8Gb Limit for Parallels Mac is unreasonable in 2022

M

MaximB4

Bit poster
Hello, I was an active user of Parallels for Mac for the last year, however, now I bought a new MacBook Pro and I find the limit of 8Gb of memory (ram + video memory combined) is absolutely unreasonable.
I use VM mostly for gaming as many other users and 8Gb limit means I can't play any new games even with the lowest requirements. Moreover, considering how unstable Parallels for M1 and Windows 10 Insider Preview (I send crash reports all the time), upgrading to a Pro subscription is just not worth it. There are other cheaper alternatives with no limitations available and I am very disappointed in Parallels that I won't renew my subscription anymore with the current limitations.
 
Hello MaximB4, Please refer to the knowledge base article to change a virtual machine's memory (RAM) on Parallels Desktop. Thanks.
 
MaximB4 said:
Hello, I was an active user of Parallels for Mac for the last year, however, now I bought a new MacBook Pro and I find the limit of 8Gb of memory (ram + video memory combined) is absolutely unreasonable.
I use VM mostly for gaming as many other users and 8Gb limit means I can't play any new games even with the lowest requirements. Moreover, considering how unstable Parallels for M1 and Windows 10 Insider Preview (I send crash reports all the time), upgrading to a Pro subscription is just not worth it. There are other cheaper alternatives with no limitations available and I am very disappointed in Parallels that I won't renew my subscription anymore with the current limitations.
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I agree! 8GB is nothing! 16GB should be a minimum!
Parallels solution is a ridiculously priced subscription. I understand having the subscription for services and updates but they lock simple necessities behind paywalls. They know 8GB is not enough so they rip you off with a one-time buy only to find that you just bought a very expensive demo. Consumers need to stop buying into this ridiculous subscription garbage for software like this. It encourages lazy development and produces a far inferior product. Consumers should only pay for updates if they need or want them. They shouldn't pay companies monthly in hopes that the product will work as intended, which it rarely ever does. I hope parallels come to their senses and raise these ridiculous limits on CPU and Memory for non-subscription customers. Until then I'm just waiting for an alternative product to run on my beast M1 machine.
If anyone knows of any good alternatives to parallels for the 2022 M1 MacBook Pro hit me up.
 
Johnpy said:
I agree! 8GB is nothing! 16GB should be a minimum!
Parallels solution is a ridiculously priced subscription. I understand having the subscription for services and updates but they lock simple necessities behind paywalls. They know 8GB is not enough so they rip you off with a one-time buy only to find that you just bought a very expensive demo. Consumers need to stop buying into this ridiculous subscription garbage for software like this. It encourages lazy development and produces a far inferior product. Consumers should only pay for updates if they need or want them. They shouldn't pay companies monthly in hopes that the product will work as intended, which it rarely ever does. I hope parallels come to their senses and raise these ridiculous limits on CPU and Memory for non-subscription customers. Until then I'm just waiting for an alternative product to run on my beast M1 machine.
If anyone knows of any good alternatives to parallels for the 2022 M1 MacBook Pro hit me up.
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Hello, we are sorry to hear that. Kindly let us know if you are facing any issue.
 
Hello, by using Parallels Desktop Standard Edition you can assign up to 8GB of virtual RAM for each virtual machine and up to 4 CPUs whereas by purchasing Parallels Desktop Pro Edition you can assign up to 128GB of virtual RAM for each virtual machine and up to 32 CPUs. Please refer to the knowledge base article to know about the Parallels Desktop. Thanks.
 
Bhargava said:
Hello, we are sorry to hear that. Kindly let us know if you are facing any issues. Thanks.
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It's clear that ec_1's issue (and MaximB4 as well) is that 8 gb isn't sufficient to run his software, but he's unwilling to pay $119/year for a feature that should be standard. The 8 gb limit is arbitrary and designed to force all but the most casual of users onto one of the subscription products. It's unethical and and shows a lack of respect for your paying customers on perpetual licenses.
 
I totally agree with this thread. Parallels runs almost standard with 8gb of memory and is super slow. Next time I think I'll move to virtual windows offered by Microsoft.
 
I just upgraded from parallels 16 to 26. in 16 I could go up to 32GB now I"m restricted to 8GB for the disk image I used to run 32GB?
Is this true, looks like it! this is BS
 
Yeah, I get you. That 8GB limit is pretty frustrating, especially if you're trying to game. It doesn't feel fair to pay for something that holds you back instead of making things smoother.
 
I decided not to upgrade my license this time because of 8GB RAM limitation. It's laughable in 2025. I bought a small Windows PC instead.
 
The biggest issue for me was older versions didn't have this limitation and the only way to get rid of the limitation is to purchase a subscription, which I will never do. I don't rent software and the way things are going I'll likely end up switching to Linux in the future.
 
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