How much ram does VirtualBox need?

[lingfang]

I have just installed VirtualBox in my macbook air, how much ram does it need? Because my Macbook only has 4gb ram

thanks

[mpack]

VirtualBox needs hardly any RAM at all. How much the VM needs is up to you, because you specify that as part of the VM recipe you create.

4GB would be tight if you wanted to run two modern 64bit OS (the host OS and the VM running a guest OS), both with their recommended RAM complements. It would be fine for MacOS plus an XP 32bit guest with 512MB-1024MB RAM. There are also slimline Linux distros that will be happy with 1024MB.

You need disk space too of course. In fact that tends to be the biggest resource eater. External USB drives are not recommended, especially not USB flash drives.

[jonasadrian872]

I have just installed VirtualBox in my macbook air, how much ram does it need? Because my Macbook only has 4gb ram

thanks

I have it running on the same laptop but this is not enough for me, of course, it is better to use a more powerful computer

[mpack]

As mentioned, the amount of RAM needed by a VM depends on you, and by your choice of guest OS. Let's try to be accurate here, let's not assume that everyone's scenario is the same.