I was reading that you shouldn't use any more than 512MB for memory, but I have 3GB on my MacBookPro. Is 512 still optimum?
It all depends on how intensive you are using your Guest OS. I use Windows XP Pro and had Adobe CS2 along with Flash MX so I needed more RAM. I used 1.5 to my Guest OS and 1.5 to OSX. I have since scaled back to 2 GB to OSX and 512 MB to XP since I am no longer using Adobe CS2 for Windows. Saying all this you need to experiment with the apps you will use in your Guest OS and see what you require to run most efficiently.
I'm using CS3 for Mac now as well. 512 MB should be fine for you with 16MB for video. Again you can increase the RAM at anytime you feel you need more.
Well I'm using some fairly data-intensive day trading software on the Win XP, so I use more memory. But how do I increase the ram "on the fly"?
You can't on the fly. You have to stop your VM, Edit --> Virtual Machine... After completed you can restart your VM and you'll now have more RAM.
Unfortunately Windows can't cope with changing RAM on-fly. Imagine you hot-swapped RAM chips on the real PC while Windows is running - it would be a killer for the OS
Yes, I get that. But my question still remains, how to optimize settings, and is 500MB really the optimum amount, even if you have 3GB of total available ram?
It all depends on how intensive you are using your VM. Just try 512MB and see how stable your VM apps are running. You can then bump it up in 256MB increments from there until you are satisfied with the performance. Again, it's all personal preference. There is no magic bullet here.
Thanks - so I believe that answers my question, that 512 MB is not the optimum amount, despite what the instructions say
still having problems I try to set the main memory at the initial configuration and it will refuse to accept any amount of MB. First it says the minimum is 256 MB, then it says that is too much and to put it at 192. I put it at 192, and then it says it is not enough! Now what?
I have Parallels 3.0 and 512 Mb and 1Gb but my VM says says 6.29GB. I do not know how to change my computer settings but can fing them on the activity monitor. Thanks for you reply!
The first thing to try is restarting your computer; that often fixes these problems. As for the Parallels version, there are actually multiple versions of Parallels Desktop 3.0 and the easiest way to determine what you are using exactly is the build number. If the build number of Parallels Desktop 3.0 is anything less than 5582 then go to http://www.parallels.com/en/download/desktop/ to download the latest version.
Thank you for trying to help me. I have tried so many things...even bought the phone service for 30 bucks and couldn't even get them on the phone! But it does not correct the problem...I wonder if I should just trash some of my applications? Can I do that?
