Parallels and Mac OS running slow

Hi, I have used Parallels 7 to install Windows 7 32 bit on a 2007 Macbook (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 Ghz, 2 gb ram) running Snow Leopard. I've tried assigning first 512 MB and then 1gb to the VM, and in both cases, the VM and the mac OS run really slow.

Is my only option buying another 2 gb to have a total of 4gb and be able to assign half of it to the VM?

 

2gb is not really enough to run os x and a VM. it'll run, but as you noticed it will be slow. you should upgrade, but check what slots are free. more than likely you'll have to buy 2 2GB sticks since there are probably 1GB sticks in each of the two slots, meaning there won't be any room for new ones.

i have a total of 4gb on my late '08 MBP (2.4 GHz C2D). i assign 1gb to the VM and things run fine. on occasion a CPU-chewing operation on the VM or mac will slow things down, but that's not too often.

IO (hard drive) is another common bottleneck for computers. what type of drive do you have? the original one that came with the mac? you might consider upgrading that too and/or moving your VM to an external drive if you can. i upgraded to a samsung SSD and notice a world of difference when i occasionally switch back to the platter-based hdd.

but again, upgrading the amount of RAM you have will be the quickest and easiest way to see some improvement.

 

Thanks for the answer. And yes, there are only 2 slots so I'll have to replace the two 1gb sticks for two 2gb to get to 4gb. As far as I read, that's the maximum these old macbooks support.

As for the hard drive. I hadn't thought about that. I'm gonna try to run the VM from my external drive. Maybe that makes a slight difference until I can purchase the memory.

Thanks again

 

officially 4 is the max. unofficially 6gb appears to be the max (with a 2gb and a 4gb stick), but YMMV.