parallels ram usage

Discussion in 'MacBook Pro' started by lawrie1947, Sep 10, 2010.

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  1. lawrie1947, Sep 10, 2010

    lawrie1947 macrumors member

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    #1
    Hi,

    I am running parallels windows 7 on my mbp (2010 4 gb ram)

    I have allocated 2gb ram for parallels.

    I know this is probably a daft question but is the 2gb only used when parallels is running and can the mac use the full 4gb when parallels is not?

    Thanks
     
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  2. spinnerlys, Sep 10, 2010

    spinnerlys Guest

    spinnerlys

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    #2
    The 2GB RAM is only used when Parallels is running.
     
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  3. lawrie1947, Sep 10, 2010

    lawrie1947 thread starter macrumors member

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    #3
    thanks for the quick reply :)
     
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  4. gwsat, Sep 10, 2010

    gwsat macrumors 68000

    gwsat

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    #4
    lawrie1947 -- Have you tried running Parallels configured in a way to allow you to keep it open all the time and run Windows apps from the OS X desktop while simultaneously running OS X apps? I know from personal experience that such a setup won't run satisfactorily with only 2Gb of RAM but will work well with 6Gb of RAM. I have been trying for months, without success, to get a definitive answer to the question whether 4Gb of RAM will allow VMware Fusion or Parallels to satisfactorily run Windows apps in tandem with OS X apps from the OS X desktop. Any useful experience you could share with me on this score would be appreciated.
     
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  5. Gabriel GR, Sep 10, 2010

    Gabriel GR macrumors 6502a

    Gabriel GR

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    #5
    You can dynamically allocate ram to parallels and just specify the RAM every virtual machine uses.

    For example let each VM take up to 1GB of ram and then Parallels will eat as much RAM as the hypervisor needs on top of that.

    I use it like that all the time. When I shut down or suspend the virtual machines parallels only takes about 100mb.
     
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  6. lawrie1947, Sep 10, 2010

    lawrie1947 thread starter macrumors member

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    #6
    Is that different to allocating ram to each VM in parallels?

    If it is can you give a pointer?

    Thanks

    Lawrie
     
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