Running windows VM on Macbook Pro - will 32GB ram and i9 8 core make a significant difference?

D

derek68

Member
Hi,
I presently am running 2018 MacBook Pro i7(4 core)/16GB Ram with Windows installed in a VM. I presently have the resources allocated as 8GB and 2 cores to the windows system. As this computer is primarily for business use, I spend roughly 80% of my time in Windows and ideally would like to have Windows performing at maximum speed and performance when utilizing it. ( I absolutely can't stand when things are not lightning fast...lol)
I am looking at the possibility of getting a new 2019 i9(8core) 32GB Ram MacBook Pro and allocating the resources as 16 GB of RAM and 4 cores for the Windows VM solely for the purpose of trying to get better performance.
Ultimately my question is, will this make a material difference in performance? If so, would it be "that much better" to justify the cost of the upgrade?

Thanks,
Derek
 
I have a 2019 51" MBP with i9 8-core 16GB memory. I was using 2018 Air before, so the performance difference is huge. But, I'm facing a completely different issue where PD14 is incompatible with Windows 10 Build 1903. So, the VM is still ugly slow. If your Windows 10 VM is on build 1803/1809, I'd definitely say the performance would be superior on the new pro machines.
 
Derek, did you end up buying the i9 MacBook? I am buying the newest MacBook Pro, I'm curious if I should upgrade to 32GB of RAM, from 16GB? Will I see an improvement in Parallels with the extra RAM?
 
Hi Blueweb,
I did end up getting the i9 with 32GB of Ram and it definitely DID improve the performance of my Windows VM in Parallels. I am not sure exactly quantify "how" much it improved as far as an improvement percentage but it was noticeable.

Thanks,
Derek
 
The thing that actually makes the biggest change to system performance is disk performance.
I started to get a smart error on my SSD used for a fusion drive. Therefore decided to replace this and bought a 1TB SSD. Was amazed at just how much faster the system became. It loads the VM perhaps 4* faster than it ever did before, and everything seems much quicker throughout.
So on order of 'helps':
RAM
Disk performance
Processor

I'm actually 'torn' between 1 & 2 on this, but suspect the reality is RAM wiil gain you more if you have too little, but the improvement then tails off perhaps above about 16GB. Then the disk performance becomes the biggest gain. Finally the processor.
 
One other quick question on this... Is there any VM performance benefit/detriment depending on whether you are running a VM within the window versus within a full screen versus within coherence?

Thx
D
 
VaidyM said:
I have always found Coherence being a bit more resource consuming than Full Screen or Windowed modes. I have noticed Parallels Coherence service running at the background.
The rest depends on how much Windows VM process.
-
Vaidy
Click to expand...
Great, thanks
 
Hello derek
I've just bought a MacBook with the same specifications as yours.
I was wondering how it is holding up, I've read quite a bit about it getting extremely hot and the fans running very loud.
Also did you buy the standard version of parallels or the professional version which you have to pay annually for? Because I think in the standard version there's only 8gb of vRAM dedicated to parallels, so I was a bit unsure whether the 32gb will actually even be fully used.
Thanks for your help
 
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