Is upgrading from Parallels 9 to 10 appropriate for me?

T

trevorpsy

Junior Member
I am running Parallels 9 with Mountain Lion. I will not be upgrading to Mavericks or Yosemite, because software essential to my business is not compatible with any system beyond Mountain Lion. At the moment and perhaps indefinitely, I am using Parallels 9 to emulate Snow Leopard only.

My only complaint is that Firefox and Parallels 9 do not get along. Parallels 9 slows to a crawl with Firefox running in the background. Will upgrading to Parallels 10 mitigate this problem?

Thanks,

Trevor Monroe
 
trevorpsy said:
I am running Parallels 9 with Mountain Lion. I will not be upgrading to Mavericks or Yosemite, because software essential to my business is not compatible with any system beyond Mountain Lion. At the moment and perhaps indefinitely, I am using Parallels 9 to emulate Snow Leopard only.

My only complaint is that Firefox and Parallels 9 do not get along. Parallels 9 slows to a crawl with Firefox running in the background. Will upgrading to Parallels 10 mitigate this problem?

Thanks,

Trevor Monroe
Click to expand...

Parallels 9 is compatible with Mavericks and will be updated when Yosemite comes out (each version has a 2 year support with updates period, PDM9 is at the end of teh 1st year).

How much RAM you got on your Mac? How much RAM do you have assigned to the VM?

Parallels 9 or 10 don't have any specific problem with Firefox running at the same time in OSX, however Firefox might consume a lot of RAM and that's why the Mac slows down, but upgrading RAM is relatively cheap.
 
Specimen said:
Parallels 9 is compatible with Mavericks and will be updated when Yosemite comes out (each version has a 2 year support with updates period, PDM9 is at the end of teh 1st year).

How much RAM you got on your Mac? How much RAM do you have assigned to the VM?

Parallels 9 or 10 don't have any specific problem with Firefox running at the same time in OSX, however Firefox might consume a lot of RAM and that's why the Mac slows down, but upgrading RAM is relatively cheap.
Click to expand...

Hi,

I knew I forgot something! I have 18 Gigs of RAM.

You've given me an idea. I was unaware that I can manipulate how much RAM is assigned to the VM. Is this easily explained, or should I start digging into the documentation?

BTW, Photoshop has the same difficulty with Firefox running in the background, in that it slows down significantly, although not as badly as Parallels.

Will Parallels 10 help with these problems?

Thanks, and I'm looking forward to your reply.

Trevor
 
trevorpsy said:
Hi,

I knew I forgot something! I have 18 Gigs of RAM.

You've given me an idea. I was unaware that I can manipulate how much RAM is assigned to the VM. Is this easily explained, or should I start digging into the documentation?

BTW, Photoshop has the same difficulty with Firefox running in the background, in that it slows down significantly, although not as badly as Parallels.

Will Parallels 10 help with these problems?

Thanks, and I'm looking forward to your reply.

Trevor
Click to expand...

I'm sure you can easily find how to change the amount of RAM assigned.

No, I though it was kinds of clear, albeit I didn't explicit say it, that it's not a problem with Parallels 9, so no, version 10 won't solve a non-existent problem in version 9. ;)
 
Specimen said:
I'm sure you can easily find how to change the amount of RAM assigned.

No, I though it was kinds of clear, albeit I didn't explicit say it, that it's not a problem with Parallels 9, so no, version 10 won't solve a non-existent problem in version 9. ;)
Click to expand...

Hi,

The reason I thought it was a problem with Parallels is because with 18 Gigs of RAM it should play nicely with Firefox. Other than Photoshop, all other software runs well with Firefox in the background, including other browsers.

So, it would appear that it is a problem with Parallels. Yes?

Thanks,

Trevor
 
I think I already reply with my thoughts on the matter. You still haven't answered to: " How much RAM do you have assigned to the VM?"
 
Specimen said:
I think I already reply with my thoughts on the matter. You still haven't answered to: " How much RAM do you have assigned to the VM?"
Click to expand...

Hi,

I wasn't able to check the memory allocation until now because I was at work and not in front of my Parallels machine.

Inside the preferences for Snow Leopard under "general" I found a memory allocation tool, which indicates that 2 GB of RAM has been set aside for Snow Leopard. The memory allocation slider could not be adjusted, and there's a warning that I will need to the quit virtual machine to do so. This presents a dilemma, because this slider does not exist anywhere except within the running virtual machine.

The vast majority of the time I use Parallels to play Scrabble, a game with a small memory footprint which was broken by the advent of Lion. It runs fine as long was Firefox isn't also running. So, I'm wondering why it becomes unplayable with Firefox running in the background when there's 18 GB to share?

I noted that Parallels 10 runs up to 50 percent faster. This fact probably has no bearing on the present situation.

Thanks,

Trevor
 
Hi again,

I just found memory usage/CPI meter for Snow Leopard while running Scrabble: CPU 3 percent & RAM 1 percent.


trevorpsy said:
Hi,

I wasn't able to check the memory allocation until now because I was at work and not in front of my Parallels machine.

Inside the preferences for Snow Leopard under "general" I found a memory allocation tool, which indicates that 2 GB of RAM has been set aside for Snow Leopard. The memory allocation slider could not be adjusted, and there's a warning that I will need to the quit virtual machine to do so. This presents a dilemma, because this slider does not exist anywhere except within the running virtual machine.

The vast majority of the time I use Parallels to play Scrabble, a game with a small memory footprint which was broken by the advent of Lion. It runs fine as long was Firefox isn't also running. So, I'm wondering why it becomes unplayable with Firefox running in the background when there's 18 GB to share?

I noted that Parallels 10 runs up to 50 percent faster. This fact probably has no bearing on the present situation.

Thanks,

Trevor
Click to expand...
 
trevorpsy said:
Hi,

I wasn't able to check the memory allocation until now because I was at work and not in front of my Parallels machine.

Inside the preferences for Snow Leopard under "general" I found a memory allocation tool, which indicates that 2 GB of RAM has been set aside for Snow Leopard. The memory allocation slider could not be adjusted, and there's a warning that I will need to the quit virtual machine to do so. This presents a dilemma, because this slider does not exist anywhere except within the running virtual machine.

The vast majority of the time I use Parallels to play Scrabble, a game with a small memory footprint which was broken by the advent of Lion. It runs fine as long was Firefox isn't also running. So, I'm wondering why it becomes unplayable with Firefox running in the background when there's 18 GB to share?

I noted that Parallels 10 runs up to 50 percent faster. This fact probably has no bearing on the present situation.

Thanks,

Trevor
Click to expand...

You'll have to shut down the VM, but not the Parallels window. Then go into the same settings menu you found, and adjust the slider. Try 4 GB.
The 18GB can't be shared, unless you allow Parallels to use more.

You can find more satisfactory instructions here:
http://kb.parallels.com/en/113649

Best Regards Peter H. Jensen
 
Looks good! The program is a little slower with Firefox running in the background, but it's not a problem. I will fiddle around (when I have more time) with a slightly higher memory allocation.

I never would have suspected that memory allocation was the problem, because Parallels performs well when Firefox isn't running.

----

When I bought Parallels I had every intention of running Windows, but events haven't gone that way. As I mentioned in an earlier email, I use Parallels to emulate Snow Leopard so that I have access to Scrabble, Webster's 3rd International Dictionary, and a chess program. These programs require minimal resources, so I'm wondering if I'll notice a significant speed bump after upgrading to Parallels 10?

Thanks for time,

Trevor


Contradel said:
You'll have to shut down the VM, but not the Parallels window. Then go into the same settings menu you found, and adjust the slider. Try 4 GB.
The 18GB can't be shared, unless you allow Parallels to use more.

You can find more satisfactory instructions here:
http://kb.parallels.com/en/113649

Best Regards Peter H. Jensen
Click to expand...
 
trevorpsy said:
Looks good! The program is a little slower with Firefox running in the background, but it's not a problem. I will fiddle around (when I have more time) with a slightly higher memory allocation.

I never would have suspected that memory allocation was the problem, because Parallels performs well when Firefox isn't running.

----

When I bought Parallels I had every intention of running Windows, but events haven't gone that way. As I mentioned in an earlier email, I use Parallels to emulate Snow Leopard so that I have access to Scrabble, Webster's 3rd International Dictionary, and a chess program. These programs require minimal resources, so I'm wondering if I'll notice a significant speed bump after upgrading to Parallels 10?

Thanks for time,

Trevor
Click to expand...
Hi Trevor
Glad to hear you're cracking it!

Firefox is notorious for a huge RAM consumption (I'm not sure they fixed it in recent versions). I would advice you to use another browser, such as Chrome or Safari. Safari has gotten a lot better, and both browsers have a lot of extensions.

Your requirements for your VM environment are very specific. The best move would be to try the Parallels 10 trial. If you do not find any speed increase satisfactory of the asking price, remove the trial.
Lastly but not least, have you examined if your Scrabble, Webster and Chess program runs on your native OS?

Good Friday evening. Cheers
 
Hi,

You've tapped into my biggest frustration with Apple, unlike Windows software that takes years or even decades to become obsolete, I'm feel lucky to get 3 years out of a lot Apple programs.

I play Scrabble everyday, so it's a very important program to me. There are new versions of the program, which are pretty terrible. The version I'm using was never updated.

Webster's 3rd International was never upgraded either, and it is the best English language dictionary around, short of the Oxford.

The chess program is Sigma Chess, by far the best chess program for the Mac. I've been in mail contact with programmer who told me that he has no plans to upgrade the program.

So there you have it.

When I have a moment I'll download the trial version of Parallels 10.

Take care,

Trevor


Contradel said:
Hi Trevor
Glad to hear you're cracking it!

Firefox is notorious for a huge RAM consumption (I'm not sure they fixed it in recent versions). I would advice you to use another browser, such as Chrome or Safari. Safari has gotten a lot better, and both browsers have a lot of extensions.

Your requirements for your VM environment are very specific. The best move would be to try the Parallels 10 trial. If you do not find any speed increase satisfactory of the asking price, remove the trial.
Lastly but not least, have you examined if your Scrabble, Webster and Chess program runs on your native OS?

Good Friday evening. Cheers
Click to expand...
 
Hello again,

I just downloaded the installer for Parallels 10 and was intending to follow the instructions for installing the trail; however, when I chose not to replace Parallels 9, the installer quit. Can I get around this by moving the Parallels 9 application to the desktop, or are other files needing to be moved as well?

Thanks,

Trevor
 
trevorpsy said:
Hello again,

I just downloaded the installer for Parallels 10 and was intending to follow the instructions for installing the trail; however, when I chose not to replace Parallels 9, the installer quit. Can I get around this by moving the Parallels 9 application to the desktop, or are other files needing to be moved as well?

Thanks,

Trevor
Click to expand...

No.
Allow it to replace PDM9.
If you want to go back to 9, uninstall 10, and run the installer of PDM9, your VMs and settings are unaffected by the uninstall.
 
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