Experience with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage and Parallels

[applehugger]

Hi Everyone! First post here. I am hoping to get some input from people who may have real-world experience using a Macbook Air with Parallels.

Here is my situation: I currently have a 14" M1 Pro Macbook Pro with a 512GB SSD and 16GB of RAM, the default configuration.
When I bought this laptop, I was using it about 50% for work. Here's the thing: I absolutely need the Windows versions of Office as there are too many limitations in the MacOS version of Excel, and I use Excel heavily for work. I installed Paralells, got Windows 11 for ARM up and running and Office 365 for ARM installed and it works like a dream.

About a year ago, my company bought me a Windows laptop. As a result, I very rarely use my Macbook for work anymore, but it does still happen on infrequent occasions, so I need Parallels installed as a backup. I also find having Windows 11 useful for applications that have no Mac version, like Irfan View, so I do not want to give up that functionality. Although I will probably never buy another Windows-based laptop with my own money, at the end of the day I am just more comfortable with Windows than MacOS and having Windows 11 installed has been very useful.

However, for my personal computing, I do not use my Macbook for anything powerful. It is basically a web-browsing and remote access machine, as I have an office with a nice desktop and multi-monitor setup if I need to do anything serious. I feel kind of bad as the Macbook Pro is way overpowered for my use case, and I would gladly trade some of the power and extra 1" display for a thinner, lighter, and smaller laptop. This is especially true when I travel as every ounce matters for my carry-on luggage.

As Apple dropped the M3 Macbook air today, I went onto their website to check it out. I get a trade-in valuation of $820, which means that with my education discount (I am a current college student), I could "downgrade" to a base model 13" M3 Macbook Air for around $200 with tax (note: I know I can sell my laptop for more money on eBay or FB Marketplace. I've done that before, and I just don't want to deal with the hassle as I've had bad experiences in the past. Effectively paying for convenience is worth it to me).

However, if I upgrade the Air to 16GB of RAM and 512 GB storage, that's a whole different story as it increases the price of the Air by $400. I'm not doing that, especially since most of the time, I don't need that much RAM, and I don't store anything locally with the obvious exception being a full Windows 11 install, so storage space is not important to me.

I am wondering if anyone has a base config Macbook Air (M1, M2, doesn't matter) and a similar use-case scenario to me with Parallels. Is there enough storage? Does Windows run okay alongside MacOS? I know the screen isn't as color accurate or bright on the Air - I've looked at the displays in person and they are more than good enough for me. I also know the speakers are a downgrade on the Air, but they are still more than good enough for me and sound better than 95% of the Windows laptops out there.

Any input is much appreciated! Also, if anyone has any wild ideas of other devices or configurations I should explore, I'm all ears!

 

[smirking]

I did run Windows over Parallels on the original 13" 8GB M1 MBP. I gave Windows 2GB and left 6GB for MacOS. Surpisingly, it worked. The Windows side was a bit jerky. The Mac side had minor hiccups, but nothing I couldn't handle.

The only time things got awful was when I had Windows Update running. The Windows side became partially unresponsive. The Mac side also stuttered a bit, but only moderately.

So, I wouldn't recommend an 8GB MBP for running Parallels, but you can do it if you're OK with some tradeoffs.

If you want to experiment and see what it'd be like, take a look at this Stack Exchange question about setting an artificial limit on the RAM you allow your Mac to use. You can constrain your current MBP to 8GB and see if the performance is viable.

Temporarily disabling RAM to mimic a lower spec machine?

I've got two 2009 Macbooks. One has 4 gigs of RAM and runs os 10.10; one has 2 gigs and runs os 10.5. I'm considering upgrading the latter machine to Yosemite (10.10), but I'm worried that it will...

apple.stackexchange.com

 

[applehugger]

I did run Windows over Parallels on the original 13" 8GB M1 MBP. I gave Windows 2GB and left 6GB for MacOS. Surpisingly, it worked. The Windows side was a bit jerky. The Mac side had minor hiccups, but nothing I couldn't handle.

The only time things got awful was when I had Windows Update running. The Windows side became partially unresponsive. The Mac side also stuttered a bit, but only moderately.

So, I wouldn't recommend an 8GB MBP for running Parallels, but you can do it if you're OK with some tradeoffs.

If you want to experiment and see what it'd be like, take a look at this Stack Exchange question about setting an artificial limit on the RAM you allow your Mac to use. You can constrain your current MBP to 8GB and see if the performance is viable.

Temporarily disabling RAM to mimic a lower spec machine?

I've got two 2009 Macbooks. One has 4 gigs of RAM and runs os 10.10; one has 2 gigs and runs os 10.5. I'm considering upgrading the latter machine to Yosemite (10.10), but I'm worried that it will...

apple.stackexchange.com

Thank you so much for the information and that link. I will have to check it out, but I rather suspected there would be issues with that little RAM and two operating systems competing for resources. I know Apple Silicon has incredibly efficient memory management, but everything has its limits.

Did you run into any issues on the storage side? I was checking my MBP, and I currently have 276GB used. I need to dig more into that as it seems like a lot since I have a NAS and Google Drive where I store everything but temporary files. That seems like a lot of storage even with both OSs installed.

 

[apostolosdt]

I don’t use MacBooks, but my closest configuration to yours is with a base Mini M1 I run. I use Parallels on other Macs for years now, so I can compare Windows 11 and 10 behaviour as VMs. Yes, you can install and run Windows that way, but for proper work you will need at least 8 GB RAM dedicated to the VM to make it practically functional. So, I guess a 16 BG RAM (plus performance-equivalent CPU/GPU specs—don’t underestimate their role) is a floor config.

 

[smirking]

Did you run into any issues on the storage side? I was checking my MBP, and I currently have 276GB used. I need to dig more into that as it seems like a lot since I have a NAS and Google Drive where I store everything but temporary files. That seems like a lot of storage even with both OSs installed.

Keep in mind this is the original 13" M1 and if I remember correctly, the SSD pipeline is even slower than that on the base level Air's and MBPs. The speed wasn't a problem for me aside from that it wasn't enough. I'm a part time photographer so I have a lot of photos to handle.

Even more daunting was that I mostly had to use an older external SSD drive that tops out at 500MB/s. All of my photos were on that SSD and I worked direclty off of that drive for the 2 weeks I had to live on a base model M1. My setup was only temporary and it was by design that I was trying to get by on a base model machine. I just wanted to see if I could do it.

It's hard to predict what will and won't be a problem. I completely expected that slow external storage to be the worst of my temporary lo-fi setup, but it wasn't. A USB 3.1 speed external SSD may be slow, but it was still fast enough for the tasks I needed it for and so nothing seemed amiss.

 

[throAU]

I am wondering if anyone has a base config Macbook Air (M1, M2, doesn't matter) and a similar use-case scenario to me with Parallels. Is there enough storage? Does Windows run okay alongside MacOS? I know the screen isn't as color accurate or bright on the Air - I've looked at the displays in person and they are more than good enough for me. I also know the speakers are a downgrade on the Air, but they are still more than good enough for me and sound better than 95% of the Windows laptops out there.

If you plan to run Windows in a VM get a minimum of 16 GB.

Can you run a VM in 8?
Sure
Will it be crap?
Yes.

Yes, more ram is more money, but it will be the difference between having a Windows VM that runs quite nicely, or one that runs pretty janky.

And buying a MacBook to run Windows badly is just a bad idea.

$400 amortised over 3-5 years is nothing. Bite the bullet and pay, rather than have a trash tier windows VM experience for 5 years.

Also, if you plan on running windows, do a check to see whether or not your windows apps will run on ARM. Most will but if you run anything that needs a third party driver install (e.g.., PIV log in to Active Directory via Yubikey as a bit of a niche edge case) be prepared for some obscure things to not necessarily work.


Oh yeah the storage side:
Only you can answer that as only you know what your data size is.

I would not personally buy a MacBook of any description without a bare minimum of 512 GB in 2024, myself, I'm barely squeezing into 1 TB with my collection of apps, data I need at hand and some free space (200 GB) to use as swing space for copying things around, etc. But you are not me.

YMMV - but 256 is pretty stingy in 2024. Especially if you're planning to use at least 60-100 GB for a windows install that does anything useful.


Apple's baseline spec is the typical entry trap to get you interested at a particular price point (and then have to justify the upgrades) - but it's generally bad VALUE. Spend a little more and you get a way more capable machine that's way less of a pain in the butt to manage and deal with the performance limitations.


I'd 100% keep your 14" MacBook Pro - it's far better suited to running VMs than the proposed MacBook Air M3 above. The better screen, speakers and port selection are just gravy. You'd be paying to downgrade at this point- wait another year or two - unless your current machine dies.

 

[apostolosdt]

[...] Did you run into any issues on the storage side? I was checking my MBP, and I currently have 276GB used. I need to dig more into that as it seems like a lot since I have a NAS and Google Drive where I store everything but temporary files. That seems like a lot of storage even with both OSs installed.

Nowadays, the main problem is with the non-upgradable RAM; the SSD can be "expanded" externally by adding a NVMe in an enclosure. They are not expensive anymore--I use less-than-90$ 1TB NVMe's inside 50$-round enclosures. Only make sure that the latter offer some sort of heat sink.

 

[throAU]

Nowadays, the main problem is with the non-upgradable RAM; the SSD can be "expanded" externally by adding a NVMe in an enclosure. They are not expensive anymore--I use less-than-90$ 1TB NVMe's inside 50$-round enclosures. Only make sure that the latter offer some sort of heat sink.

It kinda defeats the purpose of having a laptop though, if you have external drives hanging out of it by type-C cables.

Fine, if you're at a desk, but it makes the laptop/portable experience significantly worse.

Sure, by all means use an external drive for project files archival, etc. but if you're relying on one to do your day to day workload whilst not at a desk, you bought the wrong size machine imho.

 

[smirking]

It kinda defeats the purpose of having a laptop though, if you have external drives hanging out of it by type-C cables.

Total pain in the butt to be sure, but it seems a lot of people do it. I was at the Apple store one day and on that morning just about every other person who brought their laptop in for appointments had an external SSD attached. A few of them had it velcro'd to the lid.

I've done it myself for short periods of time. It's not bad if you've got one of the ones like the ultra lightweight SanDisk Extreme SSDs. They don't get in the way as much... just be careful not to lose it!

 

[apostolosdt]

I agree with the two posts just above. I should have mentioned I don't use laptops, just desktops; personal preference, I guess.

 

[applehugger]

I'd 100% keep your 14" MacBook Pro - it's far better suited to running VMs than the proposed MacBook Air M3 above. The better screen, speakers and port selection are just gravy. You'd be paying to downgrade at this point- wait another year or two - unless your current machine dies.

Thank you for the reality check. This is what I've decided to do. At the time I bought my Pro, the Air wasn't really competitive, then of course a few months later Apple released the updated Air which I would have bought had it been available.

That said, the extra ports are nice. It is really convenient to be able to charge via USB-C on either side of the laptop and I use HDMI a lot more than I realized. It is so nice to not need my USB-C to HDMI dongle anymore.

And buying a MacBook to run Windows badly is just a bad idea.

I don't use Windows exclusively on my MacBooks. I use Parallels in continuity mode and honestly, it works way better than my Intel MacBooks with Boot Camp. It's seamless and Office 365 for ARM is identical to Office 365 for x64. 95% of what I use Windows for is Office 365, and it's super nice to have those apps available within MacOS instead of needing to boot into Windows separately. I was very surprised at how well it worked for me once I got Parallels set up.

 

[throAU]

I don't use Windows exclusively on my MacBooks. I use Parallels in continuity mode and honestly, it works way better than my Intel MacBooks with Boot Camp. It's seamless and Office 365 for ARM is identical to Office 365 for x64. 95% of what I use Windows for is Office 365, and it's super nice to have those apps available within MacOS instead of needing to boot into Windows separately. I was very surprised at how well it worked for me once I got Parallels set up.

Yeah fair enough, my windows usage is basically 6-8 GB allocated to a Windows VM as a full desktop, I haven't really messed with continuity mode as I have a suite of windows apps that I need to talk to each other and having them all contained in a desktop makes sense for my workflow (I'm an IT admin so typically: SCCM console, powershell, password manager, Visio, outlook, a few browser windows to make use of Active Directory SSO to corp apps, etc.)

If you only need the occasional windows app I can see how continuity may work better. For me though, I just contain all the windows trash apps I need for work into a full screen windows session and swipe to it if/wheni need access to the windows side. Most of the stuff for my job I can do from a browser or native Mac apps now though.

Even in continuity mode though there's still a full windows install running in the background, so it will still need an appropriate amount of RAM and CPU . it's just not displayed, is all.

 

[chrischrismac]

I have an M2 MacBook Air 15 base model, 8gb ram, 256gb SSD, and I was concerned about installing Parallels. I have to say I am AMAZED how well it runs. I just did a default installation (with Windows ARM) and let Parallels decide the parameters. Granted, I don't use Windows heavily, and I don't use Office (IMO, even the Mac version of Microsoft Word used to feel bloated and slow on my past Macs, so I stopped using it years ago. I understand not everyone has that option, however.) But the fact that I can have two operating systems open and running, with several programs open at the same time, and not even see a hint of slowdown... it's pretty impressive. Zero issues with storage, zero issues with low memory. I don't know whether Apple should get the kudos, or Parallels, but this works so much better than I remember it working many years ago (with a much older Mac and a much older version of Parallels.)