Install each OS in a VMware Fusion Guest.
Set virtual memory to 512MB.
Set swap file size in each OS to zero.
Install VMware tools for each OS.
Set the graphics display to fullscreen.
Install all OS updates from the vendor.
reboot each OS and login.
Wait 5 minutes for each OS to complete starting background services.
Observe memory consumed from within and outside the OS:
Results:
PS output (2nd column shows kilobytes resident for each vmx process for each OS)
babelfish:~ crispi$ ps -e -o pid,rss,command | grep -i vmx | grep -v grep
babelfish:~ crispi$ ps -e -o pid,rss,command | grep -i vmx | grep -v grep
12567 478432 /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmware-vmx -E en -D mJw7K7usuM8LJAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA= -# product=1;name=VMware Fusion;version=2.0.2;buildnumber=146107;licensename=VMware Fusion for Mac OS;licenseversion=6.0 build-146107; -@ pipe=/var/folders/7R/7Rq7evMGH9qZLSXoCGYx6k+++TI/-Tmp-//vmware-crispi/vmxe012108b06b26cd4;readyEvent=28 /Users/crispi/vmware/Ubuntu 8.10.vmwarevm/Ubuntu 8.10.vmx
12607 706252 /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/vmware-vmx -E en -D mJw7K7usuM8LJAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA= -# product=1;name=VMware Fusion;version=2.0.2;buildnumber=146107;licensename=VMware Fusion for Mac OS;licenseversion=6.0 build-146107; -@ pipe=/var/folders/7R/7Rq7evMGH9qZLSXoCGYx6k+++TI/-Tmp-//vmware-crispi/vmxc6654b5eff7f6b21;readyEvent=27 /Users/crispi/vmware/Windows7.vmwarevm/Windows7.vmx
From within each OS:
Ubuntu 8.10 = 148 MB
Windows 7 = 427 MB
Screen snapshots below (taken from outside the VM):
Conclusion
Windows 7 takes up 279MB more memory than Ubuntu. This is not insubstantial for low end netbook machines.
