Is Virtual PC Worth It In This Case?

[Moof1904]

Through a mixup, I inadvertantely got MS Office Professional Edition (the one that includes Virtual PC) instead of the Standard Edition. (I have a relative who works for M$, so I got it for the employee cost, so returning it isn't an option.)

I already have a 900 MHz Pentium III (it's not terribly fast, but it serves me for the rare time I need to do something on a PC).

The question: would installing Virtual PC on my Dual 2.5 G5 with 3.5 gigs of RAM provide a better PC experience than my 900 MHz Pentium III?

I don't want to go through the hassle of installing Virtual PC if the resulting virtual PC performs no better than my clunker PC.

 

[Eraserhead]

it'll probably offer similar performance...

 

[Shadow]

it'll probably offer similar performance...

Actually VirtualPC emulates a Pentium II, not a PIII. So, it'll *probably* be slower and eat up a load of RAM.

 

[Phil A.]

The last time I used Virtual PC was on a dual 1.8Ghz G5 with 4mb Ram. All it was used for was access my online bank (which insisted on Internet Explorer), and it was just about useable for that purpose. On my setup, I'd say it was about the same speed as a 450mhz PC, so I'd doubt the 2.5Ghz would outrun the real PC.

 

[SpaceMagic]

When I used VirtualPC (Now own an Intel Mac) it worked fine if I had themes, caching etc on Windows switched off... but anything more than web browsing would kill it.

I wouldn't get rid of your PC if you need it.

 

[Moof1904]

Thanks, Gang.

It sounds like what I suspected is true: there's no compelling reason to install VPC with a perfectly useful (albeit 900 MHz) PIII under my desk.


Thanks.

 

[funaifdd]

If you use Windows 2000 rather than XP and go to System -> Advanced and select Adjust for Best Performance it is quite useable.

I had a PowerMac Dual 2Ghz and 2GB of RAM and I was able to develop in VS.NET 2003 and Oracle jDeveloper. No earth shattering performance but for typing in an IDE it was fine.

XP is terrible in Virtual PC no matter what the settings.

 

[PalmHarborTchr]

Virtual PC....aka Fraud in software

Whoever designed this software should be arrested for
fraud...its the worse piece of software I have ever used.
How they could put this on the market and charge more
than $1.00 I don't know.