Any pitfalls developing C#/.NET code in a VM running on a Mac?

Question

I am considering buying an Apple MacBook Pro. Are there any pitfalls developing C#/.NET code in a virtual machine running on a Mac?

Also, is it better to run Vista or XP Pro for this purpose?

Answer 1

I can't tell you any specific experiences since I don't have a Mac, but I did want to point out that there was an awesome episode of the DeepFriedBytes podcast that discussed this very topic. It made me want to give it a try. They discuss the pros and cons of going this route - well worth the listen IMO if this is something you're considering:

Episode 5: Developing .NET Software on a Mac

Answer 2

I'm developing in a Parallels VM running Windows Server 2008, and overall it is terrific. I'd highly recommend the server OS over Vista or XP if you are doing web development.

Other than the keyboard issue, the one pitfall with the MacBook Pro is that the fan is extremely loud and annoying, and running a VM has in my experience tended to heat up the laptop enough to kick it on relatively frequently. However, there are utilities out there such as Coolbook to keep it from kicking on.

Answer 3

XP Pro is definitely better, unless you have a really beefy Mac.

Regarding your other question, no there are no pitfalls, other than performance. I prefer to use a real PC to do actual coding, using VMs for testing. Clearly, that's not an option for you within OSX. However, you do have the option of Boot Camp if the VM performance becomes an issue for you. That will also let you run Vista with no performance degradation.

Bear in mind that the two virtual machine solutions for the Mac are fairly immature. I've used both, and while they are perfectly adequate for development, I've found both to be flaky, to varying degrees. Parallels seems mostly stable, but does crash and seems to have memory leaks; VMWare is beefer, and sucks more of the system's performance away by default (also seems to perform somewhat better than Parallels), but can have serious graphical problems depending on your setup, particularly if you try to use Unity mode.

Answer 4

I'm developing .NET apps in a Vista VM under VMWare Fusion. Obviously you need a lot of memory, but other than not having Aero, I haven't run into any problems yet.