I love the Crystal mode in Parallels 5. However Windows XP seems to run slow and Parallels hangs. I'm running OS X 10.6.2, Parallels 5.0.9310 and Windows XP SP3. I have Parallels performance optimized for the virtual machine, I'm using MacLook and Shared Profile. Anyone else having this issue?
Try this: optimize for Mac OS X, and set the VM memory to 768 M. If you don't need 3D acceleration turn it off and reduce the Graphics memory to 4 MB. The trick on low-memory Macs is to find the optimal balance between VM memory and Mac memory. I am running Windows 7 in 816 MB on a 2 GB MBAir and this is working quite well for me. Good luck!