Parallels' users, please help.

[TheBrazilianGuy]

Hi all.

I was asked today how good Windows (thru Parallels) runs in Macbooks.

Could someone please provide some input (benchmark would be awesome)
about its performance in Macbooks (non Pro) ?
I have found out dozens of posts discussing how well Mac Minis
handle Parallels which indicates that the limiting factor in performance
is not the video card. I just checked Parallels' website and they state that
memory is what matter (even though I believe that dual core CPUs make
a huge difference too).

On the other hand, if I am wrong, how much faster Macbook Pros
run Windows than "non Pro" models ?

Thanks a bunch !

S.

 

[clevin]

i might be wrong, but i think parallels doesn't directly access the graphic card, so i don't think there will be significant different in performance of windows run under parallels on MB or MBP.

 

[mac-convert]

You can have the biggest baddest fastest processor built, but if you don't have the memory for the application, it will run dog slow. Parallels especially, since it is running an entire virtual machine (video also, by the way). I have it on 1.83 mini, and finally went to the full 2GB memory upgrade, giving windows under parallels 1GB of memory to use. Not one complaint from me on this setup.

 

[TheBrazilianGuy]

Clevin,

A colleague of mine installed Parallels on a Macpro (amazing machine)
and he said that Parallels runs very well even though it does not
uses the full graphics card potential. That's where this discussion
started...he claims that Parallels uses only 8MB or 16MB, I do not
remember now, no matter what graphics hardware you have,
which then explains why Mac Minis or Macbooks (non Pro)
performs quite well.

Since we do not have any Mac with an integrated graphics card, it
is hard to test his claims.

S.

i might be wrong, but i think parallels doesn't directly access the graphic card, so i don't think there will be significant different in performance of windows run under parallels on MB or MBP.

 

[Texas04]

On our 1.83 GHZ C2D MacBook it ran just fine, however it did have a slight slow down with the standard 512MB of Ram. But once we updated and upgraded to 2 gigs.. WOW! It ran REALLY FAST.

On my MBP with one gig Core Duo, I ran Counter Strike no problem.. its great on both machines.

 

[TheBrazilianGuy]

Mac-convert,

Thanks for the input.
Yes, according to Parallels' website, memory is THE limiting factor on
its performance. At least, my friend's Macpro does not show any
sluggish due its 4Gb...Even so, does this mean that Parallels ignores how
much memory your graphic card uses ? At some point there might
exist some dependency on the graphics or CPU...

S.

You can have the biggest baddest fastest processor built, but if you don't have the memory for the application, it will run dog slow. Parallels especially, since it is running an entire virtual machine (video also, by the way). I have it on 1.83 mini, and finally went to the full 2GB memory upgrade, giving windows under parallels 1GB of memory to use. Not one complaint from me on this setup.

 

[TheBrazilianGuy]

Texas,

So, maybe you could put some numbers on the table.
Did you benchmark how well counter strike runs on these two machines ?
If not, could you tell what machine "feels" faster when using Windows ?
(let's say that you had maxed out their memory).

Thanks,
S.

On our 1.83 GHZ C2D MacBook it ran just fine, however it did have a slight slow down with the standard 512MB of Ram. But once we updated and upgraded to 2 gigs.. WOW! It ran REALLY FAST.

On my MBP with one gig Core Duo, I ran Counter Strike no problem.. its great on both machines.

 

[mac-convert]

Mac-convert,

Thanks for the input.
Yes, according to Parallels' website, memory is THE limiting factor on
its performance. At least, my friend's Macpro does not show any
sluggish due its 4Gb...Even so, does this mean that Parallels ignores how
much memory your graphic card uses ? At some point there might
exist some dependency on the graphics or CPU...

S.

You're welcome! The graphics is also virtualized, ergo the limits on the memory in the parallels setup for the operating system you are loading. However, I really haven't found this a bad thing for the work I perform. It does not work for 3D gaming, etc. However, with the rapid development that they are going through, it wouldn't surprise me to see something at least close to this is the next major rev of the product. (This is not an endorsement for Parallels, nor a sales job - just stating an opinion).

If you want gaming capabilities, you have two choices:
a) Boot Camp
b) A separate computer running Windows

 

[sulhaq]

I've had much experience with Parallels and here are my findings. All data is for Macbook CD with 2gb RAM.

1. First and foremost I need windows for only two things. Gaming and 3D modeling in MATLAB until the UB of Matlab is out. Parallels fails in both criteria miserably. Since the maximum video memory cannot exceed 8MB I cannot play absolutely any decent games and Matlab even though it runs computes at a snail's pace and cannot handle any 3D tasks.Yes, games do run, but only those that do not require 3D support, which, in today's market are next to none.

2. As long as Parallels is running the fans on my macbook kept turning at a noticeable speed. That is I could hear them running and most of the time it was full blast, so it takes quite a bit of juice to run.

3. I was not able to successfully interface windows with any peripherals. Whenever I connected my external HD or my Dell DJ I would get the BSoD. I even could not get the iSight to work. It would detect it, but then windows wouldn't respond no matter what I did.

4. I would have liked it a lot if I could use the internet in both Parallels and OSX but that's of course impossible. Not only that whenever I would switch internets from Parallels to OSX there would always be an IP conflict even if I had set different addresses for both. Maybe that was my incompetence but I never really figured out how to get rid of this problem. Could be a faulty dmg.

5. It "recommends" that you don't exceed the total virtual machine RAM more than half of what your machine has. Even so when I had set the total RAM to 1gb when my machine had 2gb and then minimize Parallels and run CS2 under Rosetta and you've got yourself a nice 5 minute wait, not the mention the fans go crazy.

That's all that comes to mind at the moment. I'll post more if I remember something else that went wrong. All in all I was sorely diasppointed with Parallels. The idea is great but it needs lots of work.

 

[swiftaw]

4. I would have liked it a lot if I could use the internet in both Parallels and OSX but that's of course impossible. Not only that whenever I would switch internets from Parallels to OSX there would always be an IP conflict even if I had set different addresses for both. Maybe that was my incompetence but I never really figured out how to get rid of this problem. Could be a faulty dmg.

I've never had a problem with using the internet both through OS X and parallels simultaneously.

 

[sulhaq]

Like I said, no matter what I try if I'm using the internet on osx and go to parallels I get the "error: IP is already in use", same goes for if i go to osx from parallels. I don't understand what the problem is. One IP is set at 10 (my regular internet ip) and I used 200 for windows under parallels but it still happens.

 

[devman]

4. I would have liked it a lot if I could use the internet in both Parallels and OSX but that's of course impossible. Not only that whenever I would switch internets from Parallels to OSX there would always be an IP conflict even if I had set different addresses for both. Maybe that was my incompetence but I never really figured out how to get rid of this problem. Could be a faulty dmg.

Don't manually assign ip addresses then. Setup Windows as a DHCP client and configure Parallels for Shared Networking.

 

[sulhaq]

Thanks I'll try that. I never bothered with all parallels options really.

*One thing I forgot to mention that parallels never really discovers your true cpu. Sometimes it shows it as Pentium II, other times Pentium IV.... Is this the case with everyone?

 

[devman]

You may need to reboot OS X after you switch Parallels to shared networking - there's a parallels daemon that does this. You want your network prefs to look like the screenshot - if the green lights are on after the change, you don't need to reboot..

In windows you may also need to renew the DHCP lease.

 

[sulhaq]

it works now thanks a lot devman I'm kind of lazy and it turns out I had an ancient version of Parallels that I downloaded a long time ago. I updated to the latest RC build and it works fine now, set up shared networking and everything. I'll post my experience with this version and let you guys know, it seems they have made quite a number of improvements.