adaminc Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone has run any intensive applications in parallels, things like AutoCAD or Multisim and what kind of performance you were getting, i know it all really depends on the computer being used, but I was wondering if parallels can handle these intensive applications because its all just virtual hardware. I had OSX on my laptop, but I use quite a few windows only applications and I found that I wasnt using osx as much as I would like to (i love osx), so i got rid of it, but now i'm thinking of putting it back on and running the windows apps in parallels if I can. I guess the only way to really tell is to try it out, but not being able to resize the osx partition after installation sucks, so if I want to get rid of windows completely, i'd have to do that first, which I would rather not do. So if anyone has any incite into intensive application performance on parallels, your input would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milesce Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Not using the apps you mentioned, but I do run a windows xp vm with sql server 2000 and Microsoft office installed, along with the whole suite of windows administrative tools. Performs pretty well. The one thing I did that boosted performance significangtly -- because I'm running a lot of memory intensive apps, I set up a second virtual hard drive sized 1 Gb --- not an expanding disk, but a fixed size disk. Then I moved the windows page file to that drive and made it fixed in size, so the windows virtual memory isn't constantly shrinking and expanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amuraivel Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Parallels screams. I tried using Cross Over, but it is actually slower an in some ways cludgyier than using parallels with w2k and office 2003.Plus everything works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alicheusz Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 (edited) AutoCad runs spuriously well, faster than I think it will be. It's fine for basic AutoCad work. I must say if you wan't use Parallels, you must have min 512 extra RAM for this app. I have 1 GB RAM and it is way to small to use Parallels and rest of my OS X apps. Edited January 14, 2007 by alicheusz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milesce Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Yes - memory is a must. I've got 3 Gb, and keep 768 reserved for my windows vm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
errandwolfe Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 I have to agree here memory is the key to Parallels. Have 3 gb total system memory with 568 set for XP in Parallels. Runs so well I am even able to play World of Warcraft on the Mac side at the same time! Just tried the second hard drive with fixed VM size trick. Noticed a small performance gain but not too much. Still every little bit helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adaminc Posted January 13, 2007 Author Share Posted January 13, 2007 I only have 512 right now, but I bought another 1gb, so do you think that 512 would be enough for parallels and the other 1gb for the notebook? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alicheusz Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 (edited) I only have 512 right now, but I bought another 1gb, so do you think that 512 would be enough for parallels and the other 1gb for the notebook? I should be fine but this depends how you use your mac. Fire up Activity Monitor and use your computer as you do normal for about 20 minutes then check Monitor>System Memory there are Page ins/out and numbers if you Page out is greater than in that you are way to small amount of RAM. If page out is zero then this mean that your computer have enough memory and don't use your HDD as swap. This is ideal. If your Page in is less than 35000 then it is average. Mac use your hdd as swap but not as much. heck also http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107918 Edited January 14, 2007 by alicheusz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgrimes80 Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 I've used CADD/CAM/CAE apps recently and performance was "satifactory" with 1 GB allocated to it... and "usable" on my MBP with only 1GB total... I still favor a dual-boot setup.... Maybe if/when I get a new desktop, be it a Mac Pro w/ ~4-8GBRAM, the performance jump could be considerable.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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