I have a MBP with 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo and 2GB Memory. I have always had problems with Parallels for Mac with speed. Currently, my Virtual Machine has its Memory set to 412MB. My issues have been with Parallels running at 50 - 110% and with WindowServer kicking in at 90 - 110% after using Parallels for about 15 minutes or so. Does anyone have any suggestions re: settings, etc. to fix this issue? Thanks! Sydney
I've noticed that Parallels seems to be using a lot of CPU time when Windows is not doing anything... No suggestions though. Sorry.
I have tried to set the Memory of the Virtual Machine from 256M - 412M - sometimes the setting would work perfectly once time, sometimes it doesn't.
I am no guru, but a friend of mine mentioned (when I complained of slowness) to make sure that FileVault is not enabled for your home directory (esp. if the boot camp image is in the home directory somewhere). Hope that helps. I know it might be a long shot, but it's worth a try. For the record, that didn't end up being the problem for me (I think I just need more RAM), but I thought it was interesting at least.
Try disabling features you aren't using. Specifically Sounds and USB. If you aren't using them, most users see substantial drops in CPU utilization when disabled.
Also try turning off windows disk sharing if you are using Parallels V3.0 (it appears to mount your windows filesystem using MacFUSE), and turn off any of the newer features when (re)installing parallels tools.
