What is the best RAM amount for WindowsXP

[fgregory]

Hello,

I am running a MacBookPro 2,5GHz Core 2 Duo with 4GB of RAM. I was wondering how much RAM to allocate to the

VM Ware Settings/WindowsXP Home/Processors and RAM/RAM.

It says 512 is default but what setting will produce the best performance for both Mac OS and Windows running side by side in different "Spaces" desktops. I use one space for WindowsXP and one for MacOS.

Thanks

[WoodyZ]

Well without knowing what you're doing in Windows and for that matter in OS X and what's happening concurrently in both it really makes for an ambiguous question. Or certainly one that can only be answered more subjectively rather then objectively. It would be fair to say that the more RAM you give to the Virtual Machine obviously there is less for OS X and finding the sweet spot really depends on what you're doing and how you use both simultaneously.

[jtscoggins]

I have a Macbook Pro, 2.5ghz, 4 gig ram 250 gig hard drive. I use XP VM for my corporate laptop replacement. I use 1gig of RAM and it seems pretty snappy and leaves pretty of room left in the Mac OS. I use the XP VM for: Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Outlook, Visio, VPN Software, Teradata 12.0 Express Database software, and a C compiler. I used 512 when I had 2 gig RAM on the Mac and it seemed to do OK but I do notice a difference in the Office Apps with 1 gig for the VM.

[lugesm]

I saw a memory vs performance curve for the iMac indicating that 3GB is optimal. Going to 4GB gives only marginal performance improvement.

Since my Fusion/XP install is of secondary importance I allocated 1GB of my 4GB total to XP. I get excellent performance from both OS's in this configuration.