I run Windows 7 via Parallels 9 on a new desktop iMac and I'm now in the market for a new retina MBP. Ideally, I'd like not to get any more RAM than I actually need so I wanted to hear thoughts on whether 8 GB would work or whether I need to pay the extra $200 to go up to 16 GB. On the Windows 7 side I'll basically be working in Office related products w/ the most intensive work being fairly extensive Excel work. On the OSX side, nothing intensive at all, basically just e-mail, iTunes and surfing the web (i.e., no video editing, etc.). Appreciate any help, JK
8GB would work great in your situation. I have 16GB in my MBP - and it's overkill for my Windows 7 guest. I'm a power user in Windows (Outlook, Word, Visio, Excel, VMware clients, RDP, SSH, Firefox, Chrome, IE, Java) and it runs fantastic with 4GB of RAM. I keep a close eye on available RAM but I've never needed to bump it up. Also keep in mind all of the other considerations of your RAM choices in OS X - For every GB of RAM, you'll be burning 2GB of SSD. 1GB for swap/page and 1GB for hibernation file so your 16GB of ram will cost you 32GB of SSD. Save your coin and go 8GB.
