I need to run windows somehow or another as the mac version of Dragon dictate stinks. I do not have enough RAM to run it in a virtual machine as the windows version requires 8gb to run properly, which is all of the RAM I currently have. If I run in bootcamp I have to restart the mac each time to run in windows, yes? Thoughts and/or alternatives?
Thanks.
iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.4)
Have you added RAM? How much RAM do you have now?
Your iMac will officially use 16GB RAM and, unofficially, 32GB. It is user-installable in about ten minutes and requires only a Philips-type screwdriver. It is also not expensive.
Your computer has four RAM slots. If your computer is "as shipped" it probably came with 4GB of RAM--two 2GB modules occupying two slots, leaving two empty slots. You can simply add new modules in the empty slots without removing the orignal RAM and have a big increase.
Assuming you have the stock 4GB, this kit would give you a total of 12GB for US$50:
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/1333DDR38S08/
Only get Mac RAM from that vendor or Crucial. They both have know-good Mac RAM, something you can't always say about other sources.
Even if you had 32GB installed it may not run the way you want in a VM. Boot Camp seems to be your only alternative.
Accroding to Nuance: http://nuance.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/15608/~/system-requirements-f or-dragon-dictate-4
Dictate 4 requires 4GB of RAM and 3GB of space.
So not sure where you are getting the 8GB figure. In any case, If you don{t want to run Windows in a virtual machine, Bootcamp is the only other option to run Windows on a Mac.
https://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/
Note, that you will need a valid copy, and license for whatever version of Windows you want to run.
System requirements to install Windows on your Mac using Boot Camp - Apple Support
My mac is a mid 11 and came with 4gb RAM, which I upped to 8 a year or 2 ago. Regarding the fowwlowing post, Nuance says the software will run with 2 gb on a 32 bit install of Win 7, 4gb with the 64 bit, but they recommend 8gb ram. I have found with assigning 4 to my VM it is extraordinarily slow. I know this isn't the right place to ask this, but what the heck. Does anyone know what the difference is between the 32 and 64 bit windows OS? I have both, perhaps I should use the 32 which ia less RAM intense.
Thanks for considering.
If I run in bootcamp I have to restart the mac each time to run in windows, yes?
Yes.
My mac has 8 gig of RAM. If I instruct the VM to use 4, I should run ok, but it takes windows 7 like 5 minutes jut to get to the desktop and from there Dragon runs pathetically slowly. Not sure why this is as the requirements do say 4 should be fine. Perhaps I would be better with the 32 bit version.
FWIW, as I mentioned already, some programs just won't run well in a virtual machine. You can try Windows 7 32bit but I doubt it will help enough.
Running windows
