine (although Windows 7 activation doesn't like that -- it works fine with Windows XP). This way, you get both Windows with "full performance", if you ever need it, and the convenience of running this system in a virtual machine.

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  • Is it a must to have solid state? I don't know if my budget will stretch that far Jan 12, 2011 at 11:14
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    @Piers It's not a must. I don't have an SSD yet (see comments here if you're bored), but as I wrote, it slows down actions such as booting Windows, restoring VM state, etc. down. I personally suggest to get a regular disk for the time being, because you don't want the Apple-supplied SSDs anyway. If you then find it's too slow for you, buy a good SSD some time later.
    – Daniel Beck
    Jan 12, 2011 at 11:17

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