[servo]

I just have a question about how well a guest OS would run. I'm thinking about upgrading my wife's mac and want to make sure she will be able to do what she would like to do.

She would need a Windows XP system in Parallels. Possibly some aps like Visio from time to time, but nothing extremely intensive. She's a project manager and spends most of her time accessing the apps on the mac end using Citrix anyway.

Can a 1.83 GHz. MacBook with 1 GB RAM handle a Windows XP system well enough without being annoyingly sluggish? Or is that just too light of a setup?

[dazzla]

I have some videos of my Macbook with Parallels:

http://www.notebookreview.com/defaul...rsus+Parallels

I actually use Visio on it and it's not bad but I prefer Boot Camp.

[rm199]

I use parallels on a 2Ghz with 2Gb RAM and its great - i use office 12 beta 2 rather than mac office for example. Visio is faster in parallels that on my office thinkpad.

[The Godfather]

I am using a 2MHz Macbook with 512MB RAM and the VM is slower than it could be but I still find it infinitely useful. You should shoot for 2GB. Don't settle for a Core Solo for any reason.
http://forums.parallels.com/showthre...highlight=dual
I use Win2k and neutered the USB and networking functions for higher performance. Check whether your wife can do the same. (hint: shared folders)

[mduell]

If you're going to be doing emulation/virtualization (Rosetta or Parallels), I'd throw in the extra gig of RAM to make it 2.

[rm199]

Exactly - there is no substitute for RAM with either rosetta or parallels. WIth 2Gb I just leave parallels with XP/Office 12 running fulltime (on both macbook and imac)