Geekin’ it

Posted on August 29, 2006
Filed Under All, Technology |

So, we installed Parallels, virtual machine software for Mactel computers, on our dual-core Mac Mini. Our base configuration (read, 512 KB RAM) actually works! We installed Parallels with 5 or 6 other apps running (not recommended, but it worked), which speaks to the quality of Mac OS X 10.4.x virtual memory (and Parallels connection to same). Quitting all the apps, once we’d realized what we asked our resource-constrained Mini to do, was a bit slow, but patience was rewarded, Apps quit, Parallels installed, we’re good to go.

I’m already to order the 2 GB of matched RAM this machine needs (it may need more, but that’s the current limit for the mini), but it’s interesting to see how much works in 512 MB (I’m dreading the ‘putty-knife-upgrade’). With nothing running on the Mac side, Windows XP on Parallels runs not unlike what I see on my 3-year-old PC (a Thinkpad T41), in its ‘constrained’ RAM, at least for email and browser applications. Judging by the performane of Parallels on my MacBook Pro (1.5 GB RAM), the upgrade will be worth the $200+ for the SIMMs. One issue is that Parallel reports that my expensive Core Duo chip’s virtualization is turned off by firmware (Apple, what’s up with that?) - didn’t see that on the MacBook Pro. We’re researching…