Macbook Pro Not Handling Vmware Well?

[Josh.C.123]

Hey guys,

I have been using Vmware just for some MS Office stuff, and the i7 processor runs it fine it doesnt get hot, fans arent running too loud but after looking at the memory info it seems there is none left? OSX also becomes laggy too.

I am running WIndows 7 Standard, 1.5 GB Allocated and 2 Cores allocated.
But the memory for some reason reaches up to 26mb left?

I have 4GB Standard, is this just common when virtualising as the wired ram reaches 2.5 GB and i thought wired ram was just ram allocated to osx?

thanks

 

[Josh.C.123]

thanks

Just a few screenshots...

The bottom screenshot shows my mbp running just normal e.g. internet but it only says 2gb free, the other 2gb is distributed to inactive, wired etc but i am only running safari? can anyone help me with this?

 

[xi mezmerize ix]

I have 8 gigs of RAM and everything runs perfect. You should upgrade.

 

[Josh.C.123]

after spending his much on this mbp i cant afford to fork out £400 on ram! but is this just due to lack of ram, i thought 4 gb would be plentyyyy!

 

[xi mezmerize ix]

well u can go into the vmware settings and limit how much ram you allow it to use. that might help out.

 

[bigjobby]

also remember that OSX will start using some of that 'inactive' memory when it needs to. On my Win7 VM, I've allocated 1GB due to similar experience.

 

[Josh.C.123]

thanks for that so inactive ram is basically free ram ... ok.
but why do have 1.5GB of active ram when the only thing i have open right now are safari?

would resetting the pram solve this?

 

[Josh.C.123]

reset the pram - got 2.5 GB free memory back.. still cant get my head around where my other 1.5 gb goes? i have 1.5 GB allocated to Vmware .. does this mean i cant access the 1.5GB it when using just OSX?

 

[hajime]

I have 8GB on my i7 MBP. Under Fusion, Vista 64-bit runs like it were a real PC. I configured Fusion to run the bootcamp partition. I don't play computer games though.

 

[xi mezmerize ix]

I have 8GB on my i7 MBP. Under Fusion, Vista 64-bit runs like it were a real PC. I configured Fusion to run the bootcamp partition. I don't play computer games though.

Yea I use my xp bootcamp partition in vmware and it runs fine. i tried crysis in it for kicks and ill never do that again.

 

[plinden]

Your RAM's fine if that screen shot is of when your VM is running. Your Page Outs is a small (<10%) fraction of your Page Ins. When it gets to 1-1, get more RAM.

8GB in your MBP would be better, but you probably don't need 1.5GB assigned to your VM. This does get fully reserved by VMWare.

I find 1GB works pretty well for Win 7.

Don't worry about how the RAM is allocated. Safari will release it if it's needed. If it's not needed it'll look like it's taking up increasing amounts.

 

[DoFoT9]

Just a few screenshots...

The bottom screenshot shows my mbp running just normal e.g. internet but it only says 2gb free, the other 2gb is distributed to inactive, wired etc but i am only running safari? can anyone help me with this?

tbh man im not seeing anything wrong there....

once RAM is allocated it takes while to be "released" from OSX - thus why a whole chunk of Inactive RAM is taken up.

as plinden has said, your page outs are minimal at best. no need to worry at all!

 

[Jaxdialation]

Ouch! that's too bad, because memory is the secret to running virtual machines well. Make sure you have thought through the costs of -not- upgrading.
It is too bad you didn't realize this before hand.

after spending his much on this mbp i cant afford to fork out £400 on ram! but is this just due to lack of ram, i thought 4 gb would be plentyyyy!

 

[HLdan]

Ouch! that's too bad, because memory is the secret to running virtual machines well. Make sure you have thought through the costs of -not- upgrading.
It is too bad you didn't realize this before hand.

Agreed, ram is the key for overall performance of your computer, especially for virtual machines. I know it's too late now but the i5 would've been a much better buy and then maxing out the ram. The extra $200 USD is NOT worth it for the small difference between the i5 and i7 on the MBP. Too many people get clouded about the "i7" moniker without checking the real differences of it and the i5. For the dual core processors the i7 is a waste of money over the i5.

 

[hajime]

Agreed, ram is the key for overall performance of your computer, especially for virtual machines.

To improve the performance further, how about installing Windows on a SSD drive? Does it matter whether it is an external or internal drive?

 

[Josh.C.123]

Yes i see your points about i7 vs i5 when buying the mbp i thought that it was better to spend extra money on something which is not user replaceable i.e. cpu. i ordered the mbp the day it was released and so all the hype over "i7 is really not worth it" came out soon after.

i had planned on boot camping instead however was just worried of the windows viruses affecting the entire hdd hence virtualisation. oh well im sure i'll live. about the whole page in and outs thing - despite their not being a lot of page outs osx was very laggy.

quick question.

could you simply go to settings in vmware and give no ram to windows 7. and when you decide to boot into it, go to settings and give 1gb?

btw thanks all for your comments. much appreciated

 

[xi mezmerize ix]

Yes i see your points about i7 vs i5 when buying the mbp i thought that it was better to spend extra money on something which is not user replaceable i.e. cpu. i ordered the mbp the day it was released and so all the hype over "i7 is really not worth it" came out soon after.

i had planned on boot camping instead however was just worried of the windows viruses affecting the entire hdd hence virtualisation. oh well im sure i'll live. about the whole page in and outs thing - despite their not being a lot of page outs osx was very laggy.

quick question.

could you simply go to settings in vmware and give no ram to windows 7. and when you decide to boot into it, go to settings and give 1gb?

btw thanks all for your comments. much appreciated

you have to give it some ram. u cant set it to zero. it wont take any ram when u dont have it running. if u set it to 1 gb it will only take that 1 gb when u turn the vm on.

 

[neteng101]

Do you have a stock hard drive, 5400rpm? A 7200rpm drive will make a difference, and SSD will truly make a difference.

Although 4GB is not the best with a VM running, you aren't trying to push it either with only Safari running on the OSX side, and its far more likely that contention for disk access is slowing things down. Most of the time when OSX feels laggy for me with a VM running, there's disk activity occurring (this with a 7200rpm drive upgrade).

 

[Josh.C.123]

Agreed, ram is the key for overall performance of your computer, especially for virtual machines. I know it's too late now but the i5 would've been a much better buy and then maxing out the ram. The extra $200 USD is NOT worth it for the small difference between the i5 and i7 on the MBP. Too many people get clouded about the "i7" moniker without checking the real differences of it and the i5. For the dual core processors the i7 is a waste of money over the i5.

yup i see your point. in the uk i5 + 8gb ram = £1800
but i7 stock which i have is £1650
£150 extra for 8 gb ram, worse processor (albeit marginally), and half the gpu (256 vs 512) ?

i honestly didnt think 8gb was necessary. oh well learnt my lesson

 

[Josh.C.123]

you have to give it some ram. u cant set it to zero. it wont take any ram when u dont have it running. if u set it to 1 gb it will only take that 1 gb when u turn the vm on.

thats what i dont understand? i have right now safari on and thats all but it says 2gb free. i know everyone said the inactive ram gets freed up but that is only 390 mb where is the other 1.6 gb? 1.6gb for safari?

 

[plinden]

quick question.

could you simply go to settings in vmware and give no ram to windows 7. and when you decide to boot into it, go to settings and give 1gb?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean. You can't assign RAM to a VM if the VM is running, and this doesn't gain you anything anyway.

I get the impression you think the 1.5GB RAM is reserved always for VMWare ... am I right? Sorry for any misunderstanding, but the RAM goes to VMWare only when the VM is running.

If you're experiencing lag without VMWare running, something else is wrong. If with VMWare, you have too much RAM assigned to the VM. You have to try to get a balance between OS X performance and VM performance.

But your screenshots don't ring any alarm bells for me. You have plenty of inactive RAM available for when it's needed. I wouldn't want to run PhotoShop while running the VM though.

thats what i dont understand? i have right now safari on and thats all but it says 2gb free. i know everyone said the inactive ram gets freed up but that is only 390 mb where is the other 1.6 gb? 1.6gb for safari?

Post a screen shot of the entire Activity Monitor window with the System Memory tab selected, and sorted on the Real Memory column.

 

[Josh.C.123]

Do you have a stock hard drive, 5400rpm? A 7200rpm drive will make a difference, and SSD will truly make a difference.

Although 4GB is not the best with a VM running, you aren't trying to push it either with only Safari running on the OSX side, and its far more likely that contention for disk access is slowing things down. Most of the time when OSX feels laggy for me with a VM running, there's disk activity occurring (this with a 7200rpm drive upgrade).

i opted to stay for 5400 rpm for battery life, ssd simply is too expensive for the size as i have alreay filled up 115gb on my hdd so would need 120 gb + which is over £250.

i think this mbp needs to go for repair , the screen invertor thingy is loose i believe... the screen just goes black for 3-5 seconds at a time once a day, and the HDD has needed Disk utility repairs 3 times since i got it.

 

[Josh.C.123]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean. You can't assign RAM to a VM if the VM is running, and this doesn't gain you anything anyway.

I get the impression you think the 1.5GB RAM is reserved always for VMWare ... am I right? Sorry for any misunderstanding, but the RAM goes to VMWare only when the VM is running.

If you're experiencing lag without VMWare running, something else is wrong. If with VMWare, you have too much RAM assigned to the VM. You have to try to get a balance between OS X performance and VM performance.

But your screenshots don't ring any alarm bells for me. You have plenty of inactive RAM available for when it's needed. I wouldn't want to run PhotoShop while running the VM though.



Post a screen shot of the entire Activity Monitor window with the System Memory tab selected, and sorted on the Real Memory column.

yes i began to believe that the virtual machine kept the ram.. screen shot says 2gb used. but where is it going?

 

[Josh.C.123]

could anyone else just upload a screenshot of activity monitor with just safari running with 1 tab to compare?

 

[plinden]

That looks pretty standard. Nothing to worry about.

Here's mine with a 8GB RAM MBP, with a 1GB Win 7 VM and a 512MB Linux VM running. And after shutting VMWare down.

By the way, VMWare doesn't release RAM immediately. It writes the VM to disk in the background and can take a couple minutes to completely shut down.