Quicken Classic Premier for Windows on M3 MBP

Hard to find updated information on the web about this so thought I would post for anyone searching for an answer.

I have run Quicken Classic for Windows on my Intel iMac via Parallels for 7 years and decided to upgrade to a new Macbook Pro M3 Max (16/40, 48GB).

I am successfully running Quicken Classic Premiere for Windows (R53.16) on the MBP using Parallels 19.1.1 (4 CPUs/8GB RAM) with Windows 11 Pro. No major issues except Quicken occasionally shuts down when backing up a data file and the PDF printer drivers I used on my Imac (Big Sur) were better than the new Microsoft Print to PDF driver (can't scale the output down), but I think this is a Sonoma thing and not an Apple Silicon thing. The software is snappy, even when using a very large (540MB) QIF data file.

Windows memory usage of the VM is hovering at ~ 50% (3.7GB) while Windows CPU usage is ~ 3% with occasional spikes up into the 30%s. Mac Memory usage is about 32GB, with a few apps open plus Chrome with 20 tabs. Mac CPU usage is <5%. The MBP is running at about 100 degrees F and the fans are not spinning.

Parallels now makes it very easy to install a full Windows 11 instance (no more having to get an unsupported Developers copy). Total time to set up Parallels, Win11 and Quicken was less than 30 minutes.

I'm glad I got a 48GB machine. 36GB would probably be fine, less than that would be tight. I think any of the M3 processors would be fine but the base M3 tops out at 24GB.

 

Great computer you've got there! I just got mine as well, same specs as you and man...What a computer

And I got a question you might know the answer to.

I am using the parallels pro version so that I can allocate more power to Windows 11. The question is first of all:

If I shut down the VM, does the RAM on the mac become usable again or is the RAM always "used" when allocating it to the VM?

And then, does the ratio between allocated cores and RAM matter? And if so, what do you suggest? I will only use Windows for Steam games.

Thanks! I lets never spend money on a computer again

 

If the VM is shut down (or suspended) then the RAM is freed up to be used by the Mac.

THis video may be helpful on Cores/RAM for gaming --