Parallels 4.0 to 5.0? 2GB RAM good enough?

Greetings Forum!

I have 2Gb of RAM on my IMAC (late 2006 model) and I have recently upgraded to OS 10.6.2 and Parallels 4.0.

When I run Parallels (both the old version and new version on the new OS) my mac gets REALLY SLOW and I monitor my RAM using Activity monitor to see that I have nothing left.

Will I ger improved performance if I replace one RAM module with a 2Gb module to max out the computer with 3Gb?

Will I get improved performance if I pay more for Parallels 5.0? (I upgrade to 4.0 a few weeks before 5.0 came out and they won't send me the newer version now....)

Thanks.
Frank.

How much ram are you allocating to Parallels? I use VMware Fusion and it runs just fine with 1 GB of RAM. I do however have 4GB of RAM total though. >_>"

I agree with CrimsonRequiem. Try reducing the amount of computer resources Parallels is giving to Windows and you should see a performance increase. Upgrading your RAM to its maximum is also a good idea but still don't let Windows hog all of your resources.

Unless you are doing a lot of intensive applications in Windows or doing a lot of multitasking then Windows doesn't really need more than 1 GB of RAM. I don't know if Parallels can do this also but with Fusion I can also limit the amount of core CPUs Windows uses. I only give Windows 1 core processor. In other words give Windows only as much as it needs to work and no more.

I upgraded to 3GB in our White iMac and allocate 1.4GB to Parallels 3 w XP and it now works fine.

Thanks All. I'm going to try to dial back to 1gb for Par. Ill see if this works. Ideally I would like to be able to comfortably use Thunderbird (for email) and Firefox on my MAC and while I am on Parallels..... I'll report back.

My problem seems to be the opposite... I have a 4 GB w/ 2.8 MacBook Pro and the Parallel runs really slow... even when I have no programs running on the Mac side...

What are your settings for Parallel?

muchmorejunk said:

Thanks All. I'm going to try to dial back to 1gb for Par. Ill see if this works. Ideally I would like to be able to comfortably use Thunderbird (for email) and Firefox on my MAC and while I am on Parallels..... I'll report back.

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1GB is overkill for Windows XP, but it is necessary for Vista or 7. You might even be able to get away with 512MB.