8 or 16gb RAM for Parallels use on Mac

[jules77]

Hi,
for efficient use of Parallels how much Ram do you recommend on the base 2019 model MBP? 8gig enough or 16 gig?

Best
J

 

[frankie1000]

I'm running windows 10 & AutoDesk Revit in Parallels and with the 2019 2.4 i5 & 8GB RAM. seems to work really well considering it is all virtual. The views seem to work quite well and even the 3D panning & zooming isn't really terrible.

Whilst the model I am running isn't massive it still has quite a few elements to it. I do wish I had 16GB as I imagine there is a lot of swapping going on right now and obviously slows things down considerably compared to everything being in RAM.

But it's workable. Depends on what software you are running and how intensive that might be?

 

[VineRider]

I'm using 8gb on a windows VM. No issues whatsoever. Running office 365 apps in the VM. 2.4 ghz Macbook Pro 13

 

[jules77]

Hi, thanks for the answers so far. Sounds quite good. I would use office, browser, connect to SAP systems and occasionally some desktop IDEs. So nothing too power-draining. Will go for the 1,4 Ghz. Thoughts of more RAM needed as I will have many apps/tabs open in both OS at same time.

How is the performance if you keep on switching back and forth between both OS?

 

[chabig]

I’ve been running Windows in Parallels for many years with 8GB or RAM. I don’t task the machine much. One mistake you can make that will cause performed problems is to give a lot of RAM to your virtual machine. Counterintuitively, the more you give, the harder memory management must work to make everything run. I give 2GB to my Windows 10 VM.

 

[BarredOwl]

16GB for sure. I can’t stand the lags with 8GB.

 

[VineRider]

Hi, thanks for the answers so far. Sounds quite good. I would use office, browser, connect to SAP systems and occasionally some desktop IDEs. So nothing too power-draining. Will go for the 1,4 Ghz. Thoughts of more RAM needed as I will have many apps/tabs open in both OS at same time.

How is the performance if you keep on switching back and forth between both OS?

Performance for me is great. No issues with switching between Mac and windows apps

 

[jules77]

Received the MBP. Using Parallels Win10 + SAP. With 4gb memory for the VM (recommended setting from Parallels) total usage is 10GB out of 16.

Runs very smooth so far.

 

[BarredOwl]

Received the MBP. Using Parallels Win10 + SAP. With 4gb memory for the VM (recommended setting from Parallels) total usage is 10GB out of 16.

Runs very smooth so far.

Great to hear. You should be able to work fairly intensively in both OSes with 16GB.

 

[maflynn]

I run Vms for work, and I feel while 8GB is doable, its tight. If it were me and you had the opportunity to upgrade to 16, then go for it