Performance is not the problem. 8GB is simply not enough for running a virtualized environment and having anything significant going on in the host OS.
Single task stuff will work fine, but anything multi-threaded, memory hungry or heavy 3D graphics will quickly break down under load. And it’s not even 8GB with video RAM coming out of the same pool.
If you want to virtualize, get 16GB. Period.
Macbook Neo is simply not the product for you. If all you have is $600, a hard requirement of 16GB on a macbook just is not feasible - you have to compromise somewhere to get down to this price bracket. Either pick a different 16GB macbook (if you're sticking with new, that doubles the price for a macbook air), or the mac mini is a great $600 option with the compromise of not being a laptop in the first place. Finally, you can get a $600 laptop with 16GB if you're willing to run Windows (or worse: ChromeOS) and make a whole other set of compromises.
Or you can wait for memory prices to come down to earth and
eventually apple will refresh the Neo – possibly by this time, 16GB will be insufficient for your hardline requirements.
