What is virtual PC like?
- Thread starter bobbo
- Start date
Zammy-Sam
Desertchild
Depands on what your Dad wants to run. Office XP will run ok. Games won't run and some complex graphic progs will be slow as well. I think the speed of VPC 6.1 on my G4 1Ghz and 512mb allocated memory is close to a P2 266. Not really fast, but this was not to be any pc replacement. You might want to talk your Dad into VPC 7 which sounds very promissing and should get out soon.
perfessor101
Registered
VPC is adequate for business applications you just "have to run" in Windows because there is no Apple version. Browsers, word processors, etc. are usually keyboard bound anyway and running in VPC is no exception. Just remember there is no graphic acceleration and anything involving complex graphic display or manipulation will be almost painfully slow. VPC 7 will offer compatibility with the G5 but unless Microsoft has found a way to repeal the laws of physics it is unlikely it will be much faster other than the speed boost provided by a G5 if that is what you are running on.
Like any application VPC is better if you have a lot of RAM and can devote 512+MB to VPC. Perceived performance is also a function of the version of Windows you are running. Most folks say Windows XP Pro is a real dog, but I have found XP Home Edition to give reasonable performance on a dual processor G4/1.25 MDD. Others swear by Windows 2000. I would stay away from Windows 98 and ME, I have started running into apps that won't run on these older Windows versions.
Like any application VPC is better if you have a lot of RAM and can devote 512+MB to VPC. Perceived performance is also a function of the version of Windows you are running. Most folks say Windows XP Pro is a real dog, but I have found XP Home Edition to give reasonable performance on a dual processor G4/1.25 MDD. Others swear by Windows 2000. I would stay away from Windows 98 and ME, I have started running into apps that won't run on these older Windows versions.
I'd be curious to know exactly what apps your dad is talking about. My bet is that he could easily find the exact same apps for the Mac or very usable equivalents if he really wanted to.
Problem is, like with most PC users, there just isn't a big compelling reason to switch. Especially given that they would typically "need" to invest a good amount of money in duplicate software. I can't say I blame them. I sure wouldn't want to dish out a bunch of money for essentially the same software I'd already been using on a given machine.
Problem is, like with most PC users, there just isn't a big compelling reason to switch. Especially given that they would typically "need" to invest a good amount of money in duplicate software. I can't say I blame them. I sure wouldn't want to dish out a bunch of money for essentially the same software I'd already been using on a given machine.
Satcomer
In Geostationary Orbit
If he really wants to switch, but needs some PC apps then maybe he could just keep his PC around. He then can use Microsoft's Remote Desktop and run the PC headless. It works really well and is the best because it is free.bobbo said:
dlloyd
Official Pianist
My Dad uses Microsoft Remote Desktop from my laptop sometimes. It's actually very fast; he now uses it on his PC-to-remote-PC stuff too instead of VNC.
Unlike VNC, you're not sending the actual screen data, so the refresh rate is loads better. I believe it works along the same lines as Virtual PC (rendering raw data on the client side), but unlike Virtual PC, you don't have to run all the actual operations there, just the UI. So, unless you're trying to run a game (which I tried, BTW. About .5 FPS) or something, you should be fine wish what Satcomer suggested.
Unlike VNC, you're not sending the actual screen data, so the refresh rate is loads better. I believe it works along the same lines as Virtual PC (rendering raw data on the client side), but unlike Virtual PC, you don't have to run all the actual operations there, just the UI. So, unless you're trying to run a game (which I tried, BTW. About .5 FPS) or something, you should be fine wish what Satcomer suggested.
I have a few apps which are Win specific and must haves, and they run alright on VPC.
Right now I have Win2kPro under VPC 6.1 on the iBook with 256mb ram given to it. It's about the same speed as a PII-400 Dell Laptop my brother has running XP when you're loading simple programs or the OS. I personally wouldn't use Office under it, but for the 'must haves' it works good. IE (various versions to test sites), Top Producer 6i, Act2000, PACE, and a bunch of other real estate related programs which only materialize in win versions. I've also run Clementine (data mining/analysis software) with ok results.
I played with it on a friend's PB (1.25ghz G4) and it was a slight bit faster, at least it felt that way.
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Originally tried running XP Pro and it was way too slow to use, even when running XP with the classic skin. Win2kPro is much better in terms of usability and speed under VPC.
Right now I have Win2kPro under VPC 6.1 on the iBook with 256mb ram given to it. It's about the same speed as a PII-400 Dell Laptop my brother has running XP when you're loading simple programs or the OS. I personally wouldn't use Office under it, but for the 'must haves' it works good. IE (various versions to test sites), Top Producer 6i, Act2000, PACE, and a bunch of other real estate related programs which only materialize in win versions. I've also run Clementine (data mining/analysis software) with ok results.
I played with it on a friend's PB (1.25ghz G4) and it was a slight bit faster, at least it felt that way.
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Originally tried running XP Pro and it was way too slow to use, even when running XP with the classic skin. Win2kPro is much better in terms of usability and speed under VPC.
flacochala
I`m in!!
Im a user of vpc 6 of conectix... I have to use it, some applications are only for wintel and I need those applications in the pleace I work.. Im running a windows xp in vpc, and i have an ibook g4 1ghz 640 mbram and windows runs very slow with complex applictions... the best solution is the remote desktop.. i cna assure you it runs very wel and you wont have any problem
Arden
Where mah "any" keys at?
I use VPC 3 on my iMac, with Windows 95, usually for programming-related tasks. To compare compiling a small Java application in VPC on my iMac to the PC's at school, the school computers will compile in a couple seconds while VPC may take around a minute. And a better computer isn't going to get a lot better results than that.
texanpenguin
Registered Penguin
I've never had the good fortune to use VirtualPC (although I crave for openCanvas again in OS X), but I would bet my left foot that you could get Windows XP Professional running very respectably under VPC6.1 with some tweaks in the OS (read http://www.emulators.com/secrets.htm#KeepTuned for some good examples).
Apparently VPChelper - http://www.infamus.com/vpchelper/ does a very respectable job of optimising the performance of VPC, but as I say, I don't and haven't used it, so I can't really speak for it too much.
VNC applications work great for me to share the desktop though, if you want to just run a headless stump of a PC somewhere.
Apparently VPChelper - http://www.infamus.com/vpchelper/ does a very respectable job of optimising the performance of VPC, but as I say, I don't and haven't used it, so I can't really speak for it too much.
VNC applications work great for me to share the desktop though, if you want to just run a headless stump of a PC somewhere.
Anyone have experience or info about the emulator product at http://openosx.com/wintel/index.html? One would also have to have a copy of whatever windows flavor you like to install on top of the emulator. I like the open source nature as opposed to VPC.
...Larry
...Larry
guilly
Too handsome to use a PC
VPC is used to run appz that are only and just available in the PC world. However, it is very likely that most people will never ever even touch one of those applications in their dilated computer experience.
The most used programs for the PC are available for the Mac, that is, Microsoft Office, Explorer (and some other independent browsers of magnificent quality), Photoshop, Cubase, Premiere, ACDSee, Realplayer, Flash, Media Player... whatsoever.
Also there are some alternatives to some PC programs, such as RealBASIC to MS Visual Basic, Metro to Cakewalk, Final Cut Pro to Premiere or iMovie to ULead Video Studio, and a long etcetera. So far, these programs are of excellent quality, in many cases better that their counterparts, specially when Apple has been the developer.
An emulator such as VPC is therefore only recommended under certain circumstances that require propietary software, such as an old accounting MS-DOS program you got stuck to, for example. VPC is not recommended for playing, but on the other hand, many good games are ported to the Mac platform so it is silly to try to run them in VPC. Also, old games run very well in VPC, and also in its MS-DOS emulator counterpart DOSBox (dosbox.sourceforge.net).
VPC 6 runs fine in computers with G3 500 MHz processors whenever they have good memory resources (512 is recommended), and a non-abrassive operating system is installed in the virtual hard drive (ie W98). Windows XP is more likely to be installed in computers with at least a G4 1 GHz.
The most used programs for the PC are available for the Mac, that is, Microsoft Office, Explorer (and some other independent browsers of magnificent quality), Photoshop, Cubase, Premiere, ACDSee, Realplayer, Flash, Media Player... whatsoever.
Also there are some alternatives to some PC programs, such as RealBASIC to MS Visual Basic, Metro to Cakewalk, Final Cut Pro to Premiere or iMovie to ULead Video Studio, and a long etcetera. So far, these programs are of excellent quality, in many cases better that their counterparts, specially when Apple has been the developer.
An emulator such as VPC is therefore only recommended under certain circumstances that require propietary software, such as an old accounting MS-DOS program you got stuck to, for example. VPC is not recommended for playing, but on the other hand, many good games are ported to the Mac platform so it is silly to try to run them in VPC. Also, old games run very well in VPC, and also in its MS-DOS emulator counterpart DOSBox (dosbox.sourceforge.net).
VPC 6 runs fine in computers with G3 500 MHz processors whenever they have good memory resources (512 is recommended), and a non-abrassive operating system is installed in the virtual hard drive (ie W98). Windows XP is more likely to be installed in computers with at least a G4 1 GHz.
michaelsanford
Translator, Web Developer
To play devil's advocate a bit, I think VPC is a poor replacement for running Windows apps on a windows machine.
The corollary to that is that Windows is a poor replacement for MacOS
It sounds like your dad is just falling into that "Oh there aren't any apps for mac" syndrome that Apple has admittedly done an extremely poor job curing. Look on www.apple.com/store/ for programs, and then check out www.versiontracker.com and I defy you to find me an app he can't find either a port of or a suitable replacement for, assuming your father isn't in a field that requires specialized software.
Tangent: I love when Windows people ask me "Do you guys have Adobe on Mac?"
The corollary to that is that Windows is a poor replacement for MacOS
It sounds like your dad is just falling into that "Oh there aren't any apps for mac" syndrome that Apple has admittedly done an extremely poor job curing. Look on www.apple.com/store/ for programs, and then check out www.versiontracker.com and I defy you to find me an app he can't find either a port of or a suitable replacement for, assuming your father isn't in a field that requires specialized software.
Tangent: I love when Windows people ask me "Do you guys have Adobe on Mac?"
perfessor101
Registered
Them's the ones. Did you actually think Bill Gates did something original? He bought the products and ported them to the PC. Windows is arguably a rip off of the Mac GUI too. Of course the Mac GUI came about after Steve Jobs saw a Xerox demonstration of their GUI.Zammy-Sam said:
michaelsanford
Translator, Web Developer
perfessor101 said:
(ahem)Go rent <i>The Pirates of Silicon Valley</i>(/ahem)
I use VPC on my PowerBook when I visit client sites that require me to use Windows for their Windows-only network. VPC speed on my G4-800 is OK but not great. It's fine if you _need_ to use it, with XP anyway.
If you're looking to switch to Mac from PC, you'll have most everything you need already ported to OS X. The only thing that was a caveat for me was a number of Palm desktop apps that synced with the PDA. However, all but one have released native Mac versions and the third is in beta.
If you're looking to switch to Mac from PC, you'll have most everything you need already ported to OS X. The only thing that was a caveat for me was a number of Palm desktop apps that synced with the PDA. However, all but one have released native Mac versions and the third is in beta.