I've got a 2.0 GHz iMac w/512 MB RAM running Mac OS X 10.4.6. Parallels runs fine and I successfully created a virtual machine with 128 MB ram dedicated to it. Windows XP installs and runs fine. However, the host OS runs very poorly while this VM is running. What kind of performance impact should I expect on the host OS? Short of getting more RAM, what else can I check to tune the system?
You are memory limited. Open the activity monitor (in utilities under Appliscations). and monitor the page ou/page in. When running the Parallels, and a guest OS, with only 512M ram, you will se constant disk activity of paging memory out and in. You will be much happier with an additional gig of ram, and the guest will be happier with 384M ram. Geoff
Agreed. WinXP says it will run in 128 but frankly the definition of "run" is a topic for discussion. Memory is cheep these days. Load your machine up as much as you can. 2gb if possible. It will feel snappier and give your guest OS 512mb. It will make a WORLD of difference.
I was expecting this as well. The guest OS ran just fine, I will compare the numbers and report shortly. By the way, should I go to Apple to get my memory upgraded or would it be much cheaper to purchase memory from elsewhere (if so, what exactly would I be looking for)?
Couldn't agree more. On my iMac, running Adium, iChat, iTunes and Firefox, I'm already using more than 1GB of RAM! Nevermind what happens when Parallels starts up.
So what's the preferred VM memory size (specifically for XP Pro)? I have an iMac with 2GB of RAM and have 512MB dedicated to Win XP Pro but am wondering if I should bump that up to 768MB? Will I see much difference in Windows performance?
I bought a 1 Gig stick from Crucial (http://www.crucial.com/) and upgraded my 20" iMac from 1 Gb to 2 Gb. Everything runs great and haven't had one problem yet (paid only $150 for the ram - Apple charges ~$300.00).
