I am running a Windows XP VM in Parallels 9 on Mavericks on my new Macbook Pro retina. The energy usage is very high compared to everything else. It runs about 50 (not sure what the units are - probably Watts) whereas most other apps run near 0 when not in use. The next worst is Chrome at about 11 - with many tabs open. I only have the VM running, no programs (other than the XP OS) inside of it. The CPU usage is essentially zero - so I don't have a run away program. If I do start a program or 2 inside of it, I don't see any noticeable increase in power use. I seemed to have found the solution for this when I changed my Power setting under Configure/Options/Optimization from "better performance" to "longer battery life". Initially the energy usage dropped to about zero. But after about 6 hours it is back up to 50. I have tried restarting the VM as well as parallels but no change. I have tried changing the setting back to "better performance" and then back to "longer battery life" to no avail. Ever since that one brief 6 hour period it has been stuck at 50 (and increases up to 120 when using the SSD). I tried the suggestions in here http://kb.parallels.com/en/9607 but it didn't change anything. Can anyone tell me why I might be seeing this and how to get the usage back down to what the other apps are using? I only have 6 days of my 14 day trial remaining and have to decide whether to buy the upgrade or not. If the power can't be cut down I will have to move off of Parallels. The battery life of this machine was a very important factor in my purchase and I don't want to have this one app that is using energy so disproportionately - especially when it's open but not being used. And constantly shutting down the VM is not an acceptable solution. Thank you.
high energy My trouble is quite similar to the previous one. I am considering to purchase and would like to resolve this issue before the trial version expires in 11 days. I have an issue with the trial version of Parallels Desktop 9 on my new MBP w/OS 10.9. Mavericks. There is a substantial drain of power irrespective of which task is running, the Parallels take over 80 (% ?) of energy shown in Activity Monitor ( most of it the prl_vm_app). This leads to very steep curve of battery drainage. I cannot run the Check for Updates from Parallels Desktop menu - don't know why. Switching the Configure/Options/Optimization from "better performance" to "longer battery life" decreased the energy consumption to about half - still unacceptable. Is the video resolution a possible cause? Please respond. I am not able to contact you via email since both addresses info@parallels-trial.com, trial@parallels-trial.com bounced back. Best, Karel
Hi Karel, Please follow the article below to know about high consumption by prl_vm_app: http://kb.parallels.com/112764 You cannot Check for update in Parallels Desktop for Mac if you are using a trial version. Thanks, Looran
Dear Looran, I actually did not report the high CPU usage, but the energy consumption and battery drainage. This is my concern. Here all running Win7 applications under Parallels9 show no high performance GPU (NVIDIA) usage - it cannot be due to the video problem). The CPU run at 40-50%, which is also quite OK. However, the battery on a brand new MBP run just 4-5 hours instead of 8 hours w/no Parallels switched on. Best, Karel
Hi Karel, Please optimize the power options for Virtual Machine: Go to VM Configure (http://kb.parallels.com/117287) > Options > Optimization > Power. Please set this option to "Longer battery life" , restart your Mac and let us know how it works.
