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MacBook Pro - 4GB vs 8GB for VMWare & New Hard Drive

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dmw16

Diamond Member
I am taking the plunge from a two-computer-user (macbook pro + win7 desktop) and going to just my Macbook Pro.

I will be using VMWare to run Win7 and I was wondering if it's worth spending the $150 or so to get an 8GB RAM kit? I also was also thinking of upgrading my hard drive from the 250GB that came with my 15" MBP to a Seagate Momentus XT (or something else people may suggest).

Any thoughts are welcome.

Thanks.
 
Yes and yes. When you run VM's, you want lots of RAM. For Windows 7, make sure to turn on "Classic" mode, which makes it look like Windows 2000 (gray boxes) - runs a lot faster on the emulated video card that way. If you can give 4 gigs to each OS, that should be pretty smooth sailing.

You'll definitely want to go with the Momentus, not only for the space but also for the 500gb size - more room to grow your virtual drive in VMware. Keep in mind that you are doing read/writes from 2 operating systems onto a single hard drive, so the faster drive you have, the better. If you can do a solid-state drive, that'd be the best (although super expensive for the size). Momentus XT is the next best thing if you need the space for the money.

You can also replace the optical drive with a second hard drive. OWC has a barebones kit for $75, just add hard drive:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World Computing/DDAMBS0GB/

You could use your stock 250 in there for your VM exclusively, and put the fast drive for OSX. Or do two small SSD's and get fast performance out of both, without overlapping read/writes and slowing things down. Plenty of options. For the money, RAM is definitely the best upgrade for VMware on a laptop.
 
Kaido said:
Yes and yes. When you run VM's, you want lots of RAM. For Windows 7, make sure to turn on "Classic" mode, which makes it look like Windows 2000 (gray boxes) - runs a lot faster on the emulated video card that way. If you can give 4 gigs to each OS, that should be pretty smooth sailing.

You'll definitely want to go with the Momentus, not only for the space but also for the 500gb size - more room to grow your virtual drive in VMware. Keep in mind that you are doing read/writes from 2 operating systems onto a single hard drive, so the faster drive you have, the better. If you can do a solid-state drive, that'd be the best (although super expensive for the size). Momentus XT is the next best thing if you need the space for the money.

You can also replace the optical drive with a second hard drive. OWC has a barebones kit for $75, just add hard drive:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/DDAMBS0GB/

You could use your stock 250 in there for your VM exclusively, and put the fast drive for OSX. Or do two small SSD's and get fast performance out of both, without overlapping read/writes and slowing things down. Plenty of options. For the money, RAM is definitely the best upgrade for VMware on a laptop.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the info. I opted for the Momentus XT and the RAM. I need to retain my optical drive so a 2nd drive isn't an option right now and I can't swing the cost of an SSD with adequate space. The XT seems like a good compromise and Newegg had a $10 discount code so what the heck.
 
dmw16 said:
Thanks for all the info. I opted for the Momentus XT and the RAM. I need to retain my optical drive so a 2nd drive isn't an option right now and I can't swing the cost of an SSD with adequate space. The XT seems like a good compromise and Newegg had a $10 discount code so what the heck.
Click to expand...

I think that was really the best option - Momentus + 8GB. SSD prices are just too high right now, and for most people it's more convenient having the optical built-in.

You'll really like having 8GB RAM in your laptop 🙂
 
Am I the only one that doesn't have a problem with Fusion and Windows 7 and 4GB of total RAM?

I mean, what the heck are you guys running in your Virtual Machines? I'm actually really curious.
 
bearxor said:
Am I the only one that doesn't have a problem with Fusion and Windows 7 and 4GB of total RAM?

I mean, what the heck are you guys running in your Virtual Machines? I'm actually really curious.
Click to expand...

The l33t3r you are the more RAM you need. Sorry 🙂

In all seriousness tho, when $300 gets me a fast HD and 8GB of RAM, it's really a no-brainer. I think my wife will probably want to edit photos, video, and music on the computer so a little extra power is good...she gets annoyed having to wait on computers.
 
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