Memory: Is 2GB not enough?

I have had my MBP for less than a week - I'm completely happy with it. I do have to run windows a bit for work programs, so I installed parallels and XP Pro last night - works without a hitch. However, in typical windows fashion, I had a few programs crash - no biggie - I'm used to it. What concerns me is the memory that parallels uses. When parallels was running I had 25mb free memory - that's with nothing open in windows but a browser. What happens when I try to install and run CS2? Will it take more memory and crash? The system did say there was approximately 900mb "unused", but only 25 available. Is this 900 reserved for programs within parallels? After closing parallels the available memory went up to about 700 or so.

Any ideas? Do I have to upgrade to 3GB? Seems like overkill but who knows...

Thanks

are u sure are ur ram is good? check system profiler. my macbook has 2gb and when i run imovie, itunes, ichat, safari, and word i still have over 900 mb free.

It's fine when I'm not running parallels. I can have any number of programs running and not have a problem. It's only when I'm running parallels that I see this.

You can allow parallels to "have" a certain amount of ram. I have 2gb of RAM as well, and I give parallels 512mb. When running parallels, I also have almost no free RAM, so this is not unusual. Remember that parallels takes 512mb for windows, and also takes RAM for itself.....so the bottom line is that parallels uses a whole lot of your memory. If you are running parallels on a continuous, or frequent basis, then i would recommend going to 3GB.

4 me it's more than enough

If there are 900MB of "unused" memory, that means your computer is basically reserving most of that as "Inactive memory" that certain programs that recently used RAM (I would assume Parallels in your case) get first dibs at. However, if a program needs the RAM, the system will take it from that inactive RAM and let it use it. 2GB is not an issue, trust me.

If you are running parallels on a continuous, or frequent basis, then i would recommend going to 3GB.

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If someone were using Parallels for running Windows on a continuous or frequent basis, then I would recommend getting a Windows computer, not more RAM.

plenty for me even with parallels running, still using only 1500 of 2000

Discerptor said:

If there are 900MB of "unused" memory, that means your computer is basically reserving most of that as "Inactive memory" that certain programs that recently used RAM (I would assume Parallels in your case) get first dibs at. However, if a program needs the RAM, the system will take it from that inactive RAM and let it use it. 2GB is not an issue, trust me.

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Thanks - that's exactly what I needed to know. I used Parallels a bit over the weekend for work and it seemed fine. There haven't been any issues so I'll stick with the 2gb.