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    Parallels and Ram

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by diver110, May 7, 2007.

  1. diver110

    diver110 Notebook Evangelist

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    Our computer guy says if you are going to run Parallels have at least 2 gigs of ram and 3 would be better. I have learned on the forum that it is better to buy the ram aftermarket. How many ram slots are therein a mbp? If it comes with 1 gig, and there are 2 slots, I assume they are both 512's right, so you would have to replace them both?
     
    diver110, May 7, 2007
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  2. zadillo

    zadillo Notebook Virtuoso

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    There are two RAM slots. The lower-end MBP currently ships with a single 1GB DIMM (rather than 2x 512 meg), so you would only need to get a second 1 or 2GB DIMM to move up to 2 or 3GB.
     
    zadillo, May 7, 2007
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  3. MYK

    MYK Newbie NBR Reviewer

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    True. Parallels runs as a virtual pc and doesn't really need much ram. You could even get away with 1GB on the MBP and assign 256MB for parallels.
     
    MYK, May 7, 2007
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  4. l33t_c0w

    l33t_c0w Notebook Deity

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    Your computer guy is right, sort of. More RAM is almost always better, and running parallels you're running two operating systems.

    However, if you aren't doing anything significant in one or the other OS, then you can squeeze by with less RAM. XP will run with 256 Megs, for instance, just not very well if you're doing much with it. So, more is better, but "need" might be too strong a word, depending on what you're doing.

    (edit) My macbook came with two 512s. I don't know about MBPs.
     
    l33t_c0w, May 7, 2007
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  5. timeslip

    timeslip Notebook Enthusiast

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    It all depends what you are going to do with your virtualized windows VM. I personally do all of my MS Office work (excel, word, visio, powerpoint, outlook) from Windows XP. I just couldn't get used to the 2004 features/layout of the OSX version. I originally started with 2GB on my Macbook pro, and dedicated 1GB to my VM. It ran fairly well, but now that I upgraded to 3GB, I am a happier camper. It just depends what you want to do. If it wasn't for the fact that I had several java apps, I could probably get away with just allocating 768mb.
     
    timeslip, May 7, 2007
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  6. KelchM

    KelchM Notebook Evangelist

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    I'd say that the minimum is more like 1GB. 2Gb has always worked fine for me, even with two virtual systems running with 512mb ram each. [This was also with vista as the host.]
     
    KelchM, May 7, 2007
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  7. cashmonee

    cashmonee Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

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    With Parallels the more RAM the better because you are splitting it between two OS's. 1GB would be the bare minimum and 2GB would be better. If you will use Parallels all the time, the jump to 3GB may be worth the investment, although it is still very pricey.
     
    cashmonee, May 8, 2007
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