Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Enough Power for Regualr Parallels Usage
- Thread starter Poet
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The MacBook has plenty of power to run Parallels or Fusion
You just might want to consider maxing out the RAM
If you plan to game, I would suggest running natively with Boot Camp
Woof, Woof - Dawg
You just might want to consider maxing out the RAM
If you plan to game, I would suggest running natively with Boot Camp
Woof, Woof - Dawg
Actually, I don't want to use virtualization for gaming, just for developing and using applications on other platforms. For example, I have a Gentoo server which I use, but it would nice to run a local copy of Gentoo on my Macbook just in case I don't have access to my server. Same goes for Windows.
This would depend on how much virtual memory that you set up for your virtual machine. For instance, if you have 2GB of actual RAM and you set up Parallels to use 512MB of RAM, Mac OS will run well but windows vista ultimate would be dead in the water. Setting up the RAM to be 50/50 (1GB each) would be better but a 50/50 situation with 4GB actual RAM would be even better.
I run windows xp regularly along side Mac OS and I have set up 512MB RAM for xp and I have no problems. I'll run Quicken and a terminal emulator on xp with an occasional FireFox.
Any more questions, post back. -GDF
One more item to consider... if and when you do elect Parallel and if you have Leopard using Time Machine, you need to exclude your vm(s) from your Time Machine backup.
I run windows xp regularly along side Mac OS and I have set up 512MB RAM for xp and I have no problems. I'll run Quicken and a terminal emulator on xp with an occasional FireFox.
Any more questions, post back. -GDF
One more item to consider... if and when you do elect Parallel and if you have Leopard using Time Machine, you need to exclude your vm(s) from your Time Machine backup.
Max the RAM and you'll be fine - especially important if you plan to run Vista or Windows 7 as you will need to allocate an absolute minimum of 1Gb and more like 1.5Gb to the VM to help it run smoothly. If you can get away with running XP then this will help matters considerably on the memory front.
Agree with what the others have said. I used to run VMWare Fusion daily with Windows XP for my "work PC" with an older white macbook (Santa Rosa 2.0GHz) so the newer ones will be fine. As others have mentioned I do recommend upgrading to 4GB of RAM though if you plan on using Parallels/Fusion regularly and want a "smooth experience" with both OS X and Windows. With a 4GB kit (2x2GB) of DDR2 being around $40 (or $60 for DDR3 for the new unibodies) from like newegg.com or owc, its a worthwhile investment IMHO.
Using stock settings for xp on parallels with my c2d white imac, 2 gigs made everything draggy and laggy. 3 gigs made all the difference. DDR2 is dirt cheap right now, cram the ram.
Not that I know of since I believe Apple considers RAM "user-serviceable".
You may want to keep the original RAM to pop-back in when you send in the Macbook for Applecare service. You won't get much from reselling them anyways (like $20 tops) so might as well keep them around for piece of mind. Your call though.
You may want to keep the original RAM to pop-back in when you send in the Macbook for Applecare service. You won't get much from reselling them anyways (like $20 tops) so might as well keep them around for piece of mind. Your call though.
Nope.
I suggest investing in an upgrade to 4GB personally. I run an XP image in Fusion all the time while onsite with clients. I allocated 2 GB to the VM and everything runs smoothly with only slight system degradation should I reboot the VM.
Wow, thanks for all the advice so far. There is a cheap computer store by where I live and the memory I want is listed online as: "2GB DDR3 PC3-8500 204-pin SODIMM Non-ECC Memory". From my own research, it appears that the Aluminum Macbook can take this type of memory. However, I thought I would double check here. Is that the right type to buy?
I believe that is the right type, but I wouldn't recommend buying anything that didn't say "For Apple", or something related. Generic RAM sometimes causes issues in Macs, which can be more picky. The forums are full of those issues. You may find that going with Apple compatible chips is as cheap as the generic, especially from somewhere like OWC or Crucial. If they claim Mac compatibility, they'll back it up in the long run.
Trust me, you don't want to mess with the possibility of RAM related issues. They're infuriating and hard to trace.
Ignore that.
Provided that the RAM you buy actually does the spec (i.e. the modules themselves aren't faulty) there is absolutely no difference whatsoever between modules "for Apple" and other RAM modules. Actually... there is one difference: modules marked "for Macs" or "for Apple" will have a higher markup since some people think they're getting a different product.
Any old DDR3 PC3-8500 module will work just great. Crucial sells them at a decent price, and I think NewEgg has some too...