Switcher Q: PowerMac or 20" iMac for Virtual PC?

[Alexandernap]

Virtual PC7

I cannot speak for how it runs on a dual processor power mac but I notice very little speed difference between my G4 iBook 1ghz and my 1.8G5 iMac. Mappoint already is a bit of a resource hog so if you use it constantly I think it could get pretty annoying on VPC. I prefer using regular dial up to access my work with native OSX apps over using broadband with VPC. That is how annoying it can get. Despite my complaints I am thankful for it because I would not have been able to switch completely to Macs wo it.

Todd

 

[kainjow]

wow, kainjow...i can't believe you are still here...i guess it's just you and me from the first month of macrumors' inception

Was I around then? I don't remember it... hmm 🙂

 

[atomiton]

USE RDC

I use RDC and it works magnificently to access servers and stuff... you can even do a full screen mode and have your mac look exactly like a windows client... for those days you want to confuse others.

 

[Alexandernap]

VPC7 and mappoint

Just for fun I installed Mappoint 2002 on my iBook G4 1ghz. I was surprised that it really was not that bad. I did not do anything like creating territories etc but just zooming and panning was not as painful as I thought. I will probably leave it on there since I also use Mappoint for work from time to time. I could be wrong but it just seems that VPC7 is a bit faster on my iBook than G5 iMac. Could it be that when they coded it to work on G5's they did not do as good a job? I have more ram in my iMac and apply more ram to VPC with it. BTW my VPC7 has XP Pro so it should run even better I have heard w 2000 or 98. Hope it helps. Thanks Todd

 

[Mechcozmo]

BTW my VPC7 has XP Pro so it should run even better I have heard w 2000 or 98. Hope it helps. Thanks Todd

NO! Windows 2000 and 98 both run faster than Windows XP Pro in virtual PC. Always. The way they display their graphics has something to do with it, too. Where XP does it one graphics-hog way and 2000 and 98 do it less so.

Also, XP has more background processes than does 2000 or 98. 98 has something like 5 whereas XP has a lot... like XP has that wireless connection stuff always on. Doesn't matter if you have a wireless card. That sucks up your CPU time. 98 doesn't have that junk.

 

[jefhatfield]

Was I around then? I don't remember it... hmm 🙂

maybe you were like me and mostly lurked and finally started posting way later...at least that was my case...a lot of flamewars back then...heck, i had the impression from the early days from macrumors that mac people were generally mean and uptight...things are so civil around here these days 🙂

of course, many of the mac people i knew fom 1984 to the late-90s were angry and jealous of bill gates' undeserved success...things get easy for a mac user when one can focus on the great things from apple inc vs. thinking what could have been if steve and steve beat bill and paul to the punch

 

[StarbucksSam]

Don't try to use VPC on an iMac G4/800. You will CRY.

 

[Mechcozmo]

Don't try to use VPC on an iMac G4/800. You will CRY.

Again.

Win98 runs pretty well on a 500Mhz Pentium III!
An iMac with enough RAM and that kind of power will not be a powerhouse, but will run quite well. Say it only emulates at 200Mhz. That will be fine for Win98. Just give it about 386MB of RAM.

Win98 is the best OS to emulate, but fewer things are running on it. The second edition means USB support (well... kinda... but you don't need it really), Y2K support built in and other fun stuff.
Win2000 is better for compatibility, but has more background processes that you need to disable/kill.
WinXP sucks. In general.
WinMe pains me to speak of it. Stay away at all costs. Use DOS 6.2 if you must.
Win95 will emulate great... just that not much will run on it. And you need a Y2K patch for it.
Win3.1 deserves to be released like Apple did with System 7.5.5
Windows 2.0 and Windows 1.0 deserve to be burned

Win98 has an advantage-- you can start into DOS mode. That is fast for a virtual machine... 🙄
<rant>
I think that is everything... I've played with a few of em. But it is hard because NONE OF THEM HAVE BEEN RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC!
Everything up to System 7.5.5 is free. OS 8.6 might be, soon. Which would be really cool. But still. System 7.5.5 is great for older computers! Still fairly usable. But Windows for an old computer....? Nope!

Windows has never been released. Neither has DOS. Any version. And you wonder if XP uses some old code... maybe after Longhorn? Well that will be, like... never.</rant>

 

[jestershinra]

Here's another question (and I'll start a new thread I guess if no one answers here): what exactly do dual processor systems do faster than single processor systems, and what do they have no effect on?

Many things. However, the real gains are noticeable in apps like Final Cut Pro and Photoshop CS (is 7 optimized for the DP's yet?). Render and filter times will be significantly lower. If you're not going to do much of this, I don't know if you want to invest the extra money. There's certainly no GUI speed increase- at least not that I can tell (between my PM (see sig for specs) and other iMac G5's that I've used). RAM is a major issue- I'd get as much as I could possibly afford. I have 1.5GB, and I'm noticing it's limitations quickly

 

[mulletman13]

Here is another suggestion.... if you liked MapPoint so much.... why don't you try Route 66?

It's a very very good program similar to MapPoint from my experiences 🙂

 

[anthonymoody]

Thanks again all for the continued responses, info and suggestions. And Mulletman I will certainly take a look at that app. Are files cross-compatible with mappoint? Reason I ask is b/c the people I work for/with use mappoint on pcs and we exchange files frequently...

Thanks,
TM

 

[Alexandernap]

Route 66 and Mappoint

I have both and Route 66 does not do what Mappoint will do. Mappoint is one of the few programs that Microsoft did a great job with. Route 66 is pretty much just a trip/route planner. If you use territory features and import/export zips from excel then Route 66 will not work for you. Again I have Mappoint now installed on my G4 1ghz iBook and it really is not that bad. That is with XP pro VPC so you could do better w 2000.

Thanks Todd

 

[&RU]

Hello Anthony,

I use VPC 6 and find XP mostly unusable, however, if you have a copy of Win9x you can use that and strip it down with a piece of software called 98lite. Here:

http://www.litepc.com/

Win9x without all the junk runs much better than XP in VPC because it is much less resourse hungry - oh, and you can dump IE with this as well.

I think either G5 will do nicely with a stripped down version of Win9x, but if you have monitors get a tower - and lots of RAM to dedicate to that VPC. Hope that helps.

 

[anthonymoody]

Thanks again everyone. And yes, I do heavy excel data importing into mappoint so it seems like Route 66 wont work for me. It looks like Santa is leaning toward the dual 1.8 🙂

TM