Mac battery usage: Parallels versus RDC

[Patrick]

I have been using a Windows 7 Pro Hyper-V VM for use with my Macbook Air 11.6" instead of running Parallels or another package locally. Has anyone looked at which option uses more power on a Mac notebook?

It seems like CPU heavy loads would favor the RDC version with the WiFi chipset using less power than the CPU. If nobody has done this (or something similar) I may see what I can do.

 

[nitrobass24]

Ive been using Citrix to do basically the same thing from my iPad. Not that i could install Win7 on there, but you get the idea.

My thought is that if I already have a server running 24/7 why not run my desktop there and save?

 

[Patrick]

How is the point/ click and keyboard with Citrix and the iPad? I was thinking of getting something like that for mine too.

 

[No1451]

Just speaking from my experience(ymmv) RDC on OS X can end up eating a LOT of cycles, I've seen RDC on my Macbook sitting at 30-45% CPU usage. I think this will come down to one of those situations where you just need to try both options and just hope that RDC doesn't have one of it's little spats

 

[Patrick]

Flight to London on Friday and I am strongly considering a Windows 7 virtual box instance...

I will say for Excel modeling, RDC is MUCH better.